POSITIONAL LOCATING SYSTEM AND METHOD
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of positionally identifying football players within a football field comprising:
- associating an identification generated for one or more of the football players with a head device to be worn while the corresponding football player moves within the football field;
controlling a beacon included within each head device to emit a signal at an interval specified within a beacon transmission schedule;
controlling one or more cameras to capture images representative of at least a portion of the football field, each image plotting recorded signals within a two-dimensional field defined by a viewing angle of the corresponding camera;
calculating image-based positional coordinates for each signal appearing within each of the captured images, the image-based positional coordinates defining spatial positioning of one or more beacons emitting the signals relative to the two-dimensional field of each image;
reducing the image-based positional coordinates to field-based positional coordinates, the field-based positional coordinates defining spatial positioning of one or more beacons emitting the signals within at least a two-dimensional coordinate system defined relative to at least a length and width of the football field; and
for each of the images, identifying the football player at each of the field-based positional coordinates based on the identification of one or more football players scheduled to emit signals at the time the image was captured.
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Abstract
A method and system are disclosed for locating or otherwise generating positional information for an object, such as but not limited generating positional coordinates for an object attached to an athlete engaging in an athletic event. The positional coordinates may be processed with other telemetry and biometrical information to provide real-time performance metrics while the athlete engages in the athletic event.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of positionally identifying football players within a football field comprising:
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associating an identification generated for one or more of the football players with a head device to be worn while the corresponding football player moves within the football field; controlling a beacon included within each head device to emit a signal at an interval specified within a beacon transmission schedule; controlling one or more cameras to capture images representative of at least a portion of the football field, each image plotting recorded signals within a two-dimensional field defined by a viewing angle of the corresponding camera; calculating image-based positional coordinates for each signal appearing within each of the captured images, the image-based positional coordinates defining spatial positioning of one or more beacons emitting the signals relative to the two-dimensional field of each image; reducing the image-based positional coordinates to field-based positional coordinates, the field-based positional coordinates defining spatial positioning of one or more beacons emitting the signals within at least a two-dimensional coordinate system defined relative to at least a length and width of the football field; and for each of the images, identifying the football player at each of the field-based positional coordinates based on the identification of one or more football players scheduled to emit signals at the time the image was captured. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of non-transitory instructions operable with a processor to facilitate generating positional coordinates for a plurality of football players moving within a football field, the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for:
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instructing objects attached to one or more of the football players to emit a locating signal according to a schedule; capturing images of the football field in which the plurality of objects are moving with one or more cameras, each image fixing a representation of any locating signals appearing at a time of capture; calculating positional coordinates for each of the representations, the positional coordinates reflecting a position of the object at the time of capture relative to the camera capturing the image having the representation; and associating the positional coordinates with the one or more football players by cross-referencing the positional coordinates for each time of capture with the one or more of the plurality of moving objects scheduled to emit the locating signal at the time of capture. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system for providing video replay of football players moving within a football field comprising:
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a plurality of devices to be worn on one or more of the football players, each device each having a beacon configured to emit a signal; one or more cameras configured to record video of at least a portion of the football field within an area defined by a viewing angle of the corresponding camera; a master station configured to set a broadcast schedule for each of the plurality of devices, the broadcast schedule specifying a period of time during which each beacon is to emit the signal; and an image processing unit configured to generate positional coordinates for each beacon appearing within one or more video frames included within the video, the positional coordinates being generated based on the one or more beacons scheduled to emit the signal at the time a corresponding one of the video frames was recorded and a position of the camera recording the corresponding video frame; and a train application configured to generate performance metrics for the one or more football players as a function of the positional coordinates generated for each football player as the corresponding football player is recorded within multiple video frames. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification