Movement-examination system for electronically determining strike-zone location
At least one designated physical body feature ( 150 ) of a batter (B) situated near a strike zone ( 56 ) is timewise variably spaced vertically apart from a reference situs ( 152 ). The zone has lower and upper boundaries ( 60 and 62 ) at locations dependent on how far each body feature is vertically spaced apart from the situs. A batter simulation has a simulated feature for each body feature A boundary determiner ( 160 ) determines one of multiple potential body shapes ( 198 ) as largely most closely matching imagery of the batter in shape and then determines the locations of the zonal boundaries as a function of the distance of each simulated feature of the closest body shape from a simulation of the situs. A movement analyzer ( 162 or 222 ) responds to the boundary-location determinations by electronically determining whether at least part of a pitched ball ( 52 ) moving toward the zone entered it.
1 . A movement-examination system for a ball-movement region in which at least one designated physical body feature of a batter situated near a strike zone is timewise variably spaced vertically apart from a batter reference situs, the zone having lower and upper zonal boundaries at respective temporary lower and upper boundary locations dependent on how far each body feature is vertically spaced apart from the situs, the system comprising:
a boundary determiner for:
employing a variable-shape strike-zone simulation of the zone, a reference-situs simulation of the situs, and a variable-shape batter simulation of the batter, the strike-zone simulation having lower and upper simulated spatial boundaries that respectively simulate the lower and upper zonal boundaries, the batter simulation having (i) a simulated feature for each body feature and (ii) a plurality of potential body shapes for the batter, the simulated feature for each body feature for each potential body shape being simulated at a simulated specified vertical distance from the reference-situs simulation;
collecting whole-body data of imagery of substantially all the batter while the batter is near the zone; and
processing the whole-body data by a shape-examination procedure that comprises (i) comparing imagery of the batter in the whole-body data to the potential body shapes to determine a particular one of the potential body shapes as largely most closely matching the imagery of the batter in shape and (ii) determining the locations of the lower and upper zonal boundaries as a function of the specified distance of each simulated feature of that particular closest body shape from the reference-situs simulation; and
a movement analyzer responsive to the determinations of the locations of the lower and upper zonal boundaries for electronically determining within the system's purview whether at least part of a ball pitched by the pitcher toward the zone entered it, the determiner and analyzer together comprising (a) electronic data-collection apparatus for examining or/and sensing the batter and the ball, including their locations and movement, to collect data of moving imagery of at least the batter and the ball and (b) electronic data-processing apparatus for processing the data of moving imagery to electronically determine (i) the locations of the lower and upper zonal boundaries as a function of the specified distance of each simulated feature of the particular closest body shape from the reference-situs simulation and (ii) within the system's purview whether at least part of the ball entered the zone dependent on the determinations of the locations of the first and second zonal boundaries.
2 . A system as in claim 1 wherein the system determines substantially whether a bat controlled by the batter contacted the ball.
3 . A system as in claim 1 wherein the whole-body data includes imagery of each body feature.
4 . A system as in claim 1 wherein:
the zone is situated above a regional surface of the ball-movement region;
the ball-movement region has a pair of batter's boxes on opposite sides of a home plate; and
the data-collection apparatus comprises a video camera network which comprises a plurality of video cameras each having a field of view, the cameras including a pair of above-surface video cameras situated above the regional surface approximately opposite each other relative to the home plate and respectively farther from the home plate than the batter's boxes such that the above-surface cameras together generate moving imagery capturing the zone, the batter when the batter is in a selected one of the batter's boxes, and the ball when it is unobstructedly within the fields of view of the above-surface cameras, the data of moving imagery collected by the data-collection apparatus comprising data of the moving imagery of the above-surface cameras.
5 . A system as in claim 4 wherein the cameras of the video camera network further include an additional video camera situated at least partly below the regional surface, the additional camera's field of view (i) originating below the regional surface and (ii) directed upward image-wise so that the additional camera generates moving imagery capturing the zone and the ball when it is unobstructedly within the additional camera's field of view, the data of moving imagery collected by the data-collection apparatus further including data of the moving imagery of the additional camera.
6 . A movement-examination system for a ball-movement region in which each of at least two designated physical body features of a batter situated near a strike zone overlying a regional surface of the ball-movement region is variably spaced vertically apart from a batter reference situs, the zone having lower and upper zonal boundaries at respective temporary lower and upper boundary locations dependent on how far each body feature is vertically spaced apart from the situs, the ball-movement region having a pair of batter's boxes on opposite sides of a home plate, the system comprising:
a boundary determiner for (a) collecting feature data of imagery of each body feature when the batter is in a selected one of the batter's boxes and (b) processing the feature data to determine the locations of the lower and upper zonal boundaries as a function of how far each body feature is vertically spaced apart from the situs; and
a movement analyzer responsive to the determinations of the locations of the lower and upper zonal boundaries for (a) collecting article-location data of moving imagery of a ball pitched by a pitcher toward the zone and (b) processing the article-location data in response to the determinations of the lower and upper zonal boundaries to electronically determine within the system's purview whether at least part of the ball entered the zone, the determiner and analyzer together comprising:
electronic data-collection apparatus for examining or/and sensing the batter, each body feature, and the ball, including their locations and movement, to collect data of moving imagery of at least the batter, each body feature, and the ball, the data-collection apparatus comprising a video camera network comprising a plurality of video cameras each having a field of view, the cameras including a pair of above-surface video cameras situated above the regional surface approximately opposite each other relative to the home plate and respectively farther from the home plate than the batter's boxes such that the above-surface cameras together generate moving imagery capturing the zone, the batter including each body feature when the batter is in a selected one of the batter's boxes, and the ball when it is unobstructedly within the fields of view of the above-surface cameras, the data of moving imagery collected by the data-collection apparatus comprising data of the moving imagery of the above-surface cameras; and
electronic data-processing apparatus for processing the data of moving imagery to electronically determine (i) the locations of the lower and upper zonal boundaries as a function of how far each body feature is vertically spaced apart from the situs and (ii) within the system's purview whether at least part of the ball entered the zone dependent on the determinations of the locations of the first and second zonal boundaries.
7 . A system as in claim 6 wherein the cameras of the video camera network further include an additional video camera situated at least partly below the regional surface, the additional camera's field of view (i) originating below the regional surface and (ii) directed upward image-wise so that the additional camera generates moving imagery capturing the zone and the ball when it is unobstructedly within the additional camera's field of view, the data of moving imagery collected by the data-collection apparatus further including data of the moving imagery of the additional camera.
8 . A system as in claim 6 wherein the system determines substantially whether a bat controlled by the batter contacted the ball.
9 . A system as in claim 6 wherein the analyzer determines dynamic characteristics of movement of the ball from a ball-movement origin along a ball trajectory toward the strike zone, the dynamic characteristics comprising linear and angular velocities of the ball at selected points along the ball trajectory.
10 . A system as in claim 9 wherein:
the analyzer is programmed with attributes of model trajectories for a plurality of different types of pitches that can be made with the ball, the model trajectories being defined at least in terms of linear and angular velocities of the ball at selected points along the model trajectories; and
the analyzer identifies the type of pitch for the ball according to a pitch-type identification procedure that entails (i) determining, as the ball moves along the ball trajectory, the ball's linear and angular velocities at selected trajectory points respectively largely matching those in the model trajectories and (ii) comparing the linear and angular velocity values for the ball at those points with the respective linear and angular velocity values in the model trajectories at the respectively matching points to identify a particular one of the model trajectories as largely most closely matching the ball trajectory.
11 . A system as in claim 10 wherein the model trajectories are tailored to the linear LA and angular velocity characteristics of the trajectories of pitches made with the ball by whomever acts as the pitcher.