Real-Time Sports Advisory System Using Ball Trajectory Prediction

1 . A system for providing advisory information regarding a sporting outcome, the system comprising:

a camera that captures a plurality of images, each of a plural subset of the images including a ball;

a data processing device coupled to the camera via a low-latency data connection, the data processing device configured to identify a position of the ball in each of the plural subset of the images, project one or more possible trajectories of the ball based on the positions, and predict a sporting outcome based on the projected one or more trajectories; and

a communication unit coupled to the data processing device via a second data connection, the communication unit configured to provide the advisory information to a sporting participant based on the predicted sporting outcome.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the communication unit provides the advisory information via at least one of: visual feedback, audible feedback, or tactile feedback.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the low-latency data connection provides raw pixel data corresponding to a first one of the plurality of images to the data processing device within 150 milliseconds of the raw pixel data being captured by the camera.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the advisory information is provided by the communication unit within half a second of a first one of the plurality of images being captured by the camera.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of images has a resolution of at least 4000 pixels on a first axis and 2160 pixels on a second axis, and the camera captures the plurality of images at a rate of at least thirty frames per second.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the data processing device is a computer with a processor speed of at least 2.7 gigahertz that is capable is running at least eight processes in parallel.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the position of the ball in an image comprises an x coordinate, a y coordinate, and an apparent size of the ball.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more possible trajectories are one of: a parabola, a parabola adjusted to account for a spin on the ball, or a parabola adjusted to account for air resistance.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the sporting outcome comprises one of: a ball landing in, a ball landing out, a shot going in, a shot missing, a probable trajectory of the ball, or a ball reaching a vertical peak of its trajectory.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the sporting participant is one of: a player, a referee, a spectator, or a TV viewer.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the ball is one of: a volleyball, a tennis ball, a basketball, a hockey puck, a shuttlecock, a football, a cricket ball, a golf ball, or a soccer ball.

12 . A computer-implemented method for providing advisory information regarding a sporting outcome, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of digital images from a camera, each of a plural subset of the images including a ball;

identifying a position of the ball in each of the plural subset of the images;

projecting one or more possible trajectories of the ball based on the positions;

predicting a sporting outcome based on the projected one or more trajectories; and

sending an instruction to a communication unit to provide the advisory information regarding the sporting outcome.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein identifying the position of the ball in an image includes performing a global search, the global search comprising:

identifying one or more expected colors of the ball in the image;

identifying one or more regions in the image that include at least a predetermined fraction of pixels matching the expected colors within a threshold tolerance; and

searching the one or more regions for pixel configurations likely to be the ball.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein identifying the position of the ball in an image includes performing a local search, the local search comprising:

identifying a region of the image based on a location of the ball in one or more previous images; and

searching the region for pixel configurations likely to be the ball.

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein identifying the position of the ball in an image comprises:

identifying a plurality of potential ball positions; and

selecting one of the plurality of potential ball positions as the position of the ball.

16 . The method of claim 12 , wherein projecting the one or more possible trajectories of the ball comprises:

fitting a plurality of curves to the identified positions of the ball; and

calculating an error corresponding to each curve.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the curves are one of: parabolas, parabolas adjusted to account for a spin on the ball, or parabolas adjusted to account for air resistance.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein predicting the sporting outcome comprises:

grouping the plurality of curves into a plurality of groups, the group a given curve is placed in based on whether the given curve corresponds to a first sporting outcome or a second sorting outcome; and

selecting the first sporting outcome as the predicted sporting outcome based on the probabilities of the curves in each group.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer program code for providing advisory information regarding a sporting outcome, the computer program code, when executed, causing one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of digital images from a camera, each of a plural subset of the images including a ball;

identifying a position of the ball in each of the plural subset of the images;

projecting one or more possible trajectories of the ball based on the positions;

predicting a sporting outcome based on the projected one or more trajectories; and

sending an instruction to a communication unit to provide the advisory information regarding the sporting outcome.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein:

projecting the one or more possible trajectories of the ball comprises:

fitting a plurality of curves to the identified positions of the ball; and

calculating an error corresponding to each curve; and

predicting the sporting outcome comprises:

grouping the plurality of curves into a plurality of groups, the group a given curve is placed in based on whether the given curve corresponds to a first sporting outcome or a second sorting outcome; and

selecting the first sporting outcome as the predicted sporting outcome based on the probabilities of the curves in each group.