Device, system, method and computer-readable storage medium for analyzing tennis swing motion

• US 9,311,727 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2012
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited
• Original Assignee: Dunlop Sports Co. Ltd. (Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Yosuke, Horiuchi, Kuniyasu, Takihara, Hironori
• Primary Examiner(s): Drennan, Barry
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hickey, Diana
• Application Number:
  US13/652,143
• Publication Number:
  US 20130127866A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,275 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/31 Relative speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/34 Angular speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/36 Speed measurement by electric or magnetic parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/44 Angular acceleration
• 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 69/38 for tennis A63B61/006, A63B69/0073 and A63B69/0097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0619 Displays, user interfaces and indicating devices, specially adapted for sport equipment, e.g. display mounted on treadmills
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/18 in two or more dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0038 Sports

Abstract

A tennis swing movement analyzing apparatus of the present invention includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire sampling data obtained by sampling a swing movement of a tennis racket by a user; a calculation unit configured to, based on the sampling data, calculate an indicator selected from among the velocity, the acceleration, the angular velocity, and the position of the tennis racket or a ball hit by the tennis racket and an arbitrary combination thereof; and a screen creation unit configured to create a GUI screen displaying a graph area that is divided into a plurality of areas respectively indicating types of swings and displaying the indicator in the graph area.

Claims

1. A tennis swing movement analyzing apparatus comprising:

a communication interface configured to acquire sampling data obtained by sampling a swing movement of a tennis racket by a user measured by at least one of a sensor unit and a camera; and

a CPU,

configured to, based on the sampling data, calculate an indicator, the indicator being a head velocity component ratio of the tennis racket of a first directional component of a head velocity to a second directional component of the head velocity, the first directional component being different from the second directional component, and

configured to create a GUI screen on an output unit displaying at least one graph area that is each divided into a plurality of areas respectively indicating user'"'"'s swing types and displaying the indicator in the graph area,

wherein the graph area is an area defined by a first axis and a second axis, in which the first directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket corresponds to the first axis, and the second directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket, being orthogonal to the first directional component, corresponds to the second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis, and

wherein the plurality of areas correspond to different head velocity component ratios of the tennis rackets and are defined to represent different swing types, respectively.

2. The analyzing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the GUI screen displays an auxiliary line for indicating a boundary between the plurality of areas in the graph area.

3. The analyzing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the auxiliary line is inclined to the axis of the graph area.

4. The analyzing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the graph area does not have a time axis.

5. The analyzing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the GUI screen displays the plurality of areas included in the graph area in different display formats.

6. The analyzing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the indicator is the velocity of the tennis racket.

7. The analyzing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the CPU is configured to calculate a plurality of types of the indicators including a first indicator and a second indicator, and the graph area is an area in which the first indicator corresponds to a first axis, and the second indicator corresponds to a second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis.

8. The analyzing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the CPU is configured to calculate the indicator for each unit of the swing movement, and the GUI screen displays a plurality of the indicators in the graph area at the same time, the plurality of the indicators respectively corresponding to a plurality of units of the swing movement.

9. The analyzing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the communication interface is configured to acquire the sampling data obtained by sampling the swing movement of different tennis rackets by the user, and the CPU is configured to calculate the indicator based on the sampling data for each unit of the swing movement belonging to the different tennis rackets.

10. A tennis swing movement analyzing system comprising:

the analyzing apparatus according to claim 1; and

a sampling apparatus configured to generate the sampling data by sampling the swing movement, and transmit the sampling data to the communication interface.

11. A tennis swing movement analyzing apparatus comprising:

a communication interface configured to acquire sampling data obtained by sampling a swing movement of a tennis racket by a user measured by at least one of a sensor unit and a camera; and

a CPU,

configured to calculate an indicator for each unit of the swing movement based on the sampling data, the indicator being a head velocity component ratio of the tennis racket of a first directional component of a head velocity to a second directional component of the head velocity, the first directional component being different from the second directional component, and

configured to create a GUI screen on an output unit displaying a graph area and a plurality of values of the same one indicator in the same one graph area at the same time, the values of the indicator in the graph area respectively corresponding to different swing movements,

wherein the graph area is an area defined by a first axis and a second axis, in which the first directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket corresponds to the first axis, and the second directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket, being orthogonal to the first directional component, corresponds to the second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis, and

wherein the plurality of areas correspond to different head velocity component ratios of the tennis rackets and are defined to represent different swing types, respectively.

12. A tennis swing movement analyzing system comprising:

the analyzing apparatus according to claim 11; and

a sampling apparatus configured to generate the sampling data by sampling the swing movement, and transmit the sampling data to the communication interface.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing an analyzing program for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

acquiring sampling data obtained by sampling a swing movement of a tennis racket by a user;

calculating, based on the sampling data, an indicator, the indicator being a head velocity component ratio of the tennis racket of a first directional component of a head velocity to a second directional component of the head velocity, the first directional component being different from the second directional component; and

creating a GUI screen displaying at least one graph area that is each divided into a plurality of areas respectively indicating user'"'"'s swing types and displaying the indicator in the graph area,

wherein the graph area is an area defined by a first axis and a second axis, in which the first directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket corresponds to the first axis, and the second directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket, being orthogonal to the first directional component, corresponds to the second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis, and

wherein the plurality of areas correspond to different head velocity component ratios of the tennis rackets and are defined to represent different swing types, respectively.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing an analyzing program for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

acquiring sampling data obtained by sampling a swing movement of a tennis racket by a user;

calculating an indicator for each unit of the swing movement based on the sampling data, the indicator being a head velocity component ratio of the tennis racket of a first directional component of a head velocity to a second directional component of the head velocity, the first directional component being different from the second directional component; and

creating a GUI screen displaying a graph area and a plurality of values of the same one indicator in the same one graph area at the same time, the values of the indicator in the graph area respectively corresponding to different swing movements,

wherein the graph area is an area defined by a first axis and a second axis, in which the first directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket corresponds to the first axis, and the second directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket, being orthogonal to the first directional component, corresponds to the second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis, and

wherein the plurality of areas correspond to different head velocity component ratios of the tennis rackets and are defined to represent different swing types, respectively.

15. An analyzing method comprising the steps of:

acquiring by using a computer, sampling data obtained by sampling a swing movement of a tennis racket by a user;

calculating by using the computer, based on the sampling data, an indicator, the indicator being a head velocity component ratio of the tennis racket of a first directional component of a head velocity to a second directional component of the head velocity, the first directional component being different from the second directional component; and

creating by using the computer, a GUI screen displaying at least one graph area that is each divided into a plurality of areas respectively indicating user'"'"'s swing types and displaying the indicator in the graph area,

wherein the graph area is an area defined by a first axis and a second axis, in which the first directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket corresponds to the first axis, and the second directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket, being orthogonal to the first directional component, corresponds to the second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis, and

wherein the plurality of areas correspond to different head velocity component ratios of the tennis rackets and are defined to represent different swing types, respectively.

16. An analyzing method comprising the steps of:

acquiring by using a computer, sampling data obtained by sampling a swing movement of a tennis racket by a user;

calculating by using the computer, an indicator for each unit of the swing movement based on the sampling data, the indicator being a head velocity component ratio of the tennis racket of a first directional component of a head velocity to a second directional component of the head velocity, the first directional component being different from the second directional component; and

creating by using the computer, a GUI screen displaying a graph area and a plurality of values of the same one indicator in the same one graph area at the same time, the values of the indicator in the graph area respectively corresponding to different swing movements,

wherein the graph area is an area defined by a first axis and a second axis, in which the first directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket corresponds to the first axis, and the second directional component of the head velocity of the tennis racket, being orthogonal to the first directional component, corresponds to the second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis, and

wherein the plurality of areas correspond to different head velocity component ratios of the tennis rackets and are defined to represent different swing types, respectively.