Baseball pitch tagging for ball tracking devices

Abstract

A ball flight management system includes a receiver configured to receive a wireless signal comprising an indication of an intended pitch type selected from among a plurality of intended pitch types, one or more sensors configured to measure one or more ball flight parameters of a pitched ball and output one or more measured ball flight parameters, and a recording unit in communication with the one or more sensors and the receiver, the recording unit receiving and storing the one or more measured ball flight parameters output by the one or more sensors and the indication of the intended pitch type received by the receiver, the recording unit associating the intended pitch type with the at least one measured ball flight parameter to generate a record for the pitched ball that includes the at least one measured ball flight parameter and the intended pitch type, and storing the record.

1 - 24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . A method of tagging pitch data in a data processing system, the method comprising:
 storing information locally as locally stored information in a wireless transmitter of a wireless baseball signal calling system for transmissions output by the wireless transmitter to a pitcher-worn wireless receiver, the locally stored information including intended pitch type for a pitch;   measuring ball flight parameters with a ball flight measuring system for a pitch to generate measured ball flight parameters;   recording the measured ball flight parameters;   correlating the measured ball flight parameters and the locally stored information in the wireless transmitter to generate a record of a pitch that comprises an intended pitch type for the pitch and the measured ball flight parameters for the pitch; and   storing the record for each pitch of a series of pitches in a persistent memory of the data processing system.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein correlating the measured ball flight parameters and the locally stored information includes obtaining the locally stored information from the wireless transmitter, the locally stored information including intended pitch type data further comprises obtaining the intended pitch type data from a memory of the wireless transmitter that transmits the intended pitch type data in wireless signals to a pitcher-worn receiver configured to wirelessly receive the wireless signals and provide indications of intended pitch types to a pitcher based on the intended pitch type data. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 associating the measured ball flight parameters with a first time stamp indicating when the pitch associated with the measured ball flight parameters was detected, and   associating the transmissions with a second time stamp.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein correlating the measured ball flight parameters and the locally stored information includes comparing the first and second time stamps and assigning one of a plurality of wireless transmissions output by the wireless transmitter to one of the measured ball flight parameters measured by the ball flight measuring system to correlate the measured ball flight parameters for a pitch with one of the plurality of wireless transmissions based on a result of comparing the first and second time stamps. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the locally stored information includes at least one of a pitch type and pitch location. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein correlating the measured ball flight parameters and the locally stored information includes comparing a time that the information was transmitted before a particular pitch to a time that the ball flight parameters for that particular pitch was measured. 
     
     
         31 . A method of tagging pitch data in a data processing system, the method comprising:
 transmitting pitch type information from a wireless transmitter of a wireless baseball signal calling system to a pitcher-worn wireless receiver and to a correlator unit;   measuring ball flight parameters with a ball flight measuring system for a pitch to generate measured ball flight parameters;   recording the measured ball flight parameters;   providing the measured ball flight parameters to the correlator unit;   correlating with the correlator unit the measured ball flight parameters and the pitch type information to generate a record of a pitch that comprises an intended pitch type for the pitch and the measured ball flight parameters for the pitch; and   storing the record for each pitch of a series of pitches in a persistent memory of the data processing system.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein correlating the measured ball flight parameters and the pitch type information includes comparing a time that the pitch type information was transmitted to the pitcher-worn wireless receiver before a particular pitch and a time that the ball flight parameters for that particular pitch was measured. 
     
     
         33 . A pitch tagging system comprising:
 a correlator configured to receive intended pitch type information from a wireless transmitter of a wireless signal sent to a pitcher-worn wireless receiver of a wireless baseball signal calling system, the intended pitch type information comprising an indication of an intended pitch type for a pitched ball, the intended pitch type for a particular pitched ball being selected from among a plurality of intended pitch types;   a ball flight parameter memory storing one or more measured ball flight parameters output by a ball flight measurement system, the ball flight measurement system comprising one or more sensors configured to measure the one or more measured ball flight parameters for a particular pitched ball and generate the one or more measured ball flight parameters; and   a persistent memory;   wherein the correlator is configured to receive the one or more measured ball flight parameters for the particular pitched ball and correlate the intended pitch type for the particular pitched ball and generate a record for the particular pitched ball that includes the one or more measured ball flight parameters and the intended pitch type for the particular pitched ball, and   storing the record in the persistent memory.   
     
     
         34 . The pitch tagging system of  claim 33 , wherein the correlator is further configured to correlate the one or more measured ball flight parameters and the intended pitch type by comparing a time that the intended pitch type information was transmitted to the pitcher-worn wireless receiver before a particular pitched ball and a time that the one or more measured ball flight parameters for that particular pitched ball was measured. 
     
     
         35 . The pitch tagging system of  claim 34 , wherein the one or more measured ball flight parameters are associated with a first time stamp indicating when the particular pitched ball associated with the one or more measured ball flight parameters was detected by the ball flight measurement system, and wherein the indication of the intended pitch type is associated with a second time stamp indicating when a wireless signal associated with the intended pitch type was transmitted by the wireless transmitter. 
     
     
         36 . The pitch tagging system of  claim 35 , wherein the first time stamp associated with the one or more measured ball flight parameters is an absolute time, and wherein the second time stamp associated with the indication of the intended pitch type is an absolute time. 
     
     
         37 . The pitch tagging system of  claim 35 , wherein the first time stamp associated with the one or more measured ball flight parameters is an absolute time, and wherein the second time stamp associated with the indication of the intended pitch type is a relative time. 
     
     
         38 . A pitch tagging system comprising:
 a wireless baseball signal calling system having a pitcher-worn wireless receiver and a wireless transmitter that transmits intended pitch types to the pitcher-worn wireless receiver for a particular pitched ball;   a ball flight measurement system that measures one or more measured ball flight parameters for the particular pitched ball;   a correlator configured to receive pitch type information from the wireless transmitter of an intended pitch type for the particular pitched ball, the pitch type information comprising the intended pitch type for the particular pitched ball, the intended pitch type for the particular pitched ball being selected from among a plurality of intended pitch types, and the one or more measured ball flight parameters for the particular pitched ball from the ball flight measurement system, wherein the correlator is configured to correlate the intended pitch type for the particular pitched ball with the one or more measured ball flight parameters for the particular pitched ball and generate a record for the particular pitched ball that includes the one or more measured ball flight parameters and the intended pitch type for the particular pitched ball; and   a persistent memory coupled to the correlator and configured to store the record in the persistent memory.   
     
     
         39 . The pitch tagging system of  claim 38 , wherein the correlator is further configured to correlate the one or more measured ball flight parameters and the intended pitch type by comparing a time that the pitch type information was transmitted to the pitcher-worn wireless receiver before a particular pitch and a time that the one or more measured ball flight parameters for the particular pitched ball was measured. 
     
     
         40 . The pitch tagging system of  claim 39 , wherein the one or more measured ball flight parameters are associated with a first time stamp indicating when the particular pitched ball associated with the one or more measured ball flight parameters was detected by the ball flight measurement system, and wherein an indication of the intended pitch type is associated with a second time stamp indicating when a wireless signal associated with the intended pitch type was transmitted by the wireless transmitter. 
     
     
         41 . The pitch tagging system of  claim 40 , wherein the first time stamp associated with the one or more measured ball flight parameters is an absolute time, and wherein the second time stamp associated with an indication of the intended pitch type is an absolute time. 
     
     
         42 . The pitch tagging system of  claim 40 , wherein the first time stamp associated with the one or more measured ball flight parameters is an absolute time, and wherein the second time stamp associated with the indication of the intended pitch type is a relative time. 
     
     
         43 . The pitch tagging system of  claim 38 , wherein the pitcher-worn wireless receiver is a display receiver configured to generate a representation of the intended pitch type on a display of the display receiver.