Method and apparatus for automating motion analysis

• US 6,514,081 B1
• Filed: 08/03/2000
• Issued: 02/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Jeffrey L. Mengoli
• Original Assignee: Jeffrey L. Mengoli
• Inventors: Mengoli, Jeffrey L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rovnak, John Edmund
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sotomayor, John
• Application Number:
  US09/632,381
• Time in Patent Office: 915 Days
• Field of Search: 434/350, 434/247, 434/252, 434/257, 434/258, 434/131, 434/327, 434/118, 434/119, 434/307.R, 473/266, 473/409, 473/199, 473/201, 473/202, 273/183, 273/186, 273/35, 364/550, 364/551, 364/559
• US Class Current: 434/252
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0012 Comparing movements or motion sequences with a registered reference
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/807 Photo cameras
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0003 Analysing the course of a movement or motion sequences during an exercise or trainings sequence, e.g. swing for golf or tennis
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/36 for golf

Abstract

A pre-recorded video of a master'"'"'s swing motion is stored as first frame sequences in computer memory. Target cues indicative of motion progress are associated with each first frame sequence. A video recording of the student performing the swing motion is stored in computer memory as second frame sequences. Reference cues indicating motion progress of the student are inserted into or associated with each student frame. The first frames are aligned with and normalized to the second frames, and then the first frames are synchronized to corresponding second frames using the target cues and the reference cues. The corresponding first and second frame pairs are superimposed, and immediately thereafter displayed to allow the student to analyze differences between his swing motion and the master'"'"'s swing motion.

Claims

1. A method of analyzing a student'"'"'s swing motion using a computer, comprising the steps of:

pre-recording a master'"'"'s swing motion in a first computer file;

recording the student'"'"'s swing motion into a second computer file;

tracking the position of a reference cue associated with the student during the student'"'"'s swing motion;

synchronizing the master'"'"'s swing motion to the student'"'"'s swing motion using the reference cue;

superimposing the master'"'"'s swing motion onto the student'"'"'s swing motion to create a feedback video; and

displaying the feedback video to the student.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference cue indicates a position of the student'"'"'s wrist during the student'"'"'s swing motion.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

normalizing the master'"'"'s swing motion to the student'"'"'s swing motion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first computer file comprises a plurality of first frames depicting the successive progress of the master'"'"'s swing motion, each first frame including a target cue indicative of the position of the master'"'"'s wrist in the corresponding first frame; and

the second computer file comprises a plurality of second frames depicting successive progress of the student'"'"'s swing motion, each second frame including the reference cue indicative of the position of the student'"'"'s wrist in the corresponding second frame.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the synchronizing step comprises:

comparing, for each of the second frames, its reference cue to respective target cues of the first frames to generate synchronization data; and

selecting, for each of the second frames, a corresponding first frame to be superimposed upon the second a frame using the synchronization data derived in the comparing step.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first and second frames are each divided into two or more groups corresponding to different portions of a swing motion, the second frames in a particular group being synchronized only with first frames in the particular group.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the groups comprise a back-swing portion, a down-swing portion, and a follow-through portion of the swing motion.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the tracking step comprises:

providing a positioning marker on a video monitor of the computer;

displaying the student'"'"'s swing motion as a continuous video on the video monitor; and

moving the positioning marker on the video monitor while displaying the continuous video so as to track motion of the student'"'"'s wrist during the student'"'"'s swing motion.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the moving step is performed using a mouse.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the moving step is performed using a touchpad.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the tracking step comprises:

providing a tracking device on the student'"'"'s wrist when recording the student'"'"'s swing motion; and

tracking motion of the tracking device during the student'"'"'s swing motion.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the tracking device comprises an optical device.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the tracking device comprises a magnetic glove.

14. The method of claim 5, wherein the tracking, superimposing, and synchronizing steps are performed by a microprocessor.

15. A computer system configured to allow for comparison of a student'"'"'s swing motion to a master'"'"'s swing motion, comprising:

means for recording the master'"'"'s swing motion in a first computer file;

means for recording the student'"'"'s swing motion into a second computer file;

means for tracking motion of a reference cue associated with the student during the student'"'"'s swing motion;

means for synchronizing the master'"'"'s swing motion to the student'"'"'s swing motion using the reference cues associated with the student'"'"'s swing motion;

means for superimposing the master'"'"'s swing motion onto the student'"'"'s swing motion to create a feedback video; and

means for displaying the feedback video to the student.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the reference cue indicates a position of the student'"'"'s wrist during the swing motion.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the first computer file comprises a plurality of first frames depicting the progress of the master'"'"'s swing motion, each first frame including a target cue indicative of the position of the master'"'"'s wrist in the corresponding first frame; and

the second computer file comprises a plurality of second frames depicting successive progress of the student'"'"'s swing motion, each second frame including the reference cue indicative of the position of the student'"'"'s wrist in the corresponding second frame.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the means for synchronizing comprises:

means for comparing, for each of the second frames, its reference cue to respective target cues of the first frames to generate synchronization data; and

means for selecting, for each of the second frames, a corresponding first frame to be superimposed upon the second frame using the synchronization data derived in the comparing step.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

means for grouping the first and second frames into two or more groups corresponding to different portions of a swing motion; and

means to synchronize the second frames in a particular group only with first frames in the particular group.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the groups compromise a back-swing portion, a down-swing portion, and a follow-through portion of the swing motion.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the means for tracking comprises:

means for providing a positioning marker on a video monitor of the computer;

means for displaying the student'"'"'s swing motion as a continuous video on the video monitor; and

means for moving the positioning marker on the video monitor while displaying the continuous video so as to track motion of the student'"'"'s wrist during the student'"'"'s swing motion.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the means for moving comprises a mouse.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the means for moving comprises a touchpad.

24. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

means for providing a tracking device on the student'"'"'s wrist when recording the student'"'"'s swing motion; and

tracking motion of the tracking device during the student'"'"'s swing motion.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the tracking device comprises optical device.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the tracking device comprises a magnetic glove.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein the means for tracking, superimposing, and synchronizing comprise a microprocessor.

28. A method of synchronizing a motion video of a student'"'"'s swing motion with a motion video of a master'"'"'s swing motion using a computer, comprising:

providing, in the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion, a reference cue indicating positional information of the student during the student'"'"'s swing motion;

providing, in the motion video of the master'"'"'s swing motion, a target cue indicating positional information of the master during the master'"'"'s swing motion; and

aligning the reference cue and the target cue to synchronize the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion to the motion video of the master'"'"'s swing motion to create a comparison video.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the positional information of the student comprises the student'"'"'s wrists and the positional information of the master comprises the master'"'"'s wrists.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion comprises a first computer file having a plurality of first frames depicting progress of the student'"'"'s swing motion, and the motion video of the master'"'"'s swing motion comprises a second computer file having a plurality of second frames depicting progress of the master'"'"'s swing motion.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

displaying the comparison video to the student.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the student'"'"'s and master'"'"'s swing motions comprise golf swings.

33. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

inserting the reference cue into each of the first frames of the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion; and

inserting the target cue into each of the second frames of the motion video of the master'"'"'s swing motion.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein inserting the reference cue into the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion comprises:

providing a positioning marker on a video monitor of the computer;

playing the motion video of student'"'"'s swing motion on the video monitor; and

moving the positioning marker on the video monitor so as to track the student'"'"'s wrist during the playing of the motion video.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the moving step is performed using a mouse.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the moving step is performed using a touchpad.

37. The method of claim 30, wherein inserting the reference cue into the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion comprises:

attaching a tracking device on the student'"'"'s wrist;

recording the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion with the tracking device attached to the student'"'"'s wrist; and

tracking motion of the tracking device during the student'"'"'s swing motion.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the tracking device comprises an optical device.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the tracking device comprises a magnetic glove.

40. The method of claim 30, wherein the superimposing step comprises:

comparing, for each of the first frames, its reference cue to respective target cues of the second frames to generate synchronization data; and

selecting, for each of the first frames, a corresponding second frame to be superimposed thereon using the synchronization data.

41. The method of claim 29, wherein the aligning step comprises:

comparing, for each of the second frames, its target cue to respective reference cues of the first frames to generate synchronization data; and

selecting, for each of the second frames, a corresponding first frame to be superimposed upon using the synchronization data.

42. A computer system configured to generate a comparison video highlighting differences between a student'"'"'s swing motion and a master'"'"'s swing motion, comprising:

means for superimposing a motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion onto a motion video of the master'"'"'s swing motion using a synchronization between a reference cue associated with the student and a target cue associated with the master to generate the comparison video, wherein the reference cue identifies the position of the student'"'"'s wrist during the student'"'"'s swing motion, and the target cue identifies the position of the master'"'"'s wrist during the master'"'"'s swing motion.

43. The computer system of claim 42, wherein the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion comprises a first computer file having a plurality of first frames depicting progress of the student'"'"'s swing motion, and the motion video of the master'"'"'s swing motion comprises a second computer file having a plurality of second frames depicting progress of the master'"'"'s swing motion.

44. The computer system of claim 43, further comprising:

a video monitor for displaying the comparison video to the student.

45. The computer system of claim 43, further comprising:

means for inserting the reference cue into each of the first frames of the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion; and

means for inserting the target cue into each of the second frames of the motion video of the master'"'"'s swing motion.

46. The computer system of claim 45, wherein the means for inserting the reference cue into the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion comprises:

means for providing a positioning marker on a video monitor;

means for playing the motion video of student'"'"'s swing motion on the video monitor; and

means for moving the positioning marker on the video monitor so as to track the student'"'"'s wrist during the playing of the motion video.

47. The computer system of claim 46, wherein the means for moving comprises a mouse.

48. The computer system of claim 46, wherein the means for moving comprises a touchpad.

49. The computer system of claim 45, wherein the means for inserting the reference cue into the motion video of the student'"'"'s swing motion comprises:

a tracking device attached to the student'"'"'s wrist;

means for recording the student'"'"'s swing motion; and

means for tracking motion of the tracking device during the student'"'"'s swing motion.

50. The computer system of claim 49, wherein the tracking device comprises an optical device.

51. The computer system of claim 49, wherein the tracking device comprises a magnetic glove.

52. The computer system of claim 43, wherein the means for superimposing comprises:

means for comparing, for each of the first frames, its reference cue to respective target cues of the second frames to generate synchronization data; and

means for selecting, for each of the first frames, a corresponding second frame to be superimposed thereon using the synchronization data.

53. The computer system of claim 43, wherein the superimposing step comprises:

means for comparing, for each of the second frames, its target cue to respective reference cues of the first frames to generate synchronization data; and

means for selecting, for each of the second frames, a corresponding first frame to be superimposed upon using the synchronization data.