Sport Ball Sensor Segmentation for Accurate Rotation Monitoring
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fitness monitoring devices for athletic activities are often non-portable, heavy, lack battery and processing power, and provide inaccurate or limited performance feedback, making them unsuitable for real-world competitive or training sessions, and fail to provide quick, accurate insights for performance comparison and improvement.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for monitoring a ball used in athletic activities, involving a sensor module that senses acceleration data to determine drag force, speed, and trajectory, allowing for real-time and post-activity feedback on the ball's movement, enabling users to assess their performance and improve strategies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing fitness monitoring devices are used, then performance monitoring is provided, but the devices are non-portable, heavy, and lack battery and processing power for extended use under rigorous conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system is segmented into multiple components: a lightweight sensor module attached to the sport ball, a portable electronic device carried by the user, and a remote server for data processing. This segmentation allows the heavy processing and storage functions to be distributed, enabling the ball-attached sensor to remain lightweight while maintaining reliable monitoring capabilities through the distributed system architecture.
2Loss of information
If existing fitness monitoring devices are used, then some performance data is collected, but accurate and insightful performance feedback for quick comparison and improvement is not provided
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements multi-level feedback mechanisms: real-time feedback during activity through the portable electronic device, and comprehensive post-activity feedback through the remote server that provides detailed analysis, comparisons with past performances, and actionable insights. This feedback loop structure ensures that performance information is not only collected but also processed and returned in a form that enables quick comparison and improvement decisions.
Solution Approach 2:
The remote server pre-processes and stores performance data in structured formats with pre-computed metrics and comparisons ready for retrieval. This preliminary action ensures that when performance feedback is needed, it is immediately available without requiring time-consuming analysis at the moment of need, enabling quick comparison and decision-making.
3Device complexity
If simple performance determinations are made, then basic metrics like heart rate and step count are provided, but advanced determinations are not possible or suffer from accuracy issues
Solution Approach 1:
The remote server acts as an intermediary that receives raw sensor data from the ball and performs sophisticated analysis that would be too computationally intensive for the ball-attached sensor or mobile device. This intermediary structure allows the simple ball sensor to maintain low complexity while the server performs advanced determinations with high measurement precision through comprehensive data processing and comparison with reference data.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides improved capabilities for assessing athletic activity, offering portable, efficient, and accurate monitoring of ball movement, enabling users to compare past performances, develop strategies, and select training regimens, thus enhancing athletic performance.
Implementation Method 1
sensing acceleration data using a sensor module coupled to the object
Implementation Method 2
determining a drag force applied to the object based on the acceleration data
Implementation Method 3
determining that the object is in free flight using a sensor module coupled to the object, determining a condition of the object during free flight using the sensor module, determining a trajectory model for the flight of the object based on the condition of the object during flight
Data Source
AI summary
A method for determining a rotation rate of a ball used for an athletic activity comprises: sensing acceleration data for the ball using a sensor coupled to the ball, identifying a repeating portion of the sensed acceleration data, determining a time period of the repeating portion of the sensed acceleration data, determining an inverse of the time period of the repeating portion, and determining the rotation rate of the ball based on the determination of the inverse of the time period.