BACKGROUND
The embodiments herein relate generally to sports equipment and more particularly, to a glove and system for tracking the striking of ball.
Numerous sports training aids are available to measure and track performance of sport's-based movement. There are, for example, dongles and other accelerometer-based devices which track the moment of impact of a baseball/softball bat or golf club on its respective ball type. In sports that use overhead throwing motion there is ineffective performance optimization due to the lack of subject feedback. Players that required to clear a third-party object (for example, in volleyball, attacking the net) are inconsistent without objective feedback. There is no data relationship between vertical reach and an overhead point of contact. In volleyball, training aids are generally restricted to manual passive devices, for example, tethers or the like, that return the ball to the user once the ball is hit. The lack of feedback renders these aids ineffective for feedback.
SUMMARY
In one aspect of the subject technology, a system is disclosed. The system includes an article configured to be held or carried. A plurality sensors are integrated into the article. A wireless transmitter in the article is coupled to the plurality of sensors. One or more detectors is coupled to a support, and positioned remotely from the article. The one or more detectors are configured to detect a position of the article. A processor is coupled to a receiver. The processor is configured to receive a first signal from the plurality of sensors integrated into the article in response to a ball being struck. A second signal is received by the processor from the one or more detectors positioned remotely from the article. The processor determines a position of the article based on the second signal. The processor determines an angle at which the ball was struck by the article based on the first signal.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
The detailed description of some embodiments of the invention is made below with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein like numerals represent corresponding parts of the figures.
FIG. 1 is a front view of a glove according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a rear view of the glove of FIG. 1, consistent with embodiments.
FIG. 3 is a perspective front view of a node according to an embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a perspective rear view of the node of FIG. 3, consistent with embodiments.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a glove's electronic architecture according to an embodiment of the subject technology.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a node's electronic architecture according to an embodiment of the subject technology.
FIG. 7 is a top perspective view of an example sensor for use in one or more devices of embodiments of the subject technology.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for processing a ball strike by a glove of the subject technology according to an embodiment.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method for processing ball strike data received by a node of the subject technology according to an embodiment.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a method for processing data received by a hub of the subject technology according to an embodiment.
FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic view of a system for tracking ball strikes according to an embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS
Overview
In general, and referring to the Figures, embodiments of the disclosed subject technology provide a system for tracking and measuring performance attributes of a ball (or other object in some cases) struck by an end user. Aspects of the subject technology may be used in athletic endeavors. It will be appreciated that the combination of elements provide users with performance feedback that can be readily accessed on site as the user engages in some striking activity. Statistical performance data is generated in real-time as a user strike a ball or object, thus providing users with information that can be used to make adjustments to the striking motion.
In some embodiments, applications of the embodiments disclosed below may be performed on a field of play but may also be adapted to a makeshift practice area outside a regulation court or field. The elements of the subject technology may be used in live game action or during practice. Data collected by the subject technology may be used to update live statistics for the benefit of those watching a game/match. Or in a practice setting, users can review performance data after every strike, after a pause in session, or after practice has terminated.
In a system embodiment, a hand-worn (for example, glove) or carried (for example, racquet, paddle, stick, bat, etc.) article includes a plurality of sensors that determine various attributes of the striking action. Attributes may include the distance of the user from a reference point (for example, a net, a post, etc.), an angle of contact with the ball or object, a velocity of strike, rotation imparted on the ball or object, and other attributes depending on the application. The article includes a wireless transmitter that provides sensor data from the article to a hub which has a computing device to process the sensor data. Other detectors may be coupled to the reference point to help determine one or more of the attributes related to the strike (including for example, the position of the user (location on a field of play). A hub may include a computing device and/or a receiver that receives signals from the article's sensors and from the detectors on the reference point. The computing device may process the signals to determine the attributes associated with strikes as they occur.
In the description that follows, embodiments are described in the context of volleyball gameplay, in other words, for measuring volleyball strikes so that the reader can visualize an example application of the article and the system. However, it should be understood that the inventive aspects of the subject technology may be adapted to other gameplay endeavors depending on the sport, without departing from the scope of the subject technology. Accordingly, the scope of protection should not be read as limited to the example used for illustration.
Referring temporarily to FIG. 11, a representation of a volleyball court and example placement of devices in the system is shown according to an embodiment. The system generally includes a glove 10 (hereinafter, generally referred to as the “article 10”) worn by the end user, nodes 20 that include wireless signal receivers (“nodes”) which are shown placed on corners of a volleyball net 24 and that serve as reference points, a hub to receive signals from the glove and the nodes 20, and a computing device 26 that processes the data signals received from the glove and nodes 20. In some embodiments, the hub is one of the nodes 20 and includes the same hardware as all other nodes 20, but is designated as the relay point for all signals captured by the nodes 20 to be transmitted to the computing device 26. In one application, the system measures the vertical distance of a player's hand from a baseline (or other reference point) of the field of play, the speed of the hand while hitting a ball, the angle at which the hand hits the ball, and detects when the player's hand hits the ball.
Device Embodiments—Article
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, an example of an article 10 is shown in the form of a glove that is worn by a user 22. The glove may include a plurality of sensors 12 integrated into the glove (however in some embodiments, the sensors 12 may be coupled to an exterior of the article). The sensors 12 may be Piezo electric sensors that convert mechanical stress and deformation into electrical signals. FIG. 7 shows an example of a Piezo electric type sensor 12. As can be seen, the sensor 12 may have a generally disc shape. the central portion of the sensor 12 may flex away from the outer rim portion. Piezo electric sensors are devices that convert mechanical stress and deformation into electrical signals. When a force is applied to a piezoelectric material, an electric charge is generated which can be measured as a voltage proportional to the pressure. A given static force results in a corresponding charge across the sensor. Piezoelectric sensors are sensitive to dynamic changes in pressure across a wide range of frequencies and pressures. This dynamic sensitivity means they are good at measuring small changes in pressure, even in a very high-pressure environment which makes them suitable for detecting volleyball strikes.
Referring back now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the glove shows an example of sensor 12 placement for capturing impact data from striking the volleyball. Depending on which sensors 12 make contact with the volleyball (and other detected impact characteristics), different volleyball shots may be represented by the combinations of detected sensors impacted. For example, the number of sensors registering a strike and their location on the article 10 may vary depending on the type of volleyball strikes recorded. For example, the placement of the touch sensors onto the glove may be positioned to detect for example, cut shots, high line shots, pokey hits, and jumbo shots. In detecting the shot type, combinations of sensors may be triggered. As shown in FIG. 2, the article 10 may include a controller module 14. The controller module 14 may include a power source for powering the electronic components, a signal transmission element, a charging module, and a control unit to coordinate detected signals and transmit signals to remotely positioned elements. In some embodiments, the controller module 14 may include a charging port 16 and/or indicator lights 18 that indicate the current battery level of the article 10.
FIG. 5 shows an electrical architecture 500 of connected electronic elements that may be hidden from view in FIGS. 1 and 2 in an article 10 according to an exemplary embodiment. The article 10 includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU) 512 coupled to one or more touch sensors 510 (which are analogous to sensors 12 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2). The IMU 512 may include for example, an accelerometer (to detect speed of the article 10) and a gyroscope that detects rotation of the glove. Signals detected by the sensors 510 and the IMU 512 may be received and processed by a main control unit (MCU) 516.
In some embodiments, the MCU 516 of a glove may have an identifier programmed into the chip's memory storage. The identifier may be used to identify which glove is sending data to the computing device 26. This will be helpful and useful when multiple users are participating in the endeavor simultaneously (for example, in a game with opposing teams). Each user's striking performance may be received, segregated from other gloves being used during the endeavor, and data may be recorded and analyzed separately for each glove. In a high-paced activity such as volleyball, the ability of the system to quickly identify the source of a strike may be useful for both individual performance and to track the sequence of hits in a game. Additional gameplay data including for example, which side is hitting the ball, tracking hit type (i.e., serves, spikes, bumps, sets, dumps, etc.), identify the player with each hit (or error), and points scored may be extrapolated from the data provided by the gloves and nodes. In some embodiments, automatic scoring of a match may be automatically generated by analyzing the data from gloves and nodes.
Processed data signals from the MCU 516 may be transmitted by a short-range protocol transmitter 518 (to for example, computing device 26). The MCU 516 and transmitter 518 may be part of a controller module 514 (analogous to the controller module 14 of FIGS. 1 and 2). On the power side of the glove, a battery charging module 502 may be plugged into a power source to charge up a battery 504. A slide switch 506 coupled to the battery 504 may be used to turn the glove components on and off. Some embodiments may include a voltage regulator 508 that may be controlled by the MCU 516 to control voltage levels applied to the sensors 510 and IMU 512. In some embodiments, the MCU 516 may be programmed to automatically put the glove into sleep mode when the IMU 512 detects that the glove is at rest, conserving valuable battery power during downtimes. The MCU 516 may be programmed to automatically power on when the IMU 512 moves. Although the glove may generally be in sleep mode, the IMU 512 may reserve some power while other components are asleep, to operate in the event the glove is moved. The MCU 516 may also be programmed to perform the required functions needed in an application of the system.
Device Embodiments—Nodes/Hub
Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4, and 6 embodiments of the nodes/hub 20 are shown according to exemplary embodiments. As shown previously in FIG. 11, the nodes 20 may be placed for example, at the top and bottom of support poles for the volleyball net 24. The nodes 20 (and hub) may be detector modules that include similar elements to the article 10 (for example, a controller module 14, a charging port 16 and/or indicator lights 18), except that the IMU and touch sensors are unnecessary. FIG. 6 shows an electrical architecture 600 representing the nodes 20 and of the hub. A controller module 610 may include a MCU 612 and a short-range protocol transmitter 614. In some embodiments, the node 20 designated as the hub may have its MCU 612 designated as the only node 20 that should communicate with the computing device 26. All other nodes 20 may have their short-range protocol transmitter 614 communicate directly to the short-range protocol transmitter 614 of the hub. In some embodiments, the node 20 closest to the computing device 26 may be designated the hub. In operation, as the user strikes the volleyball, one or more nodes 20 will detect the range of the article 10 from their respective location (for example, placement on the net). The detected relative distance of the article 10 to each node 20 may be provided by each node 20 to the hub's MCU 612. In some embodiments, the hub may directly receive the article 10's sensor data and forward it to the computing device 26. In other embodiments, the data from article 10's sensors may be sent directly from the article 10 to the computing device 26. On the power side of architecture 600, the nodes 20 may include a battery charger 602, a battery 604, a slide switch 606, and a voltage regulator 608 to control the voltage levels applied to the controller module 610.
Methodologies
The below described method embodiments may represent program instructions on the device side of the system. In some embodiments, the methods may be in the form of software executable by a computer processor unit or similar circuit.
FIG. 8 shows a process 800 of detecting striking performance by the article 10 (glove) in the system of the subject technology. In some embodiments, while a player is standing in court waiting for the ball, the glove electronics may be in sleep mode 802. When a hand wearing the glove of the subject technology hits a ball, the MCU of the glove may receive 804 a signal from the touch sensor(s). This signal triggers a wake-up the glove's electronics from sleep mode to process 806 the sensor signal(s). The MCU in the glove calculates 806 the speed of the hand on impact with the ball based on data from the IMU. The MCU may determine 810 the angle of the hand on impact with the ball based on a rotation in the IMU and/or the sensors activated at impact. The signals from the touch sensors and IMU along with the signals from the nodes may be used to determine the player wearing the glove (i.e. hitting the ball), the speed of the hit, and angle of the hit. These values along with the player (glove) ID are broadcasted 814 to the nodes/hub. Once these values are broadcasted, the glove may go back to deep sleep mode.
FIG. 9 shows a process 900 for processing data in nodes of the system. When the nodes and the hub are switched on, they go into reception mode 902 to receive messages from the glove. In some embodiments, the nodes/hub may be continuously polling to determine 904 whether a signal from a glove is received. In wireless communication protocols, each node's controller module may process 906 the glove signals. In an embodiment, the MCU may calculate 908 the distance of the glove from the receiving node based on the strength of the wireless signal received. For example, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) may be used to determine how far the transmitter (for example, the glove of the striking hand) is from the node. The RSSI may be used to calculate the vertical and/or horizontal distance between the glove and some reference points (e.g., the baseline, the net, a location of a node). As will be appreciated, in the context of volleyball, determining vertical distance is very helpful in determining whether a strike of a ball will clear the height of the net. Volleyball players can see from the data how successful a hitting motion is performing and can make adjustments based on the data the system provides. Adjustments of the hitting motion can be further refined based on new data. Once the message is received from a glove, each receiver (nodes/hub) uses the RSSI value to calculate its distance from the glove. The nodes then send their distance from the glove to the hub which calculates the vertical distance based on for example, trilateration. The calculated distance and identification message from the glove and/or node are packaged 912 and transmitted 914 to the hub.
Referring now to FIG. 10, a process 1000 for processing data signals at the hub is shown according to an embodiment. Similar to the nodes, the hub is also kept in reception mode 1014 to receive messages, both from the gloves and the nodes (which have their own reception mode 1002). The left side of the figure represents the process 900 which is repeated here so that one can see the integration of glove signals with node and hub signaling. Accordingly, it will be understood that blocks 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008, 1010, and 1012 match blocks 902, 904, 906, 908, 910, and 912, and thus there description is not repeated here. Once the complete set of messages from the glove and nodes is received 1016 at the hub, the hub processing unit determines 1018 striking data and source of the striking data. for example, the MCU of the hub calculates 1020 the vertical distance between the glove and the baseline. In addition, the MCU of the hub uses the information from the glove signal and from the node signal to determine 1024, player ID, the vertical distance, the angle of the hand at impact, and the speed with which the ball hits the hand. The determined data is forwarded 1026 to the computing device. In some embodiments, the aforementioned calculations for location of the user, speed of striking, angle of striking, and identification may be instead performed at the computing device using software. The computing device may include an application that displays the data generated from the glove strike. In some embodiments, the data is displayed as a game scorekeeping program that includes individuals' statistics.
While the mobile computing device 26 shown is a smart phone, other embodiments may use a desktop computer, laptop computer, computing tablet, or wearable device (for example, a heads-up display). The disclosed invention may be embodied as a system, method or process, or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the disclosed invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the disclosed invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable media having computer readable program code embodied thereon.
Aspects of the disclosed invention are described above with reference to block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to the processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks
Persons of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that numerous design configurations may be possible to enjoy the functional benefits of the inventive systems. Thus, given the wide variety of configurations and arrangements of embodiments of the present invention the scope of the invention is reflected by the breadth of the claims below rather than narrowed by the embodiments described above.
Patent Application
20240408477
