Sport ball athletic activity monitoring methods and systems
A method for monitoring a ball used for an athletic activity includes detecting movement of the ball using a sensor module coupled to the ball, determining a characteristic of the movement of the ball, comparing the characteristic to a known profile, and determining a second characteristic using the comparison.
1. A method for determining a speed of a ball used for an athletic activity, the method comprising:
sensing acceleration data, using a sensor module coupled to the ball;
determining a drag force applied to the ball, based on the acceleration data;
comparing the drag force with a drag profile that expresses drag as a function of ball speed, wherein the drag profile is based on experimental data; and
determining the speed of the ball based on the comparison.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor module includes an acceleration sensor, and
wherein the acceleration data is sensed by the acceleration sensor.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acceleration data comprises a representation of a magnitude of acceleration sensed by the sensor module.
4. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining that the ball is in free flight at the time of sensing the acceleration data.
5. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
providing an output based on the speed of the ball.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the output is a display of the speed of the ball in conjunction with a characteristic of an individual.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the output is a display of the speed of the ball in conjunction with an activity metric.
8. The method of claim 5 , wherein providing the output comprises transmitting data representative of the speed to a display device.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the display device is a portable phone.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the speed of the object is recorded in a memory module.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
comparing the speed of the object to a previously recorded speed of the object; and
providing feedback to an individual engaged in the athletic activity based on the comparison.