Patent Application
20190042838
One or more embodiments setting forth the ideas described throughout this disclosure pertain to the field of motion capture sensors that produce motion capture data, and displaying information based on motion analysis data associated with a user or piece of equipment or clothing based on previous motion analysis data from the user or other user(s) and/or piece of equipment or clothing. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, one or more aspects of the disclosure enable a wireless or closely coupled intelligent motion capture sensor in a variety of physical formats including standalone and SIM for example that obtains any combination of orientation, position, velocity, acceleration, proximity, pressure or strain and that enables use of the actual motion capture data obtained from portable wireless motion capture elements such as visual markers and sensors, radio frequency identification tags and mobile device computer systems for healthcare compliance, sporting, gaming, military, virtual reality, industrial, retail loss tracking, security, baby and elderly monitoring and other applications and in one or more embodiment includes sensor personalities that optimize the sensor for specific movements and/or pieces of equipment and/or clothing. Embodiments enable highly sophisticated calibration, power saving, dynamic sampling rates or modes, intermittent data transfer for power saving and robustness, interpolation, pairing and displays including remote displays on a mobile device or other computer, or via a local physical display.
Known motion capture sensors are limited for a variety of reasons. One main limitation of known motion capture sensors is accuracy, another limitation is power usage. In addition, known sensors have limited functionality directed at motion and also have limited communications capabilities. Know sensors are specific to a sport or piece of equipment and are incapable of being utilized in multiple pieces of equipment by decoupling and recoupling with a second piece of equipment for example. There are no known helmet based accelerometers that are retrofittable into an existing helmet for example with or without local LED displays to indicate potential concussion level acceleration. Existing systems are known that utilize motion capture sensors to perform remote vital sign monitoring for example, but not based on motion and not based on previously stored motion data from the user or other users or piece of equipment. For example, baby monitoring would be improved significantly if the pattern of the previous motion for chest movement or breathing of the baby were compared to current motion. This allows for display of warnings that a baby's breathing is slower on a particular night than usual, which may indicate that the baby is becoming ill. This would also enable remote sleep apnea monitoring as well. For children that play video games, there are no known systems that compare motion of the game controller to previous motion of the child to determine if the child has been playing video games too much, or in comparison to other children that the child is playing an above average amount. There are no known systems that enable a display to be sent to a monitoring parent or physician based on anything other than current vital signs. The physician could also receive a display of any type of message that indicates if a child or adult is moving a certain amount or not at all or a certain amount in comparison to their usual motion during exercise. This would facilitate diabetes compliance monitoring to ensure the patient is moving enough per day and compared to their previous patterns or other patient patterns with similar demographics for example, and may save the doctor from paying higher insurance premiums if the doctor were able to remotely ensure that each patient is complying with orders. In addition, other types of motion capture includes a technique to teach effective body mechanics utilizes video recording of an athlete and analysis of the recorded video of an athlete. This technique has various limitations including inaccurate and inconsistent subjective analysis based on video for example. Another technique includes motion analysis, for example using at least two cameras to capture three-dimensional points of movement associated with an athlete. Known implementations utilize a stationary multi-camera system that is not portable and thus cannot be utilized outside of the environment where the system is installed, for example during an athletic event such as a golf tournament. These fixed installations are extremely expensive as well. Such prior techniques are summarized in U.S. Pat. No. 7,264,554, filed 26 Jan. 2006, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/647,751 filed 26 Jan. 2005, the specifications of which are both hereby incorporated herein by reference. Both disclosures are to the same inventor of the subject matter of the instant application. Regardless of the motion capture data obtained, the data is generally analyzed on a per user or per swing basis that does not contemplate processing on a mobile phone, so that a user would only buy a motion capture sensor and an “app” for a pre-existing mobile phone. In addition, existing solutions do not contemplate mobile use, analysis and messaging and/or comparison to or use of previously stored motion capture data from the user or other users or data mining of large data sets of motion capture data. To summarize, motion capture data is generally used for immediate monitoring or sports performance feedback and generally has had limited and/or primitive use in other fields.
Known systems generally utilize several passive or active markers or several sensors. There are no known systems that utilize as little as one visual marker or sensor and an app that for example executes on a mobile device that a user already owns, to analyze and display motion capture data associated with a user and/or piece of equipment. The data is generally analyzed in a laboratory on a per user or per swing basis and is not used for any other purpose besides motion analysis or representation of motion of that particular user and is generally not subjected to data mining.
There are no known systems that allow for a group of mobile devices to share data to form three-dimensional motion capture data by triangulation of visual markers. There are no known systems that allow for a mobile device without a camera to obtain images from cameras or other mobile devices with cameras to display motion capture data. In addition, known systems do not save images of users along with motion capture data for later use, including gaming, morphological comparing, compliance, tracking calories burned, work performed, monitoring of children or elderly based on motion or previous motion patterns that vary during the day and night, safety monitoring for troops when G-forces exceed a threshold or motion stops, local use of running, jumping throwing motion capture data for example on a cell phone including virtual reality applications that make use of the user's current and/or previous data or data from other users, or play music or select a play list based on the type of motion a user is performing or data mining.
There are no known mobile motion captures systems that allow for a user to align a camera correctly along the horizontal before capture of motion data having horizontally aligned images.
There are no known systems that allow for motion capture elements such as wireless sensors to seamlessly integrate or otherwise couple with a user or shoes, gloves, shirts, pants, belts, or other equipment, such as a baseball bat, tennis racquet or golf club for local analysis or later analysis in such a small format that the user is not aware that the sensors are located in or on these items. There are no known systems that provide seamless mounts, for example in the weight port of a golf club or at the end shaft near the handle so as to provide a wireless golf club, configured to capture motion data. Data derived from existing sensors is not saved in a database for a large number of events and is not used relative to anything but the performance at which the motion capture data was acquired.
In addition, for sports that utilize a piece of equipment and a ball, there are no known portable systems that allow the user to obtain immediate visual feedback regarding ball flight distance, swing speed, swing efficiency of the piece of equipment or how centered an impact of the ball is, i.e., where on piece of equipment the collision of the ball has taken place. These systems do not allow for user's to play games with the motion capture data acquired from other users, or historical players, or from their own previous performances. Known systems do not allow for data mining motion capture data from a large number of swings to suggest or allow the searching for better or optimal equipment to match a user's motion capture data and do not enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to make business decisions, e.g., improve their products, compare their products to other manufacturers, up-sell products or contact users that may purchase different or more profitable products.
In addition, there are no known systems that utilize motion capture data mining for equipment fitting and subsequent point-of-sale decision making for instantaneous purchasing of equipment that fits an athlete. Furthermore, no known systems allow for custom order fulfillment such as assemble-to-order (ATO) for custom order fulfillment of sporting equipment, for example equipment that is built to customer specifications based on motion capture data mining, and shipped to the customer to complete the point of sales process.
In addition, there are no known systems that use a mobile device and RFID tags for passive compliance and monitoring applications. For example, known systems for counting golf shots are cumbersome and require electronics on each golf club and/or switches that a user is required to operate. In addition, known devices also require active electronics, and therefore batteries in each golf club to operate. There are no known systems that allow a golfer to easily record a shot and location of a shot automatically and/or prompt a user to remember to record each shot for a particular club without a battery and active electronics on the club, for example that is not a practice shot. Known systems do not save the shots per user per course over time in a database and do not contemplate data mining the motion capture data, or shot count and distance data for example to allow for OEMs to purchase access to the database for business decision making for example.
There are no known systems that enable data mining for a large number of users related to their motion or motion of associated equipment to find patterns in the data that allows for business strategies to be determined based on heretofore undiscovered patterns related to motion. There are no known systems that enable obtain payment from OEMs, medical professionals, gaming companies or other end users to allow data mining of motion data. For at least the limitations described above there is a need for a system and method for utilizing motion capture data.
There are no known sensors that reside in a variety of formats and which may make use of a single “app” on a mobile phone for example to obtain motion data from multiple different pieces of equipment or clothing for a particular user.
Embodiments of the invention enable a motion capture sensor configured to capture any combination of values associated with an orientation, position, velocity, acceleration, proximity, pressure or strain that produces motion capture data based on a sensor personality selected from a plurality of sensor personalities, wherein the sensor personality is configured to control sensor settings to collect the data in an optimal manner with respect to a specific type of movement associated with a specific piece of equipment or type of clothing. Embodiments of the invention are more accurate and power efficient than known devices and provide variations of communications capabilities for local or remote communication. Embodiments provide increased capabilities with optional proximity sensors and may be utilized in conjunction with external devices to provide alarm clock capabilities and other functionality. Embodiments of the invention may be utilized by a user that optionally purchases an application or “app” and purchases a motion capture element. Embodiments may be immediately utilizes with an existing computer or mobile computer, e.g., mobile phone. Embodiments of the invention enable applications in healthcare compliance, sporting, gaming, military, fire, police, virtual reality, industrial, retail loss tracking, security, baby and elderly monitoring and other applications through use of motion capture data obtained from one or more users instrumented pieces of sporting equipment. Embodiments of the invention may produce motion capture data that enables the display of motion information to a monitoring user, or user associated with the motion capture sensor (or motion capture element), or piece of equipment. Embodiments may also display information based on motion analysis data associated with a user or piece of equipment based on (via a function including comparison) previously stored motion capture data or motion analysis data associated with the user or piece of equipment or previously stored motion capture data or motion analysis data associated with at least one other user. This enables sophisticated monitoring, compliance, interaction with actual motion capture data or pattern obtained from other user(s), for example to play a virtual game using real motion data obtained from the user with responses generated based thereon using real motion data capture from the user previously or from other users (or equipment). This capability provides for playing against historical players, for example a game of virtual tennis, or playing against an “average” professional sports person, and is unknown in the art until now.
Embodiments of the invention may be utilized by data mining on the motion capture data to obtain patterns for users, equipment, or use the motion capture data of a given user or other user. Data mining relates to discovering new patterns in large databases wherein the patterns are previously unknown. Many methods may be applied to the data to discover new patterns including statistical analysis, neural networks and artificial intelligence for example. Due to the large amount of data, automated data mining may be performed by one or more computers to find unknown patterns in the data. Unknown patterns may include groups of related data, anomalies in the data, dependencies between elements of the data, classifications and functions that model the data with minimal error or any other type of unknown pattern. Displays of data mining results may include displays that summarize newly discovered patterns in a way that is easier for a user to understand than large amounts of pure raw data. One of the results of the data mining process is improved market research reports, product improvement, lead generation and targeted sales. Generally, any type of data that will be subjected to data mining must be cleansed, data mined and the results of which are generally validated. Businesses may increase profits using data mining. Examples of benefits of embodiments of the invention include customer relationship management to highly target individuals based on patterns discovered in the data. In addition, market basket analysis data mining enables identifying products that are purchased or owned by the same individuals and which can be utilized to offer products to users that own one product but who do not own another product that is typically owned by other users. Other areas of data mining include analyzing large sets of motion data from different users to suggest exercises to improve performance based on performance data from other users. For example if one user has less rotation of the hips during a swing versus the average user, then exercises to improve flexibility or strength may be suggested by the system. In a golf course embodiment, golf course planners may determine over a large amount of users on a golf course which holes should be adjusted in length or difficulty to obtain more discrete values for the average number of shots per hole, or for determining the amount of time between golfers, for example at a certain time of day or for golfers of a certain age. In addition, sports and medical applications of data mining include determining morphological changes in user performance over time, for example versus diet or exercise changes to determine what improves performance the most. Use of motion capture data for a particular user or with respect to other users enables healthcare compliance, for example to ensure a person with diabetes moves a certain amount during the day, and morphological analysis to determine how a user's motion or range of motion has changed over time. Games may be played with motion capture data that enables virtual reality play against historical greats or other users. For example, a person may play against a previous performance of the same person or against the motion capture data of a friend. This allows users to play a game in a historic stadium or venue in a virtual reality environment, but with motion capture data acquired from the user or other users previously for example. Displays that are color coded or show portions of motion that differ from the user's previous motion, or an average of the user's previous motion or the “best” motion from the user's previous motion may be shown on any computer coupled with embodiments of the invention. Military planners may utilize the motion capture data to determine which soldiers are most fit and therefore eligible for special operations, or which ones should retire. Embodiments of the motion capture sensors may be utilized in retail loss applications by wirelessly alerting a server when an item associated with the motion capture sensor has moved to a location outside of a store and may for example wirelessly transmit the location, speed, direction, etc., of the item to law enforcement. Embodiments of the invention may also be utilized for baby and elderly monitors to determine when motion occurs or stops, wherein embodiments of the invention may alert a third party based on the motion or lack thereof.
Embodiments of the invention may be utilized with a system to perform motion capture and/or display with an application for example that optionally executes on mobile device that may include a visual display and an optional camera. Embodiments of the system are configured to obtain motion capture data from at least one motion capture sensor or element such as a visual marker and/or a wireless sensor. The system can also integrate with standalone cameras, or cameras on multiple mobile devices. The system also enables the user to analyze and display the motion capture data in a variety of ways that provide immediate easy to understand graphical information associated with the motion capture data. Motion capture elements utilized in the system intelligently store data for example related to events associated with striking a ball, making a ski turn, jumping, etc., and eliminate false events, and greatly improve memory usage and minimize storage requirements. In addition, the data may be stored for example for more than one event associated with the sporting equipment, for example multiple bat swings or for an entire round of golf or more if necessary at least until the data is downloaded to a mobile device or to the Internet. Data compression of captured data may also be utilized to store more motion capture data in a given amount of memory. Motion capture elements utilized in the system may also be configured to intelligently power down portions of their circuitry to save power, for example power down transceivers until motion is detected of a certain type. Embodiments of the invention may also utilize flexible battery connectors to couple two or more batteries in parallel to increase the time the system may be utilized before replacing the batteries. Motion capture data is generally stored in memory such as a local database or in a network accessible database, any of which enables data mining described above. Any other type of data mining may be performed using embodiments of the invention, including searching for temporal changes of data related to one or more users and or simply searching for data related to a particular user or piece of equipment. Embodiments of the invention may also utilize BLUETOOTH® Low Energy Profiles that further conserve power. In addition, embodiments of the invention may intelligently calculate gravity vectors for orientation at one or more points in time to increase accuracy and change sampling rates as a function of time or acceleration to further increase accuracy over a G-force range. Proximity sensors in one or more embodiments of the invention or coupled with a mobile computer may be utilized to determine whether a piece of sporting equipment has been accidentally left behind or is the piece of equipment being utilized, or may be utilized for shot tracking for certain types of equipment in certain sports. Proximity sensors for example may be combined on an ASIC with embodiments of the motion capture sensor to provide increased capabilities. In addition, a BLE radio may be combined on an ASIC with the motion capture sensor to provide a single chip solution for motion capture. One or more embodiments of the invention may communicate with a mobile computer that is local using local communications protocols or may communicate distally using longer range communications protocols as desired and based on available energy. Embodiments of the invention may be utilized to provide an alarm clock, for example by utilizing motion capture data associated with a mobile computer, wherein the alarm stops when the mobile computer is moved by a user.
Embodiments of the invention may calibrate more than one sensor at a time, either while mounted on a piece of equipment or in a hexapod so that for example a large number of motion capture elements may be calibrated by moving one piece of equipment coupled to the motion capture elements that in turn moves the motion capture elements in the number of desired axes.
Other embodiments may display information such as music selections or music playlists to be played based on the motion related data. This for example enables a performance to be compared to another user's performance and select the type of music the other user plays, or to compare the performance relative to a threshold that determines what type of music selection to suggest or display.
Embodiments of the invention directed at sports for example may couple with RFID tags or passive RFID tags directly or indirectly that are placed on items that a user moves wherein embodiments of the system keep track of the motion. For example, by placing passive RFID tags on particular dumbbells at a gym, and by wearing motion capture elements such as gloves and with a pre-existing mobile device for example an IPHONE®, embodiments of the invention provide automatic fitness and/or healthcare compliance. This is achieved by keeping track of the motion, and via RIFD or passive RFID, the weight that the user is lifting. Proximity detection via power associated with a particular RFID tag or using a proximity detector coupled with the RFID tag or motion sensor may be utilized alone or in combination to better detect the equipment that a user is using. Embodiments of the system may thus add the number of repetitions multiplied by the amount of weight indicated by each RFID tag to calculate the number of calories burned by the user. In another example, an RFID tag coupled with a stationary bike, or wherein the stationary bike can mimic the identifier and/or communicate wirelessly to provide performance data and wherein the mobile computer includes an RFID reader, the number of rotations of the user's legs may be counted. Any other use of RFID or passive RFID is in keeping with the spirit of the invention. This enables doctors to remotely determine whether a user has complied with their medical recommendations. Embodiments may thus be utilized by users to ensure compliance and by doctors to lower their malpractice insurance rates since they are ensuring that their patients are complying with their recommendations, albeit remotely. Embodiments of the system do not require RFID tags for medical compliance, but may utilize them. Embodiments of the system directed at golf also enable golf shots for each club associated with a golfer to be counted through use of an identifier such as RFID tags on each club (or optionally via an identifier associated with motion capture electronics on a golf club or obtained remotely over the radio) and a mobile computer, for example an IPHONE® equipped with an RFID reader that concentrates the processing for golf shot counting on the mobile computer instead of on each golf club. Embodiments of the invention may also allow for the measurement of orientation (North/South, and/or two horizontal axes and the vertical axis) and acceleration using an inertial measurement unit, or accelerometers and/or magnetometers, and/or gyroscopes. This is not required for golf shot counting, although one or more embodiments may determine when the golf club has struck a golf ball through vibration analysis for example and then query a golfer whether to count a shot or not. This functionality may be combined with speed or acceleration threshold or range detection for example to determine whether the golf club was travelling within an acceptable speed or range, or acceleration or range for the “hit” to count. Wavelets may also be utilized to compare valid swing signatures to eliminate count shots or eliminate false strikes for example. This range may vary between different clubs, for example a driver speed range may be “greater than 30 mph” while a putter speed range may be “less than 20 mph”, any range may be utilized with any club as desired, or the speed range may be ignored for example. Alternatively or in combination, the mobile computer may only query the golfer to count a shot if the golfer is not moving laterally, i.e., in a golf cart or walking, and/or wherein the golfer may have rotated or taken a shot as determined by a orientation or gyroscope sensor coupled with the mobile computer. The position of the stroke may be shown on a map on the mobile computer for example. In addition, GPS receivers with wireless radios may be placed within the tee markers and in the cups to give daily updates of distances and helps with reading putts and greens for example. The golfer may also wear virtual glasses that allow the golfer to see the golf course map, current location, distance to the hole, number of shots on the current hole, total number of shots and any other desired metric. If the user moves a certain distance, as determined by GPS for example, from the shot without counting the shot, the system may prompt the user on whether to count the shot or not. The system does not require a user to initiate a switch on a club to count a shot and does not require LED's or active or battery powered electronics on each club to count shots. The mobile computer may also accept gestures from the user to count a shot or not count a shot so that the golfer does not have to remove any gloves to operate the mobile computer. For embodiments that utilize position/orientation sensors, the system may only count shots when a club is oriented vertically for example when an impact is detected. The apparatus may also include identifiers that enable a specific apparatus to be identified. The identifiers may be a serial number for example. The identifier for example may originate from an RFID tag on each golf club, or optionally may include a serial number or other identifier associated with motion capture elements associated with a golf club. Utilizing this apparatus enables the identification of a specific golfer, specific club and also enables motion capture and/or display with a system that includes a television and/or mobile device having a visual display and an optional camera and capable of obtaining data from at least one motion capture element such as a visual marker and/or a wireless sensor. The system can also integrate with standalone cameras, or cameras on multiple mobile devices. The system also enables the user to analyze and display the motion capture data in a variety of ways that provide immediate and easy to understand graphical information associated with the motion capture data. The apparatus enables the system to also determine how “centered” an impact is with respect to a ball and a piece of equipment, such as a golf club for example. The system also allows for fitting of equipment including shoes, clubs, etc., and immediate purchasing of the equipment even if the equipment requires a custom assemble-to-order request from a vendor. Once the motion capture data, videos or images and shot count indications are obtained by the system, they may be stored locally, for example in a local database or sent over a telephonic or wireless interface to a remote database for example. Once in a database, the various elements including any data associated with the user, such as age, sex, height, weight, address, income or any other related information may be utilized in embodiments of the invention and/or subjected to data mining. One or more embodiments enable users or OEMs for example to pay for access to the data mining capabilities of the system.
For example, embodiments that utilize motion capture elements allow for analyzing the data obtained from the apparatus and enable the presentation of unique displays associated with the user, such as 3D overlays onto images of the body of the user to visually depict the captured motion data. In addition, these embodiments may also utilize active wireless technology such as BLUETOOTH® Low Energy for a range of up to 50 meters to communicate with a golfer's mobile computer. Embodiments of the invention also allow for display of queries for counting a stroke for example as a result of receiving a golf club ID, for example via an RFID reader or alternatively via wireless communication using BLUETOOTH® or IEEE 802.11 for example. Use of BLUETOOTH® Low Energy chips allows for a club to be in sleep mode for up to 3 years with a standard coin cell battery, thus reducing required maintenance. One or more embodiments of the invention may utilize more than one radio, of more than one technology for example. This allows for a level of redundancy that increases robustness of the system. For example, if one radio no longer functions, e.g., the BLUETOOTH® radio for example, then the IEEE 802.11 radio may be utilized to transfer data and warn the golfer that one of the radios is not functioning, while still allowing the golfer to record motion data and count shots associated with the particular club. For embodiments of the invention that utilize a mobile device (or more than one mobile device) without camera(s), sensor data may be utilized to generate displays of the captured motion data, while the mobile device may optionally obtain images from other cameras or other mobile devices with cameras. For example, display types that may or may not utilize images of the user may include ratings, calculated data and time line data. Ratings associated with the captured motion can also be displayed to the user in the form of numerical or graphical data with or without a user image, for example an “efficiency” rating. Calculated data, such as a predicted ball flight path data can be calculated and displayed on the mobile device with or without utilizing images of the user's body. Data depicted on a time line can also be displayed with or without images of the user to show the relative peaks of velocity for various parts of the equipment or user's body for example. Images from multiple cameras including multiple mobile devices, for example from a crowd of golf fans, may be combined into a BULLET TIME® visual effect characterized by slow motion of the golf swing shown from around the golfer at various angles at normal speed. All analyzed data may be displayed locally, or uploaded to the database along with the motion capture data, images/videos, shot count and location data where it may undergo data mining processes, wherein the system may charge a fee for access to the results for example.
Motion capture data can be displayed in many ways, for example tweeted, to a social network during or after motion capture. For example, if a certain amount of exercise or motion is performed, or calories performed, or a new sports power factor maximum has been obtained, the system can automatically tweet the new information to a social network site so that anyone connected to the Internet may be notified. The data uploaded to the Internet, i.e., a remote database or remote server or memory remote to the system may be viewed, analyzed or data mined by any computer that may obtain access to the data. This allows for remote compliance tweeting and/or compliance and/or original equipment manufacturers to determine for a given user what equipment for compliance or sporting equipment for sports related embodiments is working best and/or what equipment to suggest. Data mining also enables suggestions for users to improve their compliance and/or the planning of sports venues, including golf courses based on the data and/or metadata associated with users, such as age, or any other demographics that may be entered into the system. Remote storage of data also enables medical applications such as morphological analysis, range of motion over time, and diabetes prevention and exercise monitoring and compliance applications as stated. Other applications also allow for games that use real motion capture data from other users, or historical players whether alive or dead after analyzing videos of the historical players for example. Virtual reality and augmented virtual reality applications may also utilize the motion capture data or historical motion data. Military personnel such as commanders and/or doctors may utilize the motion and/or images in determine what type of G-forces a person has undergone from an explosion near an Improvised Explosive Device and automatically route the best type of medical aid automatically to the location of the motion capture sensor. One or more embodiments of the system may relay motion capture data over a G-force or velocity threshold, to their commanding officer or nearest medical personnel for example via a wireless communication link.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, fixed cameras such as at a tennis tournament, football game, baseball game, car or motorcycle race, golf tournament or other sporting event can be utilized with a wireless interface located near the player/equipment having motion capture elements so as to obtain, analyze and display motion capture data. In this embodiment, real-time or near real-time motion data can be displayed on the video for augmented video replays. An increase in the entertainment level is thus created by visually displaying how fast equipment is moving during a shot, for example with rings drawn around a players hips and shoulders. Embodiments of the invention also allow images or videos from other players having mobile devices to be utilized on a mobile device related to another user so that users don't have to switch mobile phones for example. In one embodiment, a video obtained by a first user for a piece of sporting equipment in motion that is not associated with the second user having the video camera equipped mobile phone may automatically transfer the video to the first user for display with motion capture data associated with the first user. Video and images may be uploaded into the database and data mined through image analysis to determine the types/colors of clothing or shoes for example that users are wearing.
Based on the display of data, the user can determine the equipment that fits the best and immediately purchase the equipment, via the mobile device. For example, when deciding between two sets of skis, a user may try out both pairs that are instrumented with motion capture elements wherein the motion capture data is analyzed to determine which pair of skis enables more efficient movement. For golf embodiments, when deciding between two golf clubs, a user can take swings with different clubs and based on the analysis of the captured motion data and quantitatively determine which club performs better. Custom equipment may be ordered through an interface on the mobile device from a vendor that can assemble-to-order customer built equipment and ship the equipment to the user for example. Shaft lengths for putters for example that are a standard length can be custom made for a particular user based on captured motion data as a user putts with an adjustable length shaft for example. Based on data mining of the motion capture data and shot count data and distances for example allows for users having similar swing characteristics to be compared against a current user wherein equipment that delivers longer shots for a given swing velocity for a user of a particular size and age for example may be suggested or searched for by the user to improve performance. OEMs may determine that for given swing speeds, which make and model of club delivers the best overall performance as well. One skilled in the art will recognize that this applies to all activities involving motion, not just golf.
Embodiments of the system may utilize a variety of sensor types. In one or more embodiments of the invention, active sensors may integrate with a system that permits passive or active visual markers to be utilized to capture motion of particular points on a user's body or equipment. This may be performed in a simply two-dimensional manner or in a three-dimensional manner if the mobile device is configured with two or more cameras, or if multiple cameras or mobile devices are utilized to capture images such as video and share the images in order to create triangulated three-dimensional motion data from a set of two-dimensional images obtained from each camera. Another embodiment of the invention may utilize inertial measurement units (IMU) or any other sensors that can produce any combination of orientation, position, velocity and/or acceleration information to the mobile device. The sensors may thus obtain data that may include any combination of one or more values associated with orientation (vertical or North/South or both), position (either via through Global Positioning System, i.e., “GPS” or through triangulation), velocity (in all three axes), acceleration (in all three axes). All motion capture data obtained from the various sensor types may be saved in a database for analysis, monitoring, compliance, game playing or other use and/or data mining, regardless of the sensor type.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, a sensor may be utilized that includes a passive marker or active marker on an outside surface of the sensor, so that the sensor may also be utilized for visual tracking (either two-dimensional or three-dimensional) and for orientation, position, velocity, acceleration or any other physical quantity produced by the sensor. Visual marker embodiments of the motion capture element(s) may be passive or active, meaning that they may either have a visual portion that is visually trackable or may include a light emitting element such as a light emitting diode (LED) that allows for image tracking in low light conditions. This for example may be implemented with a graphical symbol or colored marker at the end of the shaft near the handle or at the opposing end of the golf club at the head of the club. Images or videos of the markers may be analyzed locally or saved in the database and analyzed and then utilized in data mining.
Embodiments of the motion capture sensors may be generally mounted on or near one or more end or opposing ends of sporting equipment, for example such as a golf club and/or anywhere in between (for EI measurements) and may integrate with other sensors coupled to equipment, such as weapons, medical equipment, wristbands, shoes, pants, shirts, gloves, clubs, bats, racquets, balls, etc., and/or may be attached to a user in any possible manner. For example, a rifle to determine where the rifle was pointing when recoil was detected by the motion capture sensor. This data may be transmitted to a central server, for example using a mobile computer such as a mobile phone or other device and analyzed for war games practice for example. In addition, one or more embodiments of the sensor can fit into a weight port of a golf club, and/or in the handle end of the golf club. Other embodiments may fit into the handle of, or end of, a tennis racquet or baseball bat for example. One or more embodiments of the invention may also operate with balls that have integrated sensors as well. One or more embodiments of the mobile device may include a small mountable computer such as an IPOD® SHUFFLE® or IPOD® NANO® that may or may not have integrated displays, and which are small enough to mount on a shaft of a piece of sporting equipment and not affect a user's swing. Alternatively, the system may calculate the virtual flight path of a ball that has come in contact with equipment moved by a player. For example with a baseball bat or tennis racquet or golf club having a sensor integrated into a weight port of other portion of the end of the club striking the golf ball and having a second sensor located in the tip of the handle of the golf club, or in one or more gloves worn by the player, an angle of impact can be calculated for the club. By knowing the loft of the face of the club, an angle of flight may be calculated for the golf ball. In addition, by sampling the sensor at the end of the club at a high enough speed to determine oscillations indicative of where on the face of the club the golf ball was struck, a quality of impact may be determined. These types of measurements and the analysis thereof help an athlete improve, and for fitting purposes, allow an athlete to immediately purchase equipment that fits correctly. Centering data may be uploaded to the database and data mined for patterns related to the bats, racquets or clubs with the best centering on average, or the lowest torsion values for example on a manufacturer basis for product improvement. Any other unknown patterns in the data that are discovered may also be presented or suggested to users or search on by users, or paid for, for example by manufacturers or users.
One or more embodiments of the sensor may contain charging features such as mechanical eccentric weight, as utilized in some watches known as “automatic” or “self-winding” watches, optionally including a small generator, or inductive charging coils for indirect electromechanical charging of the sensor power supply. Other embodiments may utilize plugs for direct charging of the sensor power supply or electromechanical or microelectromechanical (MEMS) based charging elements. Any other type of power micro-harvesting technologies may be utilized in one or more embodiments of the invention. One or more embodiments of the sensor may utilize power saving features including gestures that power the sensor on or off. Such gestures may include motion, physical switches, contact with the sensor, wireless commands to the sensor, for example from a mobile device that is associated with the particular sensors. Other elements that may couple with the sensor includes a battery, low power microcontroller, antenna and radio, heat sync, recharger and overcharge sensor for example. In addition, embodiments of the invention allow for power down of some or all of the components of the system until an electronic signal from accelerometers or a mechanical switch determines that the club has moved for example.
One or more embodiments of the invention enable Elasticity Inertia or EI measurement of sporting equipment and even body parts for example. Placement of embodiments of the sensor along the shaft of a golf club, tennis racquet, baseball bat, hockey stick, shoe, human arm or any other item that is not perfectly stiff enables measurement of the amount of flex at points where sensors are located or between sensors. The angular differences in the each sensor over time allow for not only calculation of a flex profile, but also a flex profile that is dependent on time or force. For example, known EI machines use static weights between to support points to determine an EI profile. These machines therefore cannot detect whether the EI profile is dependent upon the force applied or is dependent on the time at which the force is applied, for example EI profiles may be non-linear with respect to force or time. Example materials that are known to have different physical properties with respect to time include Maxwell materials and non-Newtonian fluids.
A user may also view the captured motion data in a graphical form on the display of the mobile device or for example on a set of glasses that contains a video display. The captured motion data obtained from embodiments of the motion capture element may also be utilized to augment a virtual reality display of user in a virtual environment. Virtual reality or augmented reality views of patterns that are found in the database via data mining are also in keeping with the spirit of the invention.
One or more embodiments utilize a motion capture element that includes a memory, a sensor configured to capture any combination of values associated with an orientation, position, velocity, acceleration, proximity, pressure or strain, an optional radio and a microcontroller coupled with the memory, the sensor and optionally with the optional radio. In one or more embodiments the microcontroller is configured to collect data that includes sensor values from said sensor based on a sensor personality selected from a plurality of sensor personalities, wherein the sensor personality is configured to control sensor settings to collect the data in an optimal manner with respect to a specific type of movement associated with a specific piece of equipment or type of clothing, store the data in memory and transmit the data via said radio or transmit the data over a direct connection to an attached mobile device for example. In one or more embodiments, the motion capture element is configured to decouple from a first mount on a first piece of equipment or clothing and couple with a second mount on a different type of second piece of equipment or clothing and automatically utilize a different sensor personality associated with said second piece of equipment or clothing.
In one or more embodiments, the motion capture element is configured to couple with a piece of sporting equipment having an integrated mount or wherein the motion capture element is configured to couple with a mount that is removable from the piece of sporting equipment. In one or more embodiments, the motion capture element is configured to reside within a SIM card. In other embodiments, the sensor may reside in an integrated format for example with a power source such as a battery. Embodiments may include a motion capture element configured to transmit the data to a mobile device that comprises an application configured to blend at least two trajectories in the data to form a more accurate single trajectory. Other embodiments of the apparatus may be configured to output a motion gesture or circle gesture or number of taps gesture to enable the motion capture element to signify that particular motion capture element that is to be communicated with instead of one or more other motion capture elements within the vicinity of the mobile device. This enables easy pairing of devices in multiple device environments. One or more embodiments may include a motion capture element that further includes an output display for local viewing of motion capture data. This enables local display of acceleration or other motion related parameters without a mobile device and may be utilized within a helmet based mounting scenario so that potential concussions may be displayed locally without requiring any cell phones with apps for example.
Embodiments of the microcontroller may be further configured to recalibrate the sensor through measurement of changes in linear acceleration during a motionless period for the sensor, computation of an average of the linear acceleration along each axis, computation of an average magnitude of the linear acceleration gm, comparison of gm to g wherein g is 9.8 m/sec2, calculation of a scaling factor s=g/gm and multiplication of a calibration matrix by the scaling factor if a difference between g and gm exceeds a predefined threshold. Other embodiments of the microcontroller may perform calibration or recalibration through measurement of linear acceleration during a low acceleration time window for at least two axes of the sensor, comparison of differences in linear acceleration in the low acceleration time window and performance of a recalibration using calibration data from a below threshold sensor or transmission of an out of calibration alert.
The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee. The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the ideas conveyed through this disclosure will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:
An intelligent motion capture sensor configured to capture any combination of values associated with an orientation, position, velocity, acceleration, proximity, pressure or strain that produces motion capture data based on a sensor personality selected from a plurality of sensor personalities, wherein the sensor personality is configured to control sensor settings to collect the data in an optimal manner with respect to a specific type of movement associated with a specific piece of equipment or type of clothing will now be described. In the following exemplary description numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the ideas described throughout this specification. It will be apparent, however, to an artisan of ordinary skill that embodiments of ideas described herein may be practiced without incorporating all aspects of the specific details described herein. In other instances, specific aspects well known to those of ordinary skill in the art have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the disclosure. Readers should note that although examples of the innovative concepts are set forth throughout this disclosure, the claims, and the full scope of any equivalents, are what define the invention.
Specifically, one or more embodiments utilize a motion capture element 111 that includes a memory, a sensor configured to capture any combination of values associated with an orientation, position, velocity, acceleration, proximity, pressure or strain, an optional radio and a microcontroller coupled with the memory, the sensor and optionally with the optional radio. In one or more embodiments the microcontroller is configured to collect data that includes sensor values from said sensor based on a sensor personality selected from a plurality of sensor personalities, wherein the sensor personality is configured to control sensor settings to collect the data in an optimal manner with respect to a specific type of movement associated with a specific piece of equipment or type of clothing, store the data in memory and transmit the data via said radio or transmit the data over a direct connection to an attached mobile device for example. For example, a sensor personality may switch a sensor into high rate capture near an expected event, for example based on currently captured motion data. This enables switching of personalities in a dynamic manner. The personalities may be downloaded dynamically or stored local to the sensor for example and switched either based on the motion being captured, or through command by the user, or in any other manner. Personalities may be switched for example to save power, to optimize the captured data for a particular type of sport or equipment or clothing or for any other reason. In one or more embodiments, the personality may be implemented with a “strategy” design pattern for example where the personality is dynamically switched when an event occurs. For example in a baseball scenario, the sensor may be switched into high rate capture if the velocity is over a certain threshold, indicating a real swing and not a swing with a weight on the end of the batter during warm up. Although this example is baseball specific, the personality may be implemented within the motion capture sensor, for example in memory for use by the microcontroller to handle any type of movement or sport for example. This enables processing to be optimized based on the particular motion, which is unknown in the art. In one or more embodiments, the motion capture element is configured to decouple from a first mount on a first piece of equipment or clothing and couple with a second mount on a different type of second piece of equipment or clothing and automatically utilize a different sensor personality associated with said second piece of equipment or clothing.
In one or more embodiments, the motion capture element is configured to couple with a piece of sporting equipment having an integrated mount or wherein the motion capture element is configured to couple with a mount that is removable from the piece of sporting equipment. In one or more embodiments, the motion capture element is configured to reside within a SIM card. In other embodiments, the sensor may reside in an integrated format for example with a power source such as a battery. As shown in
As shown, embodiments of system 100 that may utilize motion capture data produced by motion capture element 111 generally include a mobile device 101 and applications that execute thereon, that includes computer 160, shown as located internally in mobile device 101 as a dotted outline, (i.e., also see functional view of computer 160 in
The motion capture data from motion capture element 111, any data associated with the piece of equipment 110, such as identifier 191 and any data associated with user 150, or any number of such users 150, such as second user 152 may be stored in locally in memory, or in a database local to the computer or in a remote database, for example database 172. Data may be stored in database 172 from each user 150, 152 for example when a network or telephonic network link is available from motion capture element 111 to mobile device 101 and from mobile device 101 to network 170 or Internet 171 and to database 172. One or more embodiments of the motion capture element may communicate directly with network 170 or directly with mobile device 101 or to network 170 via mobile device 101. Embodiments may utilize BLE or other communications devices and/or cellular chips for example to communicate wirelessly in a local or distal manner as desired and based on available power. Data mining is then performed on a large data set associated with any number of users and their specific characteristics and performance parameters. For example, in a golf embodiment of the invention, a club ID is obtained from the golf club and a shot is detected by the motion capture element. Mobile computer 101 stores images/video of the user and receives the motion capture data for the events/hits/shots/motion and the location of the event on the course and subsequent shots and determines any parameters for each event, such as distance or speed at the time of the event and then performs any local analysis and display performance data on the mobile device. When a network connection from the mobile device to network 170 or Internet 171 is available or for example after a round of golf, the images/video, motion capture data and performance data is uploaded to database 172, for later analysis and/or display and/or data mining. In one or more embodiments, users 151, such as original equipment manufacturers pay for access to the database, for example via a computer such as computer 105 or mobile computer 101 or from any other computer capable of communicating with database 172 for example via network 170, Internet 171 or via website 173 or a server that forms part of or is coupled with database 172. Data mining may execute on database 172, for example that may include a local server computer, or may be run on computer 105 or mobile device 101, 102, 102a or 102b and access a standalone embodiment of database 172 for example. Data mining results may be displayed on mobile device 101, computer 105, television broadcast or web video originating from camera 130, 130a and 103b, or 104 or accessed via website 173 or any combination thereof.
One or more embodiments of motion capture element 111 may communicate via BLUETOOTH® and/or Bluetooth Low Energy (“BLE”). BLE technology encompasses new hardware standards to reduce power consumption as well as a new software standard to access information on BLE devices. BLE may utilize one or more Low Energy Profiles that further conserve power. The associated software standard is known as “GATT” (Generic ATTribute profile). Mobile computer 105 and/or mobile device 101 and/or any other device supporting BLE utilizes a compatible hardware radio and adapter as well as the GATT-enabled software. Apps running on mobile device 101 for example having GATT software, use that software to communicate with BLE devices, such as a BLE embodiment of motion capture element 111. GATT is a relatively simple protocol that defines the features of BLE devices as a set of services, each of which includes of a set of characteristics that describe the data values associated with that service. An app communicating with a BLE device using GATT can perform essentially three operations: (1) Read the value of a characteristic from the device, (2) Send a new value for a characteristic to the device and (3) Command the device to notify the app whenever the value of a characteristic changes. The GATT software on mobile device 101 and in motion capture element 111 handles all of the low-level details of establishing a link to and exchanging messages to synchronize mobile device 101 and the motion capture element 111. This protocol simplifies the implementation of the app software. Using GATT enables developers to create custom Profiles for these services. There are some profiles that are approved by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) related to battery, heart rate, temperature, etc. Devices implementing the appropriate profile will be compatible with software that implements the profile. BLE also allows for the development of proprietary profiles that are not adopted by the Bluetooth SIG. This is possible when the implementer of the profile controls the software on the master device and slave device. In one or more embodiments, a TEXAS INSTRUMENTS® TICC2540 chip is utilized as the BLE solution.
This chip allows master or slave mode to be switched programmatically to enable each motion capture element 111 to become a master or slave as desired. In one or more embodiments, if the mobile device 101 is unavailable for a predetermined amount of time, then a fallback master is arbitrated by each chip, for example by sending a time stamp wherein the largest time stamp sent becomes the master. The master then coordinates between chips to save data until communications is restored to mobile device 101 for example. Any other mechanism for utilizing master and slave modes of the BLE device is in keeping with the spirit of the invention.
One or more embodiments of the invention utilize a custom proprietary profile in compliance with GATT but which is generic as follows. One embodiment utilizes GATT to define a unique 128-bit UUID (universally unique identifier) service. Under this profile a single characteristic is defined that enables the sending and receiving of a string of bytes. Embodiments thus utilize GATT to define a profile that behaves much like a serial port, wherein the port and you is configured to send and receive data. The software or device on either end of this GATT profile can then decode the message that is being sent through the single characteristic. One or more embodiments of the invention also may utilize a custom proprietary profile using GATT. This profile includes a set of services and characteristics specific for the application. This includes the following services: battery, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, time, temperature. Asserting characteristics associated with these services enables communication of associated values. This may occur on an event or timed basis via motion capture element 111 or as polled effectively by mobile computer 105 or mobile device 101 for example. In one or more embodiments of the invention, any motion capture element 111 may switch automatically from master to slave mode and/or relay messages to any other motion capture element for transmittal to mobile device 101 or any other computer that may wirelessly communicate with motion capture element 111.
One or more embodiments of the invention are configured to update firmware wirelessly. In one or more embodiments, the microcontroller coupled with the sensors includes a boot loader in memory, for example non-volatile memory. The boot loader interacts with the wireless transceiver (or transmitter and receiver) to obtain a new firmware image for the microcontroller. The firmware is stored in the memory at which time there are two firmware code sets stored in the memory, i.e., the old firmware and the new firmware. Once the firmware is validated, for example via any type of validity check, e.g., CRC check (cyclic redundancy check), then the boot loader begins to execute the new firmware and frees the memory associated with the old firmware. The boot loader may optionally assert that the firmware has successfully been updated.
In one or more embodiments of the communication protocol utilized on the wireless interface coupled with the microcontroller, may include BLE Notifications. For example, communications between the remote computer 101, 105, etc., having the firmware, i.e., sender of the firmware and the receiver of the firmware, i.e., motion capture element 111 may be via BLE Notifications. The server sends notifications with the handle of its own characteristic 128-bit UUID, which the target will be looking for because it will have done service discovery for this well known 128-bit characteristic after pairing. The server, for example mobile device 101 performs discovery for this 128-bit characteristic on motion capture element 111, because responses will be received from this motion capture element 111 as Notifications with that handle.
This profile, identified by 128-bit UUID, is referred to herein as the GSP Profile (for Generic Serial Protocol, similar to a mini-BLE equivalent to the BlueTooth SPP profile). However, the protocol can do include significantly more functionality than firmware download. The same profile may be utilized to rapidly and efficiently obtain motion capture data as well, which provides saving in code size and complexity.
128-Bit Service UUID:
This service may be implemented with one characteristic, which sends and receives Notifications (it does not do read, or write, etc.), and the characteristic may be implemented with its own 128-bit UUID. For example, packets sent through this GSP pipe may utilize this structure:
<SOP> <CMD LSB> <CMD MSB> <LEN LSB> <LEN MSB> <DATA> <CHK>
The Command MSB and the Length LSB and MSB and Data are all optional and vary according to the Command LSB.
For firmware operations, everything is simplified by the fact that Command MSB and Length LSB/MSB are not required to be used, i.e., in one or more embodiments, the commands and responses have known lengths. In this case, the OAD packets will be one of two formats:
<SOP> <CMD LSB> <DATA> <CHK>
<SOP> <CMD LSB> <CHK>
Wherein the “SOP” is a start-of-packet indicator which may be implemented as having a value of 0xFE. The “CHK”, i.e., packet checksum, may be implemented for example as the byte-wise sum of all bytes, excluding the SOP, subtracted from 0x100. Any other type of checksum may be utilized as desired. In the example described herein, the sum of all bytes, excluding the SOP and FCS, added to the FCS should result in zero for a valid packet that has not been corrupted.
A subset of the 65536 commands that this pipe can handle may be reserved for firmware download as follows, namely commands 0x70-0x7F.
#define GSP_OAD_REQ_ID 0x70//Len=0 Request the RC image Id.
#define GSP_OAD_REQ_BEG 0x71//Len=0 Get ready to begin a DL transfer.
#define GSP_OAD_REQ_CHK 0x72//Len=0 Calculate the CRC over the DL image.
#define GSP_OAD_CMD_DAT 0x77//Len=128 128-byte chunk of DL image.
#define GSP_OAD_CMD_JMP 0x78//Len=0 Jump to boot loader; instantiate DL.
#define GSP_OAD_CMD_ADR 0x79//Len=2 Set server address back as specified.
#define GSP_OAD_RSP_CHK 0x7D//Len=1 True/false response to check DL.
#define GSP_OAD_RSP_BEG 0x7E//Len=0 Ready to receive a DL transfer.
#define GSP_OAD_RSP_ID 0x7F//Len=4 Response with the RC image Id.
Notifications from the server, i.e., source of the firmware, are 0x70, 0x71, 0x72, 0x77 and 0x78, which are described in further detail below:
0x70—a server should request the image Id to determine if motion capture element 111 it has paired with
a) needs this image
b) is compatible with this image
In one or more embodiments, a 4-byte image Id may be utilized to identify classes of devices, and within each class, the s/w version, etc.
Notification from server to target:
FE 70 90
0x71—server commands motion capture element 111 to get ready to receive a download, the target pre-erases the memory, for example flash pages used to store the firmware so that the transfer is faster
FE 71 8F
0x72—server finished uploading the firmware to motion capture element 111 and now commands the motion capture element 111 to perform a CRC calculation over the image stored in memory to ensure that it is acceptable to provide to the boot loader to instantiate in memory as the new firmware to execute.
FE 72 8E
0x77—server feeds 128 bytes at a time. This number can be increased or decreased if desired. Whatever this number is, it generally should be an even multiple of both the memory word size, for example flash word size (4) and the flash bank size (32 kb). The payload of this packet starts with the relative offset of the 128-bytes, in LSB, MSB order. The image to send is a monolithic binary image with code gaps filled with 0xFF so there is no addressing information in it. As the firmware is divided into 128-byte chunks and sent, the offset is prepended into this monolithic image. The offset for example is calculated as the “Actual Offset/Flash Word Size”.
In one or more embodiments, standard flash word size is 4. The reason for the division is that it allows the entire image to be indexed with a uint 16, and because the Addr/4 is what is used to write to internal flash locations anyway. This identifies the relative chunk, i.e., the relative index into the monolithic image. So the 2nd 128-byte chunk will be identified as 128/4->0x0020, and appears in the packet below like this:
FE 77 20 00 . . . 128 bytes of monolithic binary data . . . CHKSUM
where the CHKSUM is again optionally the byte-wise sum of all 128 binary data bytes, plus 0x77, 0x20, 0x00, and then subtracted from 0x100.
0x78—when server receives the 0x7D check image response with success, the server commands motion capture element 111 to act on this new image by resetting into the boot loader which instantiates the downloaded firmware image as the new run-code image.
FE 78 88
Responses from the OAD target are 0x7D, 0x7E and 0x7F
0x7D—acting on this command takes a microcontroller such as the SILICON LABS® 8051 about a minute to do the byte-wise CRC of the downloaded image and compare it to the CRC in the message. This response has 1 byte, a Boolean where 1 (True) means that the CRC matches and the image is good, 0 otherwise:
FE 7D 00 83 on fail to match
FE 7D 01 82 on success
0x7E—acting on the command to prepare to receive and download, the target pre-erases all of the memory, for example flash pages, that will be used to store the downloaded firmware image and responds with success when done with the following message:
FE 7E 01 81
0x7F—responding with the 4-byte image Id of the currently running image. Consider the image Id of 0x01020304:
FE 7F 04 03 02 01 77
In the case of motion capture element 111 receiving a corrupted notification, motion capture element 111 may force the server to backup and restart sending the image from a given address, so a command from motion capture element 111 to the server in this case may be implemented as 0x79:
0x79—when a bad notification is detected, the microcontroller keeps track of the last good packet that was received. The microcontroller will then request the relative offset into the monolithic image where transmission should start again by requesting and receiving 0x77 commands. Thus the two-byte payload in LSB, MSB order is the equivalent of the offset being prepended to the 0x77 data. For example if the last good packet had relative offset 0x1240, and after re-covering parsing after a bad notification, the address is far past that, the target will request to go back to 0x1260 (the next 128-byte chunk that is required to continue the contiguous valid data):
FE 79 60 12 15
One or more embodiments are also configured to conserve battery power by maintaining a link between the radio in the motion capture element and the radio in the mobile computer or other external device wherein the link includes a connection interval. The connection interval is the preconfigured interval at which the two radios communicate with one another to inform one another that the communication link is still alive. In this manner the radios may minimize transmissions so that the link is maintained, or otherwise dropped if no response occurs over a given threshold. For example if connection interval is set to 1 second, then every second a communication may occur from one radio to the other and or in both directions to inform one or both devices that the link is alive. Generally, the longer the connection interval, the less power utilized. In one or more embodiments, the connection interval may be changed or throttled based on the amount of data being transferred, or based on motion capture sensor values. For example, a long connection interval may be utilized while maintaining a link with a mobile computer, such as a mobile phone wherein there is no motion capture data to transfer, for example if no swing event, etc., has occurred. If however an event has occurred or for any other reason, a shorter connection interval may be switched to, so that the link is maintained during transfer with for example shorter intervals between data messages for example. The longer connection interval may be switched to when there is no data to send, yet the two devices still desire to maintain the link between them. In one or more embodiments the motion capture element microcontroller for example maintains a communication link between the radio and a second radio through transmission of information via the radio at a first communication interval when no valid event has occurred over a predetermined first period wherein the first communication interval between transmission of information is longer than a time interval between transmission of packets related to a valid event or other motion capture data.
In addition, embodiments of the invention may intelligently calculate or estimate a gravity vector for orientation at one or more points in time to increase accuracy and change sampling rates as a function of time or acceleration to further increase accuracy over a particular G-force range for example. One or more embodiments of motion capture element 111 measure acceleration directly via accelerometers, which do not directly measure speed. Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity and angular velocity is the rate of change of orientation. One or more embodiments of motion capture element 111 and/or mobile device 101 include program code configured to implement an algorithm on a computer to estimate initial velocity and initial orientation. The measured data is then integrated via an “inertial navigation” algorithm to derive speed. This integration algorithm utilizes the estimate of the initial velocity and initial orientation of motion capture element 111 at the beginning of integration.
One or more embodiments of motion capture element 111 may also not directly measure the initial conditions, i.e., the initial velocity and initial orientation. However under certain conditions the initial velocity and initial orientation can be estimated indirectly from the motion capture data. The simplest approach is to presume, a period of time during which motion capture element 111 and/or piece of equipment 110 and/or user 150 having is at rest. In this case the accelerometer readings reflect the tilt of the sensor, but not the heading, and the initial orientation of motion capture element 111 can be derived from the accelerometer. Note that in one or more embodiments, heading is presumed since an accelerometer cannot directly measure heading. The initial velocity in this case is assumed to be zero since motion capture element 111 is presumed to be at rest.
As follows, boldface lower case letters represent vectors, and upper case letters represent matrices. A superscript on a vector indicates the reference frame for the vector: uW is vector u measured in the world reference frame, while uS is the vector u measured in the “body frame” of the sensor. If no subscript is provided, the vector is measured in the world reference frame. The following quantities are listed below and are utilized in one or more embodiments of the algorithm to estimate initial velocity and initial orientation at the beginning of integration:
The simplest initialization is performed presuming that motion capture element 111 is at rest for some period of time, is to find Q, so that
Q
0
s
B
=−g
and to set v0=0. The equation Q0sB=−g signifies that the accelerometer is measuring gravity only (actually the negative of gravity), assuming there is no motion. However the accelerometer measures gravity in the accelerometer's reference frame, so the motion capture data is transformed to the global frame via matrix Q0 to recover the gravity vector. This approach is simple, but it may not give good results if the assumption of no motion during the initialization period is false. Hence, one or more embodiments of the invention may utilize a more sophisticated initialization algorithm that attempts to compensate for possible motion during the initialization period. To describe this algorithm the core differential equations involved in inertial navigation are explained below along with the following additional quantities:
S(ω)u=ω×u
The dynamic state of motion capture element 111, at any point in time, may be defined by the quantities Q, v, a, ω. These are functions of time. They are linked by the differential equations:
Since one or more embodiments of motion capture element 111 measures sB and ωB rather than αW and ωW, these differential equations are transformed to use the motion capture data from motion capture element 111:
Note that the transformation of the second differential equation is non-obvious, but rather follows from the identity S(Qω)=QS(ω)QT.
If the initial conditions v0, Q0 are known, then in principle it is possible to integrate the gyro and accelerometer readings and calculate velocity and orientation throughout motion of motion capture element 111, for example during a swing of piece of equipment 110. If Q(t) is found by integrating the second equation, then the first equation may be integrated as follows:
v(t)=v0+∫0t(QsB+g)dt=v0+∫0tQsBdt+gt
Determining Q(t) is performed by integrating
which is straightforward, however the initial condition Q(0)=Q0, i.e., the starting orientation, is generally unknown. It is possible to “factor out” Q, as follows: By defining P(t) by Q(t)=Q0P(t), then P satisfies the same differential equation:
And the initial condition for P is simply P(0)=I. P represents the net change in orientation from a particular starting orientation, which may be unknown. The equation may then be integrated to find P(t). The transformation is then applied to the equation for velocity:
v(t)=v0+∫0tQ0PsBdt+gt=v0+Q0∫0tPsBdt+gt
Here Q0 have been “factored out” from the velocity integral. The notation is simplified by defining u(t)=∫0tPsBdt; which yields:
v(t)=v0+Q0u(t)+gt
This expression provides a simple way to calculate Q0, provided that v0 and v(t) are known at some point in time. In general v0 is unknown, and in fact is unknowable in embodiments of motion capture element 111 that include only an accelerometer and a gyro as sensors. However a point in time may be identified, for example during “address”, e.g., when a golf club is placed near a golf ball before a swing. At this point in time, it is possible to estimate that v0 is very small. If we find a second such point at a different time, t, then it is possible to use v0≈v(t)≈0 to solve for Q0 using
Q
0
u(t)=−gt
The advantage of this approach is that the assumption for initialization is less strict than a simple “average accelerometer reading” approach. By finding two points in time, for example during “address” where linear velocity is small, then it is possible to integrate between these points to find the initial orientation.
Note that the simple approach is a special case of the more sophisticated method. If in fact motion capture element 111 is completely at rest during the initialization interval, then P(t)≡1, and u(t)=∫0tsBdt=t
Embodiments of the microcontroller may be further configured to recalibrate the sensor through measurement of changes in linear acceleration during a motionless period for the sensor, computation of an average of the linear acceleration along each axis, computation of an average magnitude of the linear acceleration gm, comparison of gm to g wherein g is 9.8 m/sec2, calculation of a scaling factor s=g/gm and multiplication of a calibration matrix by the scaling factor if a difference between g and gm exceeds a predefined threshold. Other embodiments of the microcontroller may perform calibration or recalibration through measurement of linear acceleration during a low acceleration time window for at least two axes of the sensor, comparison of differences in linear acceleration in the low acceleration time window and performance of a recalibration using calibration data from a below threshold sensor or transmission of an out of calibration alert.
Proximity sensors may be coupled with an embodiment of motion capture element 111 or identification tag 191 or mount 192 or mobile device 101 or any combination thereof, and may be utilized to determine whether a piece of sporting equipment has been accidentally left behind or is the piece of equipment being utilized, or may be utilized for shot tracking for certain types of equipment in certain sports. Proximity sensors for example may be combined on an ASIC with embodiments of motion capture element 111 to provide increased capabilities. In addition, a BLE radio may be combined on an ASIC with motion capture element 111 to provide a single chip solution for motion capture, for example by adding a gyro and accelerometer, e.g., 3 axes each. One or more embodiments of the invention may communicate with a mobile computer that is local using local communications protocols or may communicate distally using longer range communications protocols as desired and based on available energy. For example, if user 150 has two or more pieces of equipment 110 and the proximity sensor in mobile device 101 indicates that a first piece of equipment is closer than a second piece of equipment or simply reads that the first piece of equipment is within a predetermined range, while the second piece of equipment is not, then the first piece of equipment may be accepted by mobile device 101 as the piece of equipment being utilized by user 150. Any other algorithm using proximity sensors coupled with motion capture element 111 or identification tag 191 or mount 192 or mobile device 101 is in keeping with the spirit of the invention. In one or more embodiments of the motion capture element, if the orientation of the piece of equipment is upside down, then the piece of equipment is for example in a bag, e.g., a golf bag, and then the proximity detection may take this into account to discount the closest value.
Embodiments of the invention may be utilized to provide an alarm clock, or integrate with an alarm clock for example on mobile device 101 for example by utilizing motion capture data associated with motion capture element 111 coupled with user 150 or in mobile device 101 coupled with user 150, wherein the alarm stops when the motion capture element coupled with user 150 is moved when user 150 moves. In one or more embodiments of the invention, this enables user 150 to “gesture” an alarm off signal, or a sleep signal. I.e., by waving a hand having motion capture element, for example coupled with a watch band, an “off signal” may be gestured, while rotating a hand axially may be accepted by the system to indicate a “5 minute sleep” assertion. Any other motion of motion capture element 111 to interact with an alarm clock is in keeping with the spirit of the invention. For example, user 150 may twist the foot having motion capture element 111 and/or mount 192 which sends motion capture data to mobile device 101 that is transmitting an audible or tactile alarm via an alarm app that is executing on computer 160 for example. By receiving a first type or motion (slow shake) or a second type of motion (fast shake), the command associated with the first motion or second motion may be interpreted by the app to turn the alarm off or sleep for a predetermined amount of time respectively. Again, any type of motion for a gesture may be associated with a desired command related to an alarm including “drawing” a number of minutes to sleep with a hand for example. I.e., slowing moving in a “1” shape from top to bottom, then quickly moving to the top of a “0” and slowly moving the hand in a “zero” shape, to indicate 10 minutes more of sleep.
One or more embodiments of the system may utilize a mobile device that includes at least one camera 130, for example coupled to the computer within the mobile device. This allows for the computer within mobile device 101 to command the camera 130 to obtain an image or images, for example of the user during an athletic movement. The image(s) of the user may be overlaid with displays and ratings to make the motion analysis data more understandable to a human for example. Alternatively, detailed data displays without images of the user may also be displayed on display 120 or for example on the display of computer 105. In this manner two-dimensional images and subsequent display thereof is enabled. If mobile device 101 contains two cameras, as shown in mobile device 102, i.e., cameras 130a and 130b, then the cameras may be utilized to create a three-dimensional data set through image analysis of the visual markers for example. This allows for distances and positions of visual markers to be ascertained and analyzed. Images and/or video from any camera in any embodiments of the invention may be stored on database 172, for example associated with user 150, for data mining purposes. In one or more embodiments of the invention image analysis on the images and/or video may be performed to determine make/models of equipment, clothes, shoes, etc., that is utilized, for example per age of user 150 or time of day of play, or to discover any other pattern in the data.
Alternatively, for embodiments of mobile devices that have only one camera, multiple mobile devices may be utilized to obtain two-dimensional data in the form of images that is triangulated to determine the positions of visual markers. In one or more embodiments of the system, mobile device 101 and mobile device 102a share image data of user 150 to create three-dimensional motion analysis data. By determining the positions of mobile devices 101 and 102 (via position determination elements such as GPS chips in the devices as is common, or via cell tower triangulation and which are not shown for brevity but are generally located internally in mobile devices just as computer 160 is), and by obtaining data from motion capture element 111 for example locations of pixels in the images where the visual markers are in each image, distances and hence speeds are readily obtained as one skilled in the art will recognize.
Camera 103 may also be utilized either for still images or as is now common, for video. In embodiments of the system that utilize external cameras, any method of obtaining data from the external camera is in keeping with the spirit of the system including wireless communication of the data, or via wired communication as when camera 103 is docked with computer 105 for example, which then may transfer the data to mobile device 101.
In one or more embodiments of the system, the mobile device on which the motion analysis data is displayed is not required to have a camera, i.e., mobile device 102b may display data even though it is not configured with a camera. As such, mobile device 102b may obtain images from any combination of cameras on mobile device 101, 102, 102a, camera 103 and/or television camera 104 so long as any external camera may communicate images to mobile device 102b. Alternatively, no camera is required at all to utilize the system.
For television broadcasts, motion capture element 111 wirelessly transmits data that is received by antenna 106. The wireless sensor data thus obtained from motion capture element 111 is combined with the images obtained from television camera 104 to produce displays with augmented motion analysis data that can be broadcast to televisions, computers such as computer 105, mobile devices 101, 102, 102a, 102b or any other device configured to display images. The motion analysis data can be positioned on display 120 for example by knowing the location of a camera (for example via GPS information), and by knowing the direction and/or orientation that the camera is pointing so long as the sensor data includes location data (for example GPS information). In other embodiments, visual markers or image processing may be utilized to lock the motion analysis data to the image, e.g., the golf club head can be tracked in the images and the corresponding high, middle and low position of the club can be utilized to determine the orientation of user 150 to camera 130 or 104 or 103 for example to correctly plot the augmented data onto the image of user 150. By time stamping images and time stamping motion capture data, for example after synchronizing the timer in the microcontroller with the timer on the mobile device and then scanning the images for visual markers or sporting equipment at various positions, simplified motion capture data may be overlaid onto the images. Any other method of combining images from a camera and motion capture data may be utilized in one or more embodiments of the invention. Any other algorithm for properly positioning the motion analysis data on display 120 with respect to a user (or any other display such as on computer 105) may be utilized in keeping with the spirit of the system.
One such display that may be generated and displayed on mobile device 101 include a BULLET TIME® view using two or more cameras selected from mobile devices 101, 102, 102a, camera 103, and/or television camera 104 or any other external camera. In this embodiment of the system, the computer is configured to obtain two or more images of user 150 and data associated with the at least one motion capture element (whether a visual marker or wireless sensor), wherein the two or more images are obtained from two or more cameras and wherein the computer is configured to generate a display that shows slow motion of user 150 shown from around the user at various angles at normal speed. Such an embodiment for example allows a group of fans to create their own BULLET TIME® shot of a golf pro at a tournament for example. The shots may be sent to computer 105 and any image processing required may be performed on computer 105 and broadcast to a television audience for example. In other embodiments of the system, the users of the various mobile devices share their own set of images, and or upload their shots to a website for later viewing for example. Embodiments of the invention also allow images or videos from other players having mobile devices to be utilized on a mobile device related to another user so that users don't have to switch mobile phones for example. In one embodiment, a video obtained by a first user for a piece of equipment in motion that is not associated with the second user having the video camera mobile phone may automatically transfer the video to the first user for display with motion capture data associated with the first user.
There are a myriad of applications that benefit and which are enabled by embodiments of the system that provide for viewing and analyzing motion capture data on the mobile computer or server/database, for example for data mining database 172 by users 151. For example, users 151 may include compliance monitors, including for example parents, children or elderly, managers, doctors, insurance companies, police, military, or any other entity such as equipment manufacturers that may data mine for product improvement. For example in a tennis embodiment by searching for top service speeds for users of a particular size or age, or in a golf embodiment by searching for distances, i.e., differences in sequential locations in table 183 based on swing speed in the sensor data field in table 183 to determine which manufacturers have the best clubs, or best clubs per age or height or weight per user, or a myriad of other patterns. Other embodiments related to compliance enable messages from mobile computer 101 or from server/database to be generated if thresholds for G-forces, (high or zero or any other levels), to be sent to compliance monitors, managers, doctors, insurance companies, etc., as previously described. Users 151 may include marketing personnel that determine which pieces of equipment certain users own and which related items that other similar users may own, in order to target sales at particular users. Users 151 may include medical personnel that may determine how much movement a sensor for example coupled with a shoe, i.e., a type of equipment, of a diabetic child has moved and how much this movement relates to the average non-diabetic child, wherein suggestions as per table 185 may include giving incentives to the diabetic child to exercise more, etc., to bring the child in line with healthy children. Sports physicians, physiologists or physical therapists may utilize the data per user, or search over a large number of users and compare a particular movement of a user or range of motion for example to other users to determine what areas a given user can improve on through stretching or exercise and which range of motion areas change over time per user or per population and for example what type of equipment a user may utilize to account for changes over time, even before those changes take place. Data mining motion capture data and image data related to motion provides unique advantages to users 151. Data mining may be performed on flex parameters measured by the sensors to determine if sporting equipment, shoes, human body parts or any other item changes in flexibility over time or between equipment manufacturers or any combination thereof.
To ensure that analysis of user 150 during a motion capture includes images that are relatively associated with the horizon, i.e., not tilted, the system may include an orientation module that executes on computer 160 within mobile device 101 for example. The computer is configured to prompt a user to align the camera along a horizontal plane based on orientation data obtained from orientation hardware within mobile device 101. Orientation hardware is common on mobile devices as one skilled in the art will appreciate. This allows the image so captured to remain relatively level with respect to the horizontal plane. The orientation module may also prompt the user to move the camera toward or away from the user, or zoom in or out to the user to place the user within a graphical “fit box”, to somewhat normalize the size of the user to be captured. Images may also be utilized by users to prove that they have complied with doctors orders for example to meet certain motion requirements.
Embodiments of the system are further configured to recognize the at least one motion capture element associated with user 150 or piece of equipment 110 and associate at least one motion capture element 111 with assigned locations on user 150 or piece of equipment 110. For example, the user can shake a particular motion capture element when prompted by the computer within mobile device 101 to acknowledge which motion capture element the computer is requesting an identity for. Alternatively, motion sensor data may be analyzed for position and/or speed and/or acceleration when performing a known activity and automatically classified as to the location of mounting of the motion capture element automatically, or by prompting the user to acknowledge the assumed positions.
One or more embodiments of the computer in mobile device 101 is configured to obtain at least one image of user 150 and display a three-dimensional overlay onto the at least one image of user 150 wherein the three-dimensional overlay is associated with the motion analysis data. Various displays may be displayed on display 120. The display of motion analysis data may include a rating associated with the motion analysis data, and/or a display of a calculated ball flight path associated with the motion analysis data and/or a display of a time line showing points in time along a time axis where peak values associated with the motion analysis data occur and/or a suggest training regimen to aid the user in improving mechanics of the user. These filtered or analyzed data sensor results may be stored in database 172, for example in table 183, or the raw data may be analyzed on the database (or server associated with the database or in any other computer or combination thereof in the system shown in
Embodiments of the system may also present an interface to enable user 150 to purchase piece of equipment 110 over the wireless interface of mobile device 101, for example via the Internet, or via computer 105 which may be implemented as a server of a vendor. In addition, for custom fitting equipment, such as putter shaft lengths, or any other custom sizing of any type of equipment, embodiments of the system may present an interface to enable user 150 to order a customer fitted piece of equipment over the wireless interface of mobile device 101. Embodiments of the invention also enable mobile device 101 to suggest better performing equipment to user 150 or to allow user 150 to search for better performing equipment as determined by data mining of database 172 for distances of golf shots per club for users with swing velocities within a predefined range of user 150. This allows for real life performance data to be mined and utilized for example by users 151, such as OEMs to suggest equipment to user 150, and be charged for doing so, for example by paying for access to data mining results as displayed in any computer shown in
Embodiments of the system are configured to analyze the data obtained from at least one motion capture element and determine how centered a collision between a ball and the piece of equipment is based on oscillations of the at least one motion capture element coupled with the piece of equipment and display an impact location based on the motion analysis data. This performance data may also be stored in database 172 and used by OEMs or coaches for example to suggest clubs with higher probability of a centered hit as data mined over a large number of collisions for example.
While
In any embodiments detailed herein, efficiency may be calculated in a variety of ways and displayed. For embodiments of the invention that utilize one motion capture element, then the motion capture element associated with the club head may be utilized to calculate the efficiency. In one or more embodiments of the invention, efficiency may be calculated as:
Efficiency=(90−angle of club face with respect to direction of travel)*Vc/Vmax
As more sensors are added further from the piece of equipment, such as in this case a club, the more refined the efficiency calculation may be.
Efficiency=(90−angle of club face with respect to direction of travel)*Vc/Vmax*Wa/Wc*1.2
One or more embodiments of the system may analyze the peaks and/or timing of the peaks in order to determine a list of exercises to provide to a user to improve the mechanics of the user. For example, if the arms are rotating too late or with not enough speed, a list can be provided to the user such as:
The list of exercises may include any exercises for any body part and may displayed on display 120. For example, by asserting the “Training” button on the displays shown in
x=laterally sideways (right is positive, left is negative)
y=down the fairway (always positive)
z=vertically upwards (up is positive, down is negative)
B=a constant dependent on the conditions of the air, an appropriate value=0.00512
u=vector of relative velocity between the ball and the air (i.e. wind), u=v−vw
Cd=coefficient of drag which depends on the speed and spin of the ball
Cl=coefficient of drag which depends on the speed and spin of the ball
a=the angle between the vertical and the axis of rotation of the spinning ball
g=the acceleration due to gravity=32.16 ft/s2
A numerical form of the equations may be utilized to calculate the flight path for small increments of time assuming no wind and a spin axis of 0.1 radians or 5.72 degrees is as follows:
x acceleration=−0.00512*(vx̂2+vŷ2+vẑ2)̂(½)*((46.0/(vx̂2+vŷ2+vẑ2)̂(½))*(vx)+(33.4/(vx̂2+vŷ2+vẑ2)̂(½))*(vy)*sin(0.1))
y acceleration=−0.00512*(vx̂2+vŷ2+vẑ2)̂(½)*((46.0/(vx̂2+vŷ2+vẑ2)̂(½))*(vy)−(33.4/(vx̂2+vŷ2+vẑ2)̂(½))*((vx)*sin(0.1)−(vz)*cos(0.1)))
z acceleration=−32.16−0.00512*(vx̂2+vŷ2+vẑ2)̂(½)*((46.0/(vx̂2+vŷ2+vẑ2)̂(½))*(vz)−(33.4/(vx̂2+vŷ2+vẑ2)̂(½))*(vy)*cos(0.1))
In addition, embodiments of mount may utilize the mount specified in the priority chain application U.S. Ser. No. 13/191,309 which has been incorporated by reference above in the priority claim.
Embodiments of the invention using a unique identifier may be utilized as a lost club alarm, so that if contact is lost with one of the clubs associated with a player, an alarm may be presented by one or more embodiments of the system. Embodiments of the system that include a three-axis accelerometer enable analysis and display of swing speed, tempo, handle versus head speed, swing efficiency, durability counter and shot by shot analysis. Embodiments of the invention that include a three axis gyroscope enable analysis and display of alignment, lie angle, loft angle, handle release and 3-D angular velocity. Embodiments of the invention that include a magnetometer enable analysis and display of swing tracer, swing path, impact location, ball flight, 3-D impact, shaft deflection, shaft efficiency and 3-D video overlay. Any other displays that make use of the different type of spatial sensors is in keeping with the spirit of the invention.
One or more embodiments of the motion capture element collect, store, transmit and analyze data as follows. In one or more embodiment, one or more of the sensors in the motion capture element are placed in a data collection mode. While in the data collection mode, the motion capture element may continuously record sensor data in memory.
For example, in a golf swing, the event can be the impact of the club head with the ball. Alternatively, the event can be the impact of the club head with the ground, which could give rise to a false event. In other embodiments, the event may be a shot fired from a weapon, or a ball striking a baseball bat or when a user moves a weight to the highest point and descends for another repetition. The Pre-Event buffer stores the sensor data up to the event of impact, the Post-Event buffer stores the sensor data after the impact event. One or more embodiments of microcontroller 3802 are configured to analyze the event and determine if the event is a repetition, firing or event such as a strike or a false strike. If the event is considered a strike, and not a false strike, then another memory buffer 4620 is used for motion capture data up until the occurrence of a second event. After that strike occurs, the post event buffer 4621 is filled with captured data.
Specifically, sensor 3801 may be implemented as one or more MEMs sensors. The sensors may be commanded to collect data at specific time intervals. At each interval, data is read from the various MEMs devices, and stored in the ring buffer. A set of values read from the MEMs sensors is considered a FRAME of data. A FRAME of data can be 0, 1, or multiple memory units depending on the type of data that is being collected and stored in the buffer. A FRAME of data is also associated with a time interval. Therefore frames are also associated with a time element based on the capture rate from the sensors. For example, if each Frame was filled at 2 ms intervals, then 1000 FRAMES would contain 2000 ms of data (2 seconds). In general, a FRAME does not have to be associated with time.
Data can be constantly stored in the ring buffer and written out to non-volatile memory or sent over a wireless or wired link over radio/antenna 3803 to a remote memory or device for example at specified events, times, or when communication is available over radio/antenna 3803 to a mobile device or any other computer or memory, or when commanded for example by a mobile device, i.e., “polled”, or at any other desired event.
One type of event that occurs is a strike of the clubface when it impacts a golf ball. In other sports that utilize a ball and a striking implement, the same analysis is applied, but tailored to the specific sport and sporting equipment. In tennis a prospective strike can be the racquet hitting the ball, for example as opposed to spinning the racquet before receiving a serve. In other applications, such as running shoes, the impact detection algorithm can detect the shoe hitting the ground when someone is running. In exercise it can be a particular motion being achieved, this allows for example the counting of repetitions while lifting weights or riding a stationary bike.
For golf related scenarios, microcontroller 3802 is configured to analyze the motion capture data to determine when the golf club for example has impacted an object, such as but not limited to a golf ball, tee, or the ground. The impact shock wave at the club head is transmitted to the sensor. In one or more embodiments of sensor 3801, position, orientation, velocity and/or accelerometer data is collected to sense these quantities with respect to one or more axes, for example accelerations on three accelerometer axes. Since all impacts are recorded, such as an impact of the club with a tee or the ground, the impacts are next analyzed to determine if the strike is valid or not valid with respect to a strike of a golf ball.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, processing starts at 4701. Microcontroller 3802 compares the motion capture data in memory 4610 with linear velocity over a certain threshold at 4702, within a particular impact time frame and searches for a discontinuity threshold where there is a sudden change in velocity or acceleration above a certain threshold at 4703. If no discontinuity in velocity or for example acceleration occurs in the defined time window, then processing continues at 4702. If a discontinuity does occur, then the prospective impact is saved in memory and post impact data is saved for a given time P at 4704. For example, if the impact threshold is set to 12 G, discontinuity threshold is set to 6 G, and the impact time frames is 10 frames, then microcontroller 3802 signals impact, after detection of a 12 G acceleration in at least one axis or all axes within 10 frames followed by a discontinuity of 6 G. In a typical golf swing, the accelerations build with smooth accelerations curves. Impact is signaled as a crash and quick change in acceleration/velocity. These changes are distinct from the smooth curves created by an incrementally increasing or decreasing curves of a golf swing. If data is to be saved externally as determined at 4705, i.e., there is a communication link to a mobile device and the mobile device is polling or has requested impact data when it occurs for example, then the impact is transmitted to an external memory, or the mobile device or saved externally in any other location at 4706 and processing continues again at 4702 where microcontroller 3802 analyzes collected motion capture data for subsequent impacts. If data is not to be saved externally, then processing continues at 4702 with the impact data saved locally in memory 4601. In one or more embodiments of the invention, noise may be filtered from the motion capture data before sending, and the sample rate may be varied based on the data values obtained to maximize accuracy. For example, some sensors output data that is not accurate under high sampling rates and high G-forces. Hence, by lowering the sampling rate at high G-forces, accuracy is maintained. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the microcontroller associated with motion capture element 111 may sense high G forces and automatically switch the sampling rate. In one or more embodiments, instead of using accelerometers with 6 G/12 G/24 G ranges or 2 G/4 G/8 G/16 G ranges, accelerometers with 2 ranges, for example 2G and 24 G may be utilized to simplify the logic of switching between ranges.
The impact event is defined in one embodiment, as all accelerometer axes reaching an impact threshold G force within a specified time frame, called the impact time frame. This alone is not sufficient to detect impact since a fast swing could reach the impact threshold, i.e., without contacting the golf ball, for example a practice swing. The discontinuity threshold signals the rapid change of accelerometer values that signify sudden impact. The impact time frame may be implemented as a sliding window that defines a time frame in which impact is detected. If the impact threshold and discontinuity threshold are reached on all axes within the impact time frame, then impact is signaled and the event as shown in
For example, if impact threshold for X is reached at time t, and impact threshold Y is reached at time t+n, and t+n is outside the impact time frame, then no impact is detected. For example, practice swings do not trigger impact events.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, further analysis of the impact event occurs to reduce false positives of impact events. As described, microcontroller 3802 searches for a linear velocity to reach a certain threshold, and a discontinuity in the linear velocity. Hence, microcontroller 3802 will not trigger an impact in a full motion swing where there is no “crash” or physical impact. However, a prospective impact event will trigger if the club is tapped on the ground or against any other object. However, since a typical golf swing has a very characteristic angular and linear velocity signature, the motion capture data may be utilized to determine whether the prospective impact was a result of a typical golf swing. For example, microcontroller 3802 may compare the motion capture data with this signature to predict the occurrence of a typical golf swing, in order to classify the impact as a valid golf club and golf ball impact.
For example, with the sensor mounted in the handle, a typical golf swing signature is shown in
The motion capture element collects data from various sensors. The data capture rate is high and there is significant amounts of data that is being captured. Embodiments of the invention may use both lossless and lossy compression algorithms to store the data on the sensor depending on the particular application. The compression algorithms enable the motion capture element to capture more data within the given resources. Compressed data is also what is transferred to the remote computer(s). Compressed data transfers faster. Compressed data is also stored in the Internet “in the cloud”, or on the database using up less space locally.
Over the air programming is enabled in one or more embodiments of the invention to enable the update of the firmware stored in the motion capture element. An initial bootloader is stored in non-volatile memory on the motion capture element that provides the basic services to communicate with a remote system. There is also a dual image storage capability on the module. Once an application image is loaded, a CRC check may be performed against the newly downloaded image. If the downloaded firmware passes the various checks, then the microcontroller boots from the new image, and the old image is flagged old. In one or more embodiments of the invention an external dongle may be utilized to transfer data from the motion capture element to the mobile computer via Infrared as opposed to over a typical radio frequency link. Any other method of transferring data between the motion capture elements and the mobile computer is in keeping with the spirit of the invention.
Specifically, the process of computing a swing trajectory, for exemplary purposes only a golf swing trajectory (x, y, z position of the club head through time) is based on integrating the sensor linear acceleration data twice to produce the position of the sensor in world space, then transforming the sensor motion to the corresponding motion at the club head using rigid body mechanics (RBM) or a combination of RBM and flex modeling. In many cases the sensor linear accelerometer errors are too large to accurately reproduce the club head position through the time period of a golf swing using straight-forward integration from the initial address position. Thus embodiments of the microcontroller coupled with the sensor may utilize the following technique for adjusting the trajectory that results from integrating the sensor linear accelerometer to provide a more accurate trajectory in the neighborhood of the impact.
One or more embodiments of the sensor are configured to detect impact. So for the golf swings of interest it is safe to assume that the player stuck the ball. If we further assume that the golfer lined up on the ball at the “address” position, then it follows that the position of the club head at impact is within a small, e.g., on the order of inches, range of the club head position at address.
Embodiments of the invention may utilize this knowledge to improve the trajectories using the following process.
1. Compute the trajectory of the club head by straightforward integration of the sensor data and combining with RBM/Flex modeling. This is designated Trajectory 1.
2. Take the following data from Trajectory 1 as initial conditions for a second integration step:
The position of the club head at time of address.
The orientation of the club head at time of impact.
3. Using the initial conditions described in step (2) embodiments of the microcontroller or other computing element, integrate backward in time through the sensor linear accelerometer data to produce Trajectory 2.
4. Both these trajectories are valid representations of the golf swing subject to the assumption that the address position and impact position are the same. Of course there will be slight differences in these two positions, however the result of blending these two trajectories generally gives less error than straightforward integration of the linear accelerometer data.
The two trajectories are then combined into a single Trajectory with a straight-forward linear blending:
X(t)=w(t)X1(t)+(1−w(t))X2(t).
Y(t)=w(t)Y1(t)+(1−w(t))Y2(t).
Z(t)=w(t)Z1(t)+(1−w(t))Z2(t).
where subscripts 1 and 2 indicate Trajectory 1 and Trajectory 2 respectively. The weight w(t) is a blending parameter that varies linearly with time between 0 and 1 such that w(t0)=1 and w(timpact)=0.
For cases where the assumptions about address and impact position are within a predetermined threshold or range, this method provides an excellent qualitative correction to the golf swing trajectory. This is particularly valuable for use in creating blended animations of a golfer's swing that are characteristic of the actual swings in a library of collected data or other database for example.
While the ideas herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 15/497,059, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,866,827, filed 25 Apr. 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 15/006,065, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,633,254, filed 25 Jan. 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/744,384, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,247,212, filed 17 Jan. 2013 which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/358,522, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,613,676, filed 26 Jan. 2012 and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/351,429, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,903,521, filed 17 Jan. 2012 and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/306,869 filed 29 Nov. 2011 and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/298,158, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,905,855, filed 16 Nov. 2011, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/267,784 filed 6 Oct. 2011, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/219,525, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,941,723, filed 26 Aug. 2011, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/191,309 filed 26 Jul. 2011, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/048,850, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,465,376, filed 15 Mar. 2011, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 12/901,806 filed 11 Oct. 2010, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 12/868,882, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,994,826, filed 26 Aug. 2010, the specifications of which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15497059 | Apr 2017 | US |
| Child | 15866382 | US | |
| Parent | 15006065 | Jan 2016 | US |
| Child | 15497059 | US | |
| Parent | 13744384 | Jan 2013 | US |
| Child | 15006065 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13358522 | Jan 2012 | US |
| Child | 13744384 | US | |
| Parent | 13351429 | Jan 2012 | US |
| Child | 13358522 | US | |
| Parent | 13306869 | Nov 2011 | US |
| Child | 13351429 | US | |
| Parent | 13298158 | Nov 2011 | US |
| Child | 13306869 | US | |
| Parent | 13267784 | Oct 2011 | US |
| Child | 13298158 | US | |
| Parent | 13219525 | Aug 2011 | US |
| Child | 13267784 | US | |
| Parent | 13191309 | Jul 2011 | US |
| Child | 13219525 | US | |
| Parent | 13048850 | Mar 2011 | US |
| Child | 13191309 | US | |
| Parent | 12901806 | Oct 2010 | US |
| Child | 13048850 | US | |
| Parent | 12868882 | Aug 2010 | US |
| Child | 12901806 | US |
