Swing position recognition and reinforcement

Abstract

A method and device is used to teach and simulate swing mechanics. A camera is coupled to a computer such that frames including an image of a golfer swinging a golf club may be captured. A key part of the image is identified by the computer in sequential frames captured from the camera, and the image is compared to swing mechanics of a known standard golfer. The position of the known standard golfer is capable of following the natural swing of a student golfer, and the method and device are capable of providing real-time feedback to the student golfer during the golfer's swing. An instant replay may be used to reinforce good swing mechanics. A marker attachment may be used to assist in tracking and analyzing the swing mechanics of the images. Parameters relating to club angle and apparent club length may be compared to a known standard for a plurality of reference swing positions in order to determine the swing mechanics of the student golfer during practice instruction and within a golf simulation game to determine ball trajectory. A ball launch monitor may be integrated with the image analysis, which improves the effectiveness of the method and device synergistically.

1 . A device for analyzing swing mechanics of a student, the device comprising: 
 a computer; and    a camera coupled to the computer such that the computer is capable of capturing video frames from the camera of an image of the student and at least a portion of a marker attachment, a racquet, a bat or a club, such that when the student swings at the student's own pace, the computer matches the student's pace with an image or shadow of a known standard, the computer determines a position from at least one key part of the image, and the computer provides feedback to the student based on a divergence from the known standard of the position from the at least one key part of the image of the student.    
   
   
       2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the student is a golfer and the camera is positioned face on to the golfer, and the computer measures a parameter related to a length of a club and compares the measured parameter related to the length to a known standard length for at least one position of the club.  
   
   
       3 . The device of  claim 2 , further comprising a marker attachment having a first marker or a first marker section and a second marker or a second marker section spaced from the first marker or the first marker section, wherein the computer determines the length of the marker attachment by determining the distance between the first marker or the first marker section and the second marker or the second marker section.  
   
   
       4 . The device of  claim 3 , wherein the distance is measured in pixels.  
   
   
       5 . The device of  claim 3 , wherein the computer compares the length of the marker attachment to the known standard length for a plurality of club positions.  
   
   
       6 . The device of  claim 5 , wherein the plurality of club positions is at least thirty club positions per second.  
   
   
       7 . The device of  claim 5 , wherein the plurality of club positions is at least sixty club positions per second.  
   
   
       8 . The device of  claim 3 , wherein the marker attachment has a plurality of markers and at least one of the markers comprises an orb, and the orb has at least two colors such that the computer is capable of determining rotation of the marker attachment from the changing fraction of the at least two colors that are visible in the image.  
   
   
       9 . The device of  claim 1 , further comprising a marker attachment, wherein the marker attachment has a bi-colored marker or a bi-colored section such that rotation of the marker attachment may be detected and used to determine divergence from a known standard of rotation for proper swing mechanics.  
   
   
       10 . The device of  claim 9 , wherein the divergence is used to calculate the effect on a trajectory of a ball in a golf simulator.  
   
   
       11 . The device of  claim 10 , further comprising a ball launch monitor, wherein the launch monitor is capable of determining the speed and direction of a ball after impact with a head of the club, and the computer determines the trajectory of ball in a golf simulator based on the speed and direction of the ball and the rotation of the shaft of the club.  
   
   
       12 . The device of  claim 10 , wherein the computer is capable of providing an instant replay that instructs the golfer how to correct improper golf swing mechanics to improve the trajectory of the golf ball.  
   
   
       13 . The device of  claim 9 , wherein the marker attachment has a plurality of markers or marker sections and at least one of the markers or marker sections comprises a tube with a first color on one longitudinal side of the tube and a second color on the opposite longitudinal side of the tube, such that the computer is capable of determining rotation of the marker attachment from the changing fraction of the first color and the second color that are visible in the image.  
   
   
       14 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein the rotation of the marker attachment is used to determine divergence from a known standard.  
   
   
       15 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the camera is positioned downline of a golfer, and the computer measures a parameter related to an angle of a shaft of the club and compares the measured parameter related to the angle to a known standard angle for at least one position of the club.  
   
   
       16 . The device of  claim 15 , wherein the at least one key part includes the point where a grip of the club intersects the shaft of the club.  
   
   
       17 . The device of  claim 16 , wherein the point where the grip intersects the shaft is marked by a first marker.  
   
   
       18 . The device of  claim 17 , wherein the first marker is attached at one end of a spacer member having a second marker attached at an opposite end.  
   
   
       19 . The device of  claim 18 , wherein the marker attachment has a plurality of markers and at least one of the markers comprises an orb, and the orb has at least two colors such that the computer is capable of determining rotation of the shaft from the changing fraction of the at least two colors that are visible in the image during rotation of the shaft of the club.  
   
   
       20 . The device of  claim 19 , wherein the rotation of the shaft is used to determine divergence from rotation of a known standard for rotation of the shaft of the club.  
   
   
       21 . The device of  claim 20 , wherein the divergence is used to calculate the effect on a trajectory of the ball in a golf simulator.  
   
   
       22 . The device of  claim 16 , wherein a rotation of the shaft of the club is determined from the image of a head of the club.  
   
   
       23 . The device of  claim 22 , further comprising a ball launch monitor, wherein the launch monitor is capable of determining the speed and direction of the ball after impact with a head of the club, and the computer determines the trajectory of the ball in a golf simulator based on the speed and direction of the ball and the rotation of the shaft of the club.  
   
   
       24 . An interactive method of tracking and analyzing golf swing mechanics of a golfer using a golf club, the method comprising: 
 viewing the golfer with a video camera;    coupling the video camera to a computer such that the computer is capable of capturing images from the video camera;    determining a key part from the images;    tracking the position of the golf club during a swing using the key part;    comparing the position of the golf swing to a reference position of a known standard swing;    providing feedback to the golfer such that the golfer is capable of improving the swing mechanics.    
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the step of providing feedback includes providing visual feedback or audible feedback or both visual feedback and audible feedback.  
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the visual feedback includes: 
 superimposing a pattern of a golfer having a known standard golf swing mechanics over the image of the golfer on a display screen based on the key position identified by the computer from the image.    
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the audible feedback is capable of instructing the golfer about at least one improper aspect of swing mechanics in real time during a swing by the golfer.  
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the audible feedback is capable of informing the golfer of a flat back swing based on image analysis of the image by the computer.  
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the step of superimposing includes: 
 advancing the image from one frame to the next in real time and superimposing the pattern of the golfer having a known standard golf swing mechanics to each of a plurality of sequential images of the golfer in each frame based on the key position identified by the computer from the image.    
   
   
       30 . The method of claim  29 , further comprising: 
 attaching a marker attachment on a shaft of the club of the golfer.    
   
   
       31 . The method of  claim 30 , further comprising: 
 exhibiting a surface of the marker attachment having a color pattern thereon;    analyzing the color pattern;    comparing the color pattern of the marker of the golfer to the color pattern of a known standard golfer;    determining divergence from the color pattern of the known standard golfer; and    providing the golfer feedback concerning the divergence.    
   
   
       32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the feedback is audible.  
   
   
       33 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the feedback is capable of informing the golfer of a slice or a hook.  
   
   
       34 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the feedback is a golf simulator capable of showing the trajectory of the golf ball of the golfer compared to the trajectory of the golf ball of the known standard golfer.  
   
   
       35 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the feedback includes an explanation of the defect in golf mechanics of the golfer and providing drills to practice correcting of the defect in golf mechanics.  
   
   
       36 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein the feedback includes repeating the shot and showing a comparison of the original trajectory, the repeated trajectory and the known standard trajectory.  
   
   
       37 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the step of determining a key part from the images includes determining the coordinates of a first marker attached to a shaft of the club at the intersection of a grip and a shaft of the club.  
   
   
       38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the step of tracking the position of the golf club includes determining the position of at least one additional marker spaced at known distance from the first marker, determining a linear fit from the first marker through the at least one additional marker, wherein an angle from a fixed direction from the first marker to the line of the linear fit is capable of being determined.  
   
   
       39 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the step of tracking the position of the golf club further comprises counting the number of pixels from the first marker to the at least one additional marker.  
   
   
       40 . The method of  claim 39 , wherein the step of tracking the position of the golf club further comprises counting the number of pixels from a center of mass of the body to the position of the first marker.  
   
   
       41 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the step of comparing the position of the golf swing to a reference position of a known standard swing includes comparing at least one of the measurements made in the step of tracking the position to at least one related value measured from the known standard swing at the reference position associated with the actual position of the first marker of the golfer, the at least one of the measurements made in the step of tracking the position being selected from the group of measurements consisting of the number of pixels from a center of mass of the body to the position of the first marker, the number of pixels from the first marker to the at least one additional marker, the coordinates of the position of the center of mass of the golfer's head, and the angle from a fixed direction from the first marker to the line of the linear fit.  
   
   
       42 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the step of comparing the position of the golf swing to a reference position of a known standard swing includes comparing at least two of the measurements made in the step of tracking the position to at least two related values measured from the known standard swing at the reference position associated with the actual position of the first marker of the golfer.  
   
   
       43 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the step of viewing the golfer views the golfer from a plurality of cameras positioned for different views of the golfer.  
   
   
       44 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising a step of analyzing the brightness and gray properties of known color patterns of a marker attachment and reporting light conditions to the golfer.  
   
   
       45 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising a step of disposing the camera a proper distance from the golfer during setup by comparing the height of the golfer to the height of a known standard golfer.  
   
   
       46 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising using a marker attachment as a pointing device to control the computer.  
   
   
       47 . The method of  claim 46 , wherein the step of using a marker attachment includes the step of mirroring the image of the golfer on the display.  
   
   
       48 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising: 
 selecting a type of golf club;    taking a practice swing with the type of golf club;    viewing the practice swing in real-time during the practice swing;    replaying the practice swing; and    analyzing the practice swing step-by-step audibly commenting on the swing mechanics during each step having comments associated with the step.    
   
   
       49 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising: 
 predicting the trajectory of a ball; and    determining from the trajectory the lie of the ball in a simulated golf environment.    
   
   
       50 . The method of  claim 49 , further comprising: 
 using a launch monitor to determine ball speed and initial direction of the ball when using a putter for long putts, a wedge, an iron, a wood or a driver;    attaching a marker having plurality of colors or patterns on the club;    predicting the effect of ball rotation imparted by rotational position of the club at impact on the trajectory of the ball from image analysis of the marker having a plurality of colors using an image analyzer; and    using the image analyzer to determine the ball speed and initial direction of the ball when using a putter for a short putt, when the image analyzer is capable of improving the accuracy of the simulation of the short putt.    
   
   
       51 . The method of  claim 50 , further comprising a step of including a plurality of players in the golf simulation.  
   
   
       52 . The method of  claim 51 , wherein the plurality of players are disposed in different locations and are playing over an electronic network.  
   
   
       53 . A simulation system for a player, comprising: 
 a device for practicing swing mechanics, the device comprising a computer, and a camera coupled to the computer such that the computer is capable of capturing video frames from the camera of a marker device on a shaft;    the marker device having a plurality of colored sections, each having an anti-reflective surface, the plurality of colored sections including:    a first section having a first color;    a second section disposed below the first section and having a second color on a left side and a third color on a right side, opposite of the left side of the second section;    a third section disposed below the second section, the third section having the third color on a left side and the second color on a right side, opposite of the left side, such that the left side of the third section and the right side of the second section are of the same color and the right side of the third section and the left side of the second section are of the same color, such that, when the player swings the marker device at the player's own pace, the system identifies swing mechanics information, including:    determining coordinates of the marker device;    fitting a linear fit from one of the first section or second section through another identifiable section of the marker device, providing an angle of the shaft;    measuring the apparent distance between one of the first section, the second section or the third section and any other identifiable section of the marker device; and    measuring a rotation of the shaft based on a count of the number of pixels of the second color and the third color; and    the system compares the swing mechanics information to a known standard; and    provides real-time visual and audible feedback to the player.    
   
   
       54 . The system of  claim 53 , wherein the first section is a first orb, the second is a second orb and the third section is a third orb, wherein each of the first orb, the second orb and the third orb are spaced apart one from the other.  
   
   
       55 . A marker attachment comprising a tube or a plurality of orbs, the tube or each of the plurality of orbs having an anti-reflective surface, the tube or plurality of orbs including: 
 a first section or a first orb, respectively, having a uniform surface color;    a second section or a second orb, respectively, of the same color as the first orb disposed at a distance from the first section or the first orb, respectively;    a third section or a third orb, respectively, of the same color as the first orb disposed between the first section or the first orb and the second section or the second orb;    a first bi-colored section or a first bi-colored orb of a second color and a third color; and    a second bi-colored section or a second bi-colored orb of a second color and a third color;    wherein the first bi-colored section or first bi-colored orb has the second color on a left half and the third color on a right half and the second bi-colored section or the section bi-colored orb has the second color on a right half and the third color on a left half.    
   
   
       56 . The marker attachment of  claim 55 , wherein the first section or the first orb is a first section; the second section or the second orb is a second section; the third section or the third orb is a third section; the first bi-colored section or the first bi-colored orb is a first bi-colored section; and the second bi-colored section or the second bi-colored orb is a second bi-colored section.