BALL TRAJECTORY AND BOUNCE POSITION DETECTION

• US 20130039538A1
• Filed: 08/10/2012
• Published: 02/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Edh Holdings South Africa Pty., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Edh Holdings South Africa Pty., Ltd.
• Inventors: Johnson, Henri, Parry, Stephen Corfield Pryce
• Granted Patent: US 9,036,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30224 Ball; Puck
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30241 Trajectory
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51

Abstract

Disclosed in some examples is a method, system and medium relating to determining a ball trajectory and bounce position on a playing surface. An example method includes recording a first and a second sequence of ball images before and after a ball bounce on the playing surface; constructing a composite image of the trajectory of the ball from the first and second sequences; and determining a bounce position of the ball from the composite image.

Claims

1. A method of determining a ball trajectory and a ball bounce position on a playing surface, the method comprising:

recording a first and a second sequence of ball images before and after a ball bounce on the playing surface;

constructing a composite image of the trajectory of the ball from the first and second sequences; and

determining a bounce position of the ball from the composite image.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting up a first and a second camera for recording the first and second sequences of images;

calibrating the first and second cameras; and

detecting a ball in play.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein setting up the first and second cameras includes configuring the cameras to record images from overlapping or intersecting regions of the playing surface.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the frame rate of at least one of the cameras is in the range 10-50 frames per second.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the shutter exposure of at least one of the cameras is set, relative to the ambient light conditions of the playing surface, to be as long as possible without saturation of the sequence of images recorded by the at least one camera.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating the coordinates of at least one position of the trajectory of the ball;

calculating the coordinates of the bounce position; and

comparing the coordinates of the bounce position to at least one location on the playing surface.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second sequences of images includes a blurred or contiguous image of the ball.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the composite image of the trajectory of the ball is of tube-like form.

7. A system for determining a ball trajectory and a ball bounce position on a playing surface, the system comprising:

at least one module, executing on one or more computer processors, to;

receive data associated with a first and a second sequence of ball images recorded before and after a ball bounce on the playing surface;

construct a composite image of the trajectory of the ball from the first and second sequences; and

determine a bounce position of the ball from the composite image.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one module is further to:

at least assist calibration of the first and second cameras; and

detect a ball in play.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the data associated with the first and second sequences of images includes data relating to recorded images from overlapping or intersecting regions of the playing surface.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the received data includes data relating to images recorded by at least one camera having a frame rate in the range 10-50 frames per second.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the received data includes data relating to images recorded by at least one camera having a shutter exposure set, relative to the ambient light conditions of the playing surface, to be as long as possible without saturation of the sequence of images recorded by the at least one camera.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one module is further to:

calculate the coordinates of at least one position of the trajectory of the ball;

calculate the coordinates of the bounce position; and

compare the coordinates of the bounce position to at least one location on the playing surface.

21. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the first and second sequences of images includes a blurred or contiguous image of the ball.

22. The system of claim 7, wherein the composite image of the trajectory of the ball is of tube-like form.

13. A machine readable medium, including instructions, which when performed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the operations of:

recording a first and a second sequence of ball images before and after a ball bounce on a playing surface;

constructing a composite image of the trajectory of the ball from the first and second sequences; and

determining a bounce position of the ball from the composite image.

14. The medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving data from a first and a second camera recording respectively the first and second sequences of images;

calibrating the first and second cameras; and

detecting a ball in play.

15. The medium of claim 14, wherein the received data includes data relating to recorded images from overlapping or intersecting regions of the playing surface.

16. The medium of claim 14, wherein the frame rate of at least one of the cameras is in the range 10-50 frames per second.

17. The medium of claim 14, wherein the shutter exposure of at least one of the cameras is set, relative to the ambient light conditions of the playing surface, to be as long as possible without saturation of the sequence of images recorded by the at least one camera.

18. The medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

calculating the coordinates of at least one position of a trajectory of the ball;

calculating the coordinates of the bounce position; and

comparing the coordinates of the bounce position to at least one location on the playing surface.

23. The medium of claim 13, wherein at least one of the first and second sequences of images includes a blurred or contiguous image of the ball.

24. The medium of claim 13, wherein the composite image of the trajectory of the ball is of tube-like form.

25. A method of determining a ball trajectory, the method comprising:

recording a first and a second sequence of images of the ball in flight;

constructing a composite image of the trajectory of the ball from the first and second sequences; and

determining at least one flight position of the ball from the composite image.

26. A system for determining a ball trajectory, the system comprising:

at least one module, executing on one or more computer processors, to;

receive data associated with a first and a second sequence of images of the ball in flight;

construct a composite image of the trajectory of the ball from the first and second sequences; and

determine at least one flight position of the ball from the composite image.

27. A machine readable medium, including instructions, which when performed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the operations of:

recording a first and a second sequence of images of the ball in flight;

constructing a composite image of the trajectory of the ball from the first and second sequences; and

determining at least one flight position of the ball from the composite image.