Synchronized Camera Tracking for Low-Cost Racket Sports Events
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing racquet sports tracking systems are costly, complex, and interfere with gameplay or fail to meet regulatory requirements, lacking satisfactory precision and reliability for mass market applications.
Innovation Solution
A low-cost, compact camera system integrated into net posts or referee's chairs, using small components to provide high-performance tracking without interfering with gameplay, utilizing low-cost components like printed circuit boards and cameras, synchronized for improved precision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If advanced high-resolution precision optics are used, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive, complex precision optics with inexpensive, commercially available camera modules that can be mass-produced. These simple camera units are designed to be cost-effective and easily replaceable, achieving acceptable tracking precision without the complexity and high cost of traditional precision optical systems.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple simple camera units are combined and synchronized to work together as a unified tracking system. By merging the data from several low-cost cameras with synchronized timestamps, the system achieves tracking precision comparable to expensive single-camera systems while maintaining lower overall cost and complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple cameras are mounted high above the floor, then tracking coverage is improved, but installation cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The camera units are designed to be multi-functional and adaptable to various mounting positions and sports applications. The same basic camera unit can be used in different locations (on net posts, on chairs, on tripods) and for different racquet sports, eliminating the need for specialized expensive mounting infrastructure and reducing overall installation costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses synchronized timestamps and coordinate transformation algorithms as intermediaries to process data from cameras at various positions. This allows cameras mounted at practical, low heights to contribute effectively to the tracking system without requiring expensive high-altitude mounting infrastructure, as the software intermediaries compensate for the different viewing angles and positions.
3Ease of operation
If cameras are placed at practical height, then ease of installation is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calibration and establishes coordinate transformation relationships between the camera positions and the court coordinate system before actual tracking begins. This preliminary setup allows cameras at practical, easy-to-install heights to provide accurate measurements by pre-computing the geometric relationships and transformation matrices needed for precise ball positioning calculations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from multiple camera viewpoints and synchronized timestamp data to continuously refine and correct ball position calculations. By combining information from several cameras at practical heights with temporal synchronization, the system compensates for the lower mounting position and maintains measurement precision through iterative calculation and validation against multiple data sources.
4Ease of manufacture
If low-cost components are used, then cost is reduced, but reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines data from multiple independent low-cost camera units with synchronized timestamps to achieve reliable tracking. By merging the observations from several cameras viewing the same event from different angles and times, the system creates redundant verification and cross-validation, ensuring that temporary failures or errors in individual cheap camera units do not compromise overall system reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms that continuously monitor the quality and consistency of data from each camera unit. When anomalies or reliability issues are detected in data from low-cost components, the system can weight that data differently, request re-capture, or use alternative camera views to compensate, thereby maintaining overall tracking reliability despite the use of inexpensive individual components.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to an apparatus, method and computer program for collecting and processing digital information by computer vision and/or tracking as well as observing specific events during sports, in particular during the practice of racket sports, comprising: at least one camera pair for obtaining real image-related information in sports-related stereo, processor for processing the actual image-related information from the at least one camera, memory space containing stored comparison data for typical actions of a fictitious athlete and for typical movements and positions of a fictitious ball, the camera, processor and memory space all to each other for both storage and retrieval of digital information, the processor comparing the actual image-related information from the at least one camera with the corresponding stored comparison data from the memory space and categorizing the work image-related information.