Swing with IMU Feedback of Back Swing, Contact Point, and Follow Through

Abstract

An apparatus, method, and system are herein disclosed for improving an athlete's swing by detecting three phases of a swing—the backswing, the lead up, and the follow through—and determining whether a ball impact or highest velocity occurred between the lead up and follow through using an inertial measurement unit device affixed to a piece of sports equipment without encumbering the athlete's equipment by substantially changing the weight, balance, or structure of the equipment.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising,
 at least one inertial measurement unit, wherein the inertial measurement unit comprises an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a magnetometer;   a microcontroller operably coupled to the inertial measurement unit;
 memory operably coupled to the microcontroller; 
   wherein the inertial measurement unit, microcontroller, and memory are operably coupled to identify a backswing, lead up, and follow through to validate a complete stroke.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a housing adapted for attachment on a tennis racket with a string bed with a proximal end and a distal end with mains strings oriented from the proximal end to the distal end and cross strings oriented transverse to the mains strings, the housing adapted to attach to the proximal end of said string bed between the proximal end of the string bed and a first cross string. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the housing attaches to at least two mains strings to dampen vibrations of the tennis racket. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a battery and a battery charging and protection component operably coupled to the microcontroller. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , further comprising a piezoelectric module operably connected to the battery charging and protection component. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising an output display operably coupled to the microcontroller to indicate a ball impact occurred within the lead up, follow through, or in between the lead up and follow through. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the output display comprises an electronic paper display. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the output display comprises a touch screen for user input. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising an output speaker operably coupled to the microcontroller to make sounds regarding a threshold metric relating to backswing, lead up, or follow through. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising an interface operably coupled to the microcontroller for coupling to an external portable electronic device. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the interface comprises a wireless interface. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising an input operably coupled to the microcontroller for indicating that a previous set of raw data comprised a calibrating swing. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the microcontroller compares data associated with backswing, lead up, and follow through with data of the calibrating swing. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a movement module operably coupled to the microcontroller in order to compute player movement and estimate body position. 
     
     
         15 . A method of improving an athlete's stroke, comprising steps of:
 using an inertial memory unit, collecting raw data of distance, angle, acceleration, and speed;   using a microcontroller, identifying backswing, lead up, ball impact, and follow through by processing the raw data;   using an output, indicating the ball impact occurred within the lead up, follow through, or in between the lead up and follow through;   wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , comprising an additional step of comparing backswing, lead up, and follow through with a calibrated stroke. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising validating ball impact by removing acceleration raw data below a threshold value associated with taps. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , comprising an additional step of transmitting values to an external device. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein identifying a backswing comprises identifying a change in direction before a threshold increase in acceleration. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the threshold increase in acceleration varies with a change in angle from the change in direction.