Apparatus and method for monitoring launch parameters of a launched sports object

Abstract

A video image acquisition apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus has one or multiple digital cameras taking images of a flying golf ball created by at least two flashes or strobes of light on continuous video mode at a predetermined frame rate. Each image frame is then subtracted from the background and compared to determine the existence of the ball image in flight thus eliminating a dependency upon the camera shutter speed which must be synchronized with the flashes in prior art design. Furthermore, another video image acquisition apparatus is also disclosed that consists of at least two video cameras taking images of flying golf balls created by at least two flashes or strobes of light at predetermined time intervals. The apparatus then applies triangulate calculation of the two camera images to determine the exact physical locations of the flying golf balls in space at a given time of flight.

1 . An electronic imaging apparatus for monitoring the early flight of a launched sports object, the imaging apparatus comprising: 
 (a) A triggerable flash device for emanating at least two flashed illuminations, separated by a predetermined time interval, at the sports object thus creating at least two corresponding flight scenes of the sports object;    (b) an electronic camera system, located near the launched sports object and activated under a continuous video mode, for capturing image frame data corresponding to said flight scenes; and    (c) a computing device coupled to the electronic camera system for acquiring, processing and analyzing the captured image frame data into displayable sports object launch parameters    
   
   
       2 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 1  further comprises an image frame background subtraction mechanism to freeze and recognize the sports object image in flight for the processing and analyzing of the captured image frame data.  
   
   
       3 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 2  further comprises an image enhancement mechanism to enhance the contrast and image sharpness of the sports object image from the captured image frame data for the processing and analyzing of the captured image frame data.  
   
   
       4 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said flash device is triggered with an acoustic, an optical or an electronic device.  
   
   
       5 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said sports object is a golf ball and wherein said launch parameters comprise a launch angle, a launch speed and a launch azimuth in degrees of push or Pull.  
   
   
       6 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 5  wherein the surface of said golf ball further comprises one or two markings whereby, based upon the location and orientation of the one or two markings contained in the captured image frame data, the computing device determines additional sports object launch parameters of back-spin RPM (revolutions per minute), side-spin RPM and rifle-spin RPM.  
   
   
       7 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 5  wherein the shape of each of said markings is a bar or a line.  
   
   
       8 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said electronic camera system further comprises at least one digital CMOS or CCD camera located with a predetermined spatial relationship with a pre-launch position of the sports object.  
   
   
       9 . An electronic imaging apparatus for monitoring the early flight of a launched sports object, the imaging apparatus comprising: 
 (a) A triggerable flash device for emanating at least two flashed illuminations, separated by a predetermined time interval, at the sports object thus creating at least two corresponding flight scenes of the sports object;    (b) an electronic camera system located near the launched sports object but spaced from it by a predetermined distance D cm  transverse to the sports object launch direction, for capturing image frame data corresponding to said flight scenes, the camera system further comprising at least a first and a second camera wherein the second camera being mounted essentially vertically above and separated from the first camera by a predetermined distance D sp  thereby creating a corresponding difference in golf ball viewing angle Δθ between the first camera and the second camera; and    (c) a computing device coupled to the electronic camera system for acquiring, processing and analyzing the captured image frame data into displayable sports object launch parameters    whereby, owing to the creation of said difference in golf ball viewing angle Δθ, the repeatability and accuracy of said launch parameters can be correspondingly improved.    
   
   
       10 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 9  wherein said first camera is mounted near the ground.  
   
   
       11 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 9  wherein said distance D sp  is set to be greater than an equivalent diameter of the sports object.  
   
   
       12 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 9  wherein said sports object is a golf ball having a diameter of about 1.7 inches.  
   
   
       13 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 12  wherein said distance D cm  is set within a range from about 12 to about 24 inches and said distance D sp  is set within a range from about 4 to about 8 inches thereby creating a difference in golf ball viewing angle Δθ between about 9 to about 34 degrees.  
   
   
       14 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 9  further comprises a triangulate calculation mechanism applied to the at least two captured image frame data from both of the first and the second camera to determine the spatial location of the sports object at an instant of flight time corresponding to each flashed illumination.  
   
   
       15 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 9  further comprises an image enhance.ement technique to enhance the contrast and image sharpness of the sports object image from the captured image frame data for the processing and analyzing of the captured image frame data.  
   
   
       16 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 9  wherein said flash device is triggered with an acoustic, an optical or an electronic device.  
   
   
       17 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 9  wherein said sports object is a golf ball and wherein said launch parameters comprise a launch angle, a launch speed and a launch azimuth in degrees of push or Pull.  
   
   
       18 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 17  wherein the surface of said golf ball further comprises one or two markings whereby, based upon the location and orientation of the one or two markings contained in the captured image frame data, the computing device determines additional sports object launch parameters of back-spin RPM (revolutions per minute), side-spin RPM and rifle-spin RPM.  
   
   
       19 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 18  wherein the shape of each of said markings is a bar or a line.  
   
   
       20 . The imaging apparatus of  claim 9  wherein each of said at least a first and a second camera is a digital CMOS or CCD camera.  
   
   
       21 . A method of monitoring the early flight of a launched sports object, the method comprises: 
 (a) emanating at least two flashed illuminations, separated by a predetermined time interval, at the sports object thus creating at least two corresponding flight scenes of the sports object;    (b) electronically capturing, near the launched sports object and under a continuous video mode, image frame data corresponding to said flight scenes; and    (c) acquiring, processing and analyzing the captured image frame data into sports object launch parameters.    
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the processing and analyzing the captured image frame data further comprises a step of using an image frame background subtraction technique to freeze and recognize the sports object image in flight.  
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 22  wherein the processing and analyzing of the captured image frame data further comprises a step of using an image enhancement technique to enhance the contrast and image sharpness of the sports object image from the captured image frame data.  
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 21  wherein said sports object is a golf ball and wherein said launch parameters comprise a launch angle, a launch speed and a launch azimuth in degrees of push or Pull.  
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 24  further comprises providing the surface of said golf ball with one or two markings and, based upon the location and orientation of the one or two markings contained in the captured image frame data, determining additional sports object launch parameters of back-spin RPM (revolutions per minute), side-spin RPM and rifle-spin RPM.  
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 21  wherein said electronically capturing of image frame data further comprises a step of using at least one digital CMOS or CCD camera located with a predetermined spatial relationship with a pre-launch position of the sports object.  
   
   
       27 . A method of monitoring the early flight of a launched sports object, the method comprises: 
 (a) emanating at least two flashed illuminations, separated by a predetermined time interval, at the sports object thus creating at least two corresponding flight scenes of the sports object;    (b) capturing image frame data corresponding to said flight scenes with an electronic camera system located near the launched sports object but spaced from it by a predetermined distance D cm  transverse to the sports object launch direction, wherein the camera system further comprising at least a first and a second camera wherein the second camera being mounted essentially vertically above and separated from the first camera by a predetermined distance D sp  thereby creating a corresponding difference in golf ball viewing angle Δθ between the first camera and the second camera; and    (c) acquiring, processing and analyzing the captured image frame data into sports object launch parameters.    
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 27  further comprises mounting said first camera near the ground.  
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 27  further comprises setting said distance D sp  to be greater than an equivalent diameter of the sports object.  
   
   
       30 . The method of  claim 27  wherein said sports object is a golf ball having a diameter of about 1.7 inches.  
   
   
       31 . The method of  claim 30  further comprises setting said distance D cm  to be within a range from about 12 to about 24 inches and said distance D sp  to be within a range from about 4 to about 8 inches thereby creating a difference in golf ball viewing angle Δθ between about 9 to about 34 degrees.  
   
   
       32 . The method of  claim 27  wherein the processing and analyzing of the captured image frame data further comprises applying triangulate calculation to the at least two captured image frame data from both of the first and the second camera and determining the spatial location of the sports object at an instant of flight time corresponding to each flashed illumination.  
   
   
       33 . The method of  claim 27  wherein the processing and analyzing of the captured image frame data further comprises using an image enhancement technique and enhancing the contrast and image sharpness of the sports object image from the captured image frame data.  
   
   
       34 . The method of  claim 27  wherein said sports object is a golf ball and wherein said launch parameters further comprise a launch angle, a launch speed and a launch azimuth in degrees of push or Pull.  
   
   
       35 . The method of  claim 34  further comprises providing the surface of said golf ball with one or two markings and, based upon the location and orientation of the one or two markings contained in the captured image frame data, determining additional sports object launch parameters of back-spin RPM (revolutions per minute), side-spin RPM and rifle-spin RPM.