Basketball Shot Analysis via Embedded Sensor Nesting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current basketball training lacks effective feedback mechanisms for improving shooting skills, as traditional methods provide insufficient data for optimizing shooting techniques and tracking performance.
Innovation Solution
A basketball sensing system that integrates sensors within the ball to track attributes like acceleration, spin, and launch parameters, transmitting data to a portable device for real-time analysis and feedback, allowing players to compare their performance with personal goals or peers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If sensors are integrated within the basketball to track shot attributes, then measurement precision and information quality improve, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent embeds multiple sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers) and electronic components within the basketball itself, creating a nested structure where the sensing system is contained inside the ball. This allows precise shot attribute measurement while keeping the overall system integrated and manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The basketball is designed to serve multiple functions: it remains a playable basketball while simultaneously acting as a sensing device. The sensors track various shot attributes (acceleration, spin, launch angle), and the system provides both performance tracking and instructional feedback, making the device universally applicable for both practice and analysis.
2Loss of information
If real-time data transmission and analysis are implemented, then feedback quality improves, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system transmits data periodically rather than continuously, sending shot attribute information at key moments (at shot release, at ball-rim contact, at ball-net contact) rather than maintaining constant communication. This reduces energy consumption while still providing comprehensive feedback information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a portable electronic device as an intermediary between the basketball sensors and the analysis system. The ball transmits raw data to the portable device, which then performs local processing and generates feedback, reducing the energy burden on the ball's battery while maintaining comprehensive data analysis.
3Loss of information
If comprehensive shot attribute tracking is implemented, then information quality improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and tracks only the most relevant shot attributes (acceleration, spin rate, spin axis, launch angle, release timing) rather than attempting to measure every possible parameter. This selective extraction provides comprehensive performance data while managing processing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops where shot data is analyzed and used to generate instructional feedback for players. The feedback mechanism processes comprehensive shot attributes but presents simplified, actionable insights to users, managing information complexity while maintaining data quality.
Data Source
AI summary
A basketball shot determination system for use with a basket and a portable electronic device including a data acquisition device, a processing unit, a memory and an output device, the system includes a basketball, at least one sensor carried by the basketball, and a non-transient computer-readable medium. The medium contains code to direct the processor to obtain at least one attribute of a shot of the basketball towards the basket from the data acquisition device. The at least one attribute is sensed by the sensor or derived from signal output by the sensor. The medium contains code to direct the processor to determine whether the shot is a made basket by comparing the at least one attribute of the shot to one or more predetermined signature characteristics of a made basket, and to present output to a person based on the determination of whether the shot is a made basket.