FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to a data acquisition system and, in particular, relates to a smart sports equipment for acquiring and analyzing sports related attributes.

BACKGROUND

With the improvement of people's living standards, more and more people are involved in sports, like cricket, badminton, soccer and other field games. When participating in field games, people not only exercise to improve their physical fitness, but also hope to enhance the fun of competition by participating in competitions.

With the development of computer technology, data analysis for sports in recent years has also been vigorously developed. Through the collection and analysis of motion data, users can get physical data of the exercise, as well as suggestions for improvement in improving movements and tactics and improving success rate.

Generally, in commonwealth countries cricket is a widely popular sport. With huge fan following and liking for the sport, the demand to improve the sport technologically both for the player and fans is surmounting. It is desired to introduce technical advances in the cricket so that the players can analyse their performance, fans have a better experience understanding the game and the overall cricket experience can be enhanced for both the players and viewers.

The technology plays a crucial role in providing data and statistics to player for improving their skills and work on lacking areas to improve the sport. Multiple sensors were introduced for capturing the data when a player especially a batsman plays cricket. The sensors capture motion data, body vitals and other related data for analysing.

The problem with cricket sport is how to acquire this data seamlessly. The batsman holds a cricket playing equipment called as bat. Batsman swings the bat to hit the ball and score points which ultimately is the objective of the sport. A lot many contributing factors affects the batsman performance such as, the angle of swinging bat, force by which bat hits the ball, rotations, lift angles etc. The preciseness of these factors determines the skill set and performance of the batsman. The batsman, his coach would always prefer to understand the preciseness of these factors. Therefore, it becomes crucial to seamlessly capture data representative of the batsman performance while playing cricket. It is required that the data acquisition should be free of any noise, interferences and precise. While the batsman plays on the field, the coach as part of his coaching techniques would prefer to continuously monitor the performance of the batsman through understanding the data acquired. It is to be understood that the data in this scenario is generated while the batsman is on the field actively participating in the cricket. The coach preferably sits in a remote location, preferably a broadcast room and desire to monitor the batsman’s performance.

In a technical problem, the batsman wears multiple sensors capturing data for analysis but sending the captured data without any interference to the remote location where the coach is seated poses a technical challenge. Also, it is important that the captured data is processed and converted to data matrix so that useful information can be derived from the captured data by the coach.

The electronic sensors for capturing data while the batsman plays cricket fails to communicate the captured data for analysis. The communication techniques user were known low power radio communication protocols which eventually gets affected by on-field interference from electronic devices, DC power, mobile phones, Wi-Fi, cameras, satellite broadcasting and obstructions in the line-of-sight of the devices, etc. Therefore, it was desirable to introduce a system through which flawless data acquisition from the electronic sensors can be achieved. Ultimately, the acquired data is to be transferred to the broadcast room for further processing and viewing by the coach in form of an understandable matrix.

Therefore, there is a need for solution to overcome the abovementioned deficiencies.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a data acquisition system including at least one electronic sensor configured to capture a plurality of attributes associated with a plurality of motions performed by a user; an antenna coupled to a stumping structure.

In an aspect, the antenna is configured to communicate wirelessly with the electronic sensor and is configured to receive the plurality of attributes from the electronic sensor; and transmit the plurality of attributes to a data relay unit. The data relay unit is configured to transmit the plurality of attributes to a computing device configured to determine a plurality of user-play metrics based on the plurality of attributes. In an aspect, the data relay unit includes a microcontroller unit coupled to the antenna using a wired cable, the microcontroller unit including a microcontroller configured to receive the plurality of attributes from the antenna over the wired cable.

In an aspect, a gateway is coupled to the microcontroller unit using a wired cable and is configured to receive the plurality of attributes from the microcontroller over the wired cable; and transmit the plurality of attributes to the computing device.

In another aspect, the one electronic sensor is mounted on at least one sport equipment operated by the user.

In another aspect, the at least one electronic sensor is a wearable electronic sensor and is worn by the user.

In another aspect, the router gateway is connected to the computing device using a wired cable.

In an aspect, the electronic sensor is communicatively coupled with the antenna using a Bluetooth or a ultrawide connection. The electronic sensor is configured to transmit the plurality of attributes to the antenna using the Bluetooth or ultrawide communication.

In an aspect, the gateway is configured to supply electric power to the microcontroller unit using the wired cable.

In a preferred aspect, the microcontroller unit and the gateway are disposed below ground level. The stumping structure includes a hollow channel, wherein a first end of the hollow channel is disposed below the ground level. The stumping structure is configured to accommodate the wired cable from the microcontroller unit in the hollow channel, and the wired cable extends out of a second end of the hollow channel and connects to the antenna.

In an aspect, the computing device is configured to determine the plurality of user-play metrics based on the plurality of attributes, wherein the plurality of user-play metrics is representative of at least a maximum speed of operation of the sporting equipment, a rotation made using the sporting equipment, on or more lift angles of the sporting equipment, one or more impact times associated with the plurality of motions performed by the user, body vitals.

In another aspect, the computing device transmits the plurality of user-play metrics to an output device.

In yet another aspect, the output device is a data storage, a data processing, and a display device.

In yet another aspect, the output device is a remote user device. To further clarify advantages and features of the present invention, a more particular description of the invention will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which is illustrated in the appended drawings. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a data acquisition system, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the data acquisition system, according to the embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating configuration for acquiring data through the data acquisition system as illustrated in Figure 1, according to the alternate embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary illustration of the situation for acquiring data through the data acquisition system as illustrated in Figure 1, according to the alternate embodiment of the present disclosure.

Further, skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the drawings are illustrated for simplicity and may not have necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the flow charts illustrate the method in terms of the most prominent steps involved to help to improve understanding of aspects of the present invention. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the drawings by conventional symbols, and the drawings may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the drawings with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skilled in the art to which this invention belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory of the invention and are not intended to be restrictive thereof. Reference throughout this specification to “an aspect”, “another aspect” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrase “in an embodiment”, “in another embodiment” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a nonexclusive inclusion, such that a process or method that comprises a list of steps does not include only those steps but may include other steps not expressly listed or inherent to such process or method. Similarly, one or more devices or subsystems or elements or structures or components proceeded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other devices or other sub-systems or other elements or other structures or other components or additional devices or additional sub-systems or additional elements or additional structures or additional components.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

It should be understood at the outset that although illustrative implementations of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated below, the present invention may be implemented using any number of techniques, whether currently known or in existence. The present disclosure should in no way be limited to the illustrative implementations, drawings, and techniques illustrated below, including the exemplary design and implementation illustrated and described herein, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents.

The term “some” as used herein is defined as “none, or one, or more than one, or all.” Accordingly, the terms “none,” “one,” “more than one,” “more than one, but not all” or “all” would all fall under the definition of “some.” The term “some embodiments” may refer to no embodiments or to one embodiment or to several embodiments or to all embodiments. Accordingly, the term “some embodiments” is defined as meaning “no embodiment, or one embodiment, or more than one embodiment, or all embodiments.”

The terminology and structure employed herein is for describing, teaching, and illuminating some embodiments and their specific features and elements and does not limit, restrict or reduce the spirit and scope of the claims or their equivalents.

More specifically, any terms used herein such as but not limited to “includes,” “comprises,” “has,” “consists,” and grammatical variants thereof do NOT specify an exact limitation or restriction and certainly do NOT exclude the possible addition of one or more features or elements, unless otherwise stated, and furthermore must NOT be taken to exclude the possible removal of one or more of the listed features and elements, unless otherwise stated with the limiting language “MUST comprise” or “NEEDS TO include.”

Whether or not a certain feature or element was limited to being used only once, either way it may still be referred to as “one or more features” or “one or more elements” or “at least one feature” or “at least one element.” Furthermore, the use of the terms “one or more” or “at least one” feature or element do NOT preclude there being none of that feature or element, unless otherwise specified by limiting language such as “there NEEDS to be one or more . . or “one or more element is REQUIRED.”

Unless otherwise defined, all terms, and especially any technical and/or scientific terms, used herein may be taken to have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having an ordinary skill in the art.

Reference is made herein to some “embodiments.” It should be understood that an embodiment is an example of a possible implementation of any features and/or elements presented in the attached claims. Some embodiments have been described for the purpose of illuminating one or more of the potential ways in which the specific features and/or elements of the attached claims fulfil the requirements of uniqueness, utility and non-obviousness.

Use of the phrases and/or terms such as but not limited to “a first embodiment,” “a further embodiment,” “an alternate embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “multiple embodiments,” “some embodiments,” “other embodiments,” “further embodiment”, “furthermore embodiment”, “additional embodiment” or variants thereof do NOT necessarily refer to the same embodiments. Unless otherwise specified, one or more particular features and/or elements described in connection with one or more embodiments may be found in one embodiment, or may be found in more than one embodiment, or may be found in all embodiments, or may be found in no embodiments. Although one or more features and/or elements may be described herein in the context of only a single embodiment, or alternatively in the context of more than one embodiment, or further alternatively in the context of all embodiments, the features and/or elements may instead be provided separately or in any appropriate combination or not at all. Conversely, any features and/or elements described in the context of separate embodiments may alternatively be realized as existing together in the context of a single embodiment.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an environment implementing a data acquisition system, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. A batsman is illustrated to be playing on a pitch 15 which is part of the field area where the sport cricket is generally played. The batsman is representative of a user 10 who actively participates in the sport and accordingly data related to the user’ 10 action while playing the sport is generated and captured. In a preferred embodiment, the sport for the purpose of this invention is cricket.

In an illustration example, an electronic sensor 14 is mounted on the top of a bat 12. The bat 12 is a sporting equipment and the batsman hold a shaft protruding from an end of the bat 12. The batsman holds the bat 12 and swings 13 it to hit a ball. In another embodiment of the invention, the electronic sensor 14 is in the form of wearable category and the user 10 wears the electronic sensor 14 on different areas which includes body parts and different sports equipment. The electronic sensor 14 is mounted on sports equipment like top area of shaft of the bat 12, helmet, pads, gloves, or any other alike sporting equipment. Similarly, the electronic sensor 14 is also mounted on the body parts preferably, wrist, neck of the user 10. The electronic sensor 14 when mounted on the sporting equipment captures data related to a plurality of attributes associated with the movement of the bat 12 or of the sporting equipment over which the electronic sensor 14 is mounted and captures data such as maximum speed of operation of the sporting equipment, a rotation made using the sporting equipment, on or more lift angles of the sporting equipment, one or more impact times associated with the plurality of motions performed by the user.

The electronic sensor 14 when mounted on the user’s 10 body part captures data related to body vitals like body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, blood pressure etc. The electronic sensor 14 depending upon the area it is mounted has predefined technical functionality to capture data associated with the attributes preferably motion related attributes performed by the user 10. The electronic sensor 14 not only captures the data which is in form of the plurality of attributes but also converts the raw data into useful readable metrics.

In the preferred aspect of the invention, the electronic sensor 14 communicates wirelessly with an antenna 18. The antenna 18 is coupled to a stumping structure 16. The stumping structure 16 is used in the sports of cricket and is always nearly placed to the user 10 actively playing cricket. The stumping structure 16 is a fixed structure placed on the pitch 15. Preferably, there are two sets of stumping structure 16 fixed on the opposite ends of the pitch 15. The antenna 18 is coupled in a manner that it can be either placed inside the stumping structure 16 within a hollow channel or latched to outside of the stumping structure 16, behind the stumping structure 16 protruding outside the ground vertically or placed horizontally on the ground behind the stumping structure 16. The base idea is to place the antenna in closest proximity of the stumping structure 16. The data generated by the electronic sensor 14 is communicated wirelessly through using UHF radio waves. Thus, the electronic sensor 14 is configured to transmit the plurality of attributes to the antenna 18 using the via Bluetooth® (BLE) or ultrawide band (UWB) communication protocol. Preferably in the invention, the BLE operating frequency is 2.4GHz and range is 10-20 meters. The placement of antenna 18 with the stumping structure 16 ensures that the obstructions in the line-of-sight of the electronic sensor 14 antenna 18 and EMI/RF interferences are minimal. The signal strength received at the later sub-system is also not attenuated.

In the invention, the antenna 18 upon receiving the plurality of attributes from the electronic sensor 14, transmits the plurality of attributes to a data relay unit through wired cables 28. The wired cables 28 preferably runs through the hollow channel in the stumping structure 16. The hollow channel has two ends preferably. A first end of the hollow channel of the stumping structure 16 is placed below the ground level i.e., the pitch 15. The wired cable 28 accommodated inside the stumping structure 16 exits from a second end of the hollow channel and connects with the antenna 18 depending upon the placement of antenna 18. The wired cable exiting from the first end opening below the ground level 15 connects with the data relay unit.

In an embodiment of the invention, the data relay unit 26 of the present invention acts as a System on Chip which includes a microcontroller unit 22 connected to the antenna 18 with the wired cable 28. The microcontroller unit 22 further includes a microcontroller which is configured to receive the plurality of attributes from the antenna 18 over the wired cable 28 transmits the plurality of attributes to a gateway 24 coupled to the microcontroller unit 22 using a wired cable 28. The microcontroller unit 22 pre-optimized for embedded applications that require both processing functionality and agile, responsive interaction with digital, analog, or electromechanical components on the data acquisition system according to one or more embodiments of the present invention. The gateway 24 placed beneath the ground level 15 just a few feet away from the microcontroller unit 22, acts as a router allowing data which is in form of attributes to flow from one discrete network to another. The gateway 24 further also assist in supplying electric power to the microcontroller unit using the wired cable, preferably using ethernet cables with the Power over Ethernet (PoE) standard.

The data relay unit 26 is placed below the ground level 15 and is not visible to the naked eyes. The data relay unit 26 further transmit the plurality of attributes to a computing device 30 using the wired cables 28.

In an embodiment of the invention, the computing device 30 is situated at a remote place. Preferably, a broadcast room in the field or any other remote location distantly away from the field can host the computing device 30. The computing device 30, is connected to the gateway 24 through PoE cables 28 for transmission of data which in the context of the present invention is the plurality of attributes. The PoE cables 28 adds the advantage of seamless transmission of data transfer.

The computing device 30 is configured to determine the plurality of user-play metrics based on the plurality of attributes. As the plurality of user-play metrics represents various factors such as a maximum speed of operation of the sporting equipment, a rotation made using the sporting equipment, on or more lift angles of the sporting equipment, one or more impact times associated with the plurality of motions performed by the user. The user-play metric can also include body vitals in case the data is acquired through the electronic sensor 14 placed on the user 10 body in form of wearable devices.

The computing device 30 has predefined programmable software and hardware configurations to receive the plurality of attributes from the gateway 24 and process the raw data or even the processed data to generate a user-friendly statistic, charts, analytical maps. The data received from the gateway 24 acts as an input file to the computing device to provide user-play metric. The computing device 30 acts as a data storage, a data processing, and a display device. The computing device 30 transmits the plurality of user-play metrics to an output device which is in form of a screen used for viewing the statistic, charts, analytical maps.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the data acquisition system, according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating configuration for acquiring data through the data acquisition system as illustrated in Figure 1, according to the alternate embodiment of the present disclosure. As discussed above and shown in Figure 2, the hardware in the data acquisition system is connected and placed according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram represents mounting 201 of the electronic sensor 14 on the sporting equipment such as bat, glove, pads, helmet, etc. When the user swings the bat or perform motion 302, the plurality of attributes related to the motion of the user are generated and captured as data or attributes 304. The electronic sensor then sends the attributes 304 to the antenna via preferably BLE or UWB communication protocols. The antenna is coupled to the stumping structure 203 and is present in close proximity to the user playing actively. The antenna relays the captured attributes to the microcontroller unit 308. The antenna is connected to the microcontroller unit 205 via wired cables and the microcontroller unit is placed below the ground level 207. The microcontroller is connected to the gateway 209 through wired cables and the gateway is placed below the ground level 211. The gateway receives attributes from the microcontroller 310.

The gateway is connected to the computing device 212 via wired cables and transmits the attributes to the computing device 312. The computing receives and process attributes thus determining user-play metrics 314. The user play metrics is then displayed on the output device 316 which is connected to the computing device 213.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary illustration of the situation for acquiring data through the data acquisition system as illustrated in Figure 1, according to the alternate embodiment of the present disclosure. The figure illustrates the user 10 swinging 13 the bat 12 to hit the ball 11. This motion created by the user 10, generates the plurality of attributes. The plurality of attributes is to be understood as physical parameters related to the motion of the sporting equipment and physical parameters of the user 10. The electronic sensor 14 mounted on bat or any other sporting equipment of the user captures the plurality of attributes and processes the raw data to create meaningful metric in a preferred embodiment. The electronic sensors 14 are devices with predefined software and hardware functionality to perform the desired operation. The electronic sensors 14 then relay the attributes to the antenna 18 coupled to the stumping structure 16 placed in proximity using BLE or ULW communication. It is expected that, as there is no obstruction in the sight of the electronic sensor 14 and the antenna 18 enabling a flawless data capturing by the antenna 18. The antenna 18 then relays the attributes to the data relay unit 26, placed below the ground level for further communication.

The drawings and the forgoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, orders of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein.

Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in the order shown; nor do all of the acts necessarily need to be performed. Also, those acts that are not dependent on other acts may be performed in parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no means limited by these specific examples. Numerous variations, whether explicitly given in the specification or not, such as differences in structure, dimension, and use of material, are possible. The scope of embodiments is at least as broad as given by the following claims. Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to specific embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any component(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or component of any or all the claims.

While specific language has been used to describe the present subject matter, any limitations arising on account thereto, are not intended. As would be apparent to a person in the art, various working modifications may be made to the method in order to implement the inventive concept as taught herein. The drawings and the foregoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment.