PLAYERS INFECTION RISK

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a novel system and method to assist leagues, teams and players in team sports such as soccer, football, hockey etc. to get information about infection risks due to proximity of players during the game. For each match, the system will provide a report on each player and the referee which details how close he was to each other player or referee and for how much time.

For example, a report that shows how much time each player was under 2-meter distance to every other player.

This can be used to track possible infection chains if a player is detected as positive.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION in some countries Coronavirus regulation and recommendation is to keep a minimum distance of 2m for more than 15 minutes in order to lower the chances of being infected by the vims.

A tracking system is a system that can track the players and/or referees on the field and report their location over time, their relative location and other statistics, the tracking is done on at least 2 players and is performed on at least part of the match.

Tracking systems can be based on various methods such as GPS, optical camera, they can be fully automatic, fully manual or semi-automatic.

For example, a player tracking system can consist of one or more cameras installed and located in single or multiple locations near the playing field, the system is calibrated to the field and can track the players and referee during the game with high spatial accuracy and with high temporal resolution of 25Hz (25 FPS). A tracking system might track different body parts and can take into account body parts position and orientation to adjust said distance and time statistics between players. For example, the calculation of distance between players can be done relative to the head of one or both players and adjustment can be made regarding the direction of the head for example if a player 1 is behind player 2 and both of them facing forward player 1 can be considered “not near”.

Additional parameters can be computed such as distance between player 1 hands to player2 head or distance between players hands or how many times a player touched his own face.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is hence one object of the invention to disclose a method of assessing an infection risk in a group of individuals performing group sport sessions; said method comprising steps of: (a) providing a system for assessing an infection risk in a group of individuals performing group sport sessions; said system comprising: (i) a tracking unit configured for tracking positions of each of said individuals; (ii) a control unit configured for determining a contact time between said individuals of said group; (b) tracking positions of each individual during said sport sessions; (c) determining a time of being each individual at a distance closer than a predetermined distance from other individuals of said group.

Another object of the invention is to disclose said step of tracking positions of each individual comprising tracking a separate body part selected from the group consisting of a head, a leg, a hand and any combination thereof and assessing an infection risk according to relative distance and time of body part between different individuals.

A further object of the invention is to disclose said step of tracking a separate body part comprising detecting an orientation of said head of at least one individual and using said orientation to assess said infection risk according to a mutual orientation of at least two individuals and said distance therebetween.

A further object of the invention is to disclose the method comprising detecting a number of face-to-face contacts between said individuals.

A further object of the invention is to disclose a system for assessing an infection risk in a group of individuals performing group sport sessions. The aforesaid system comprises: (a) a tracking unit configured for tracking positions of each of said individuals; said tracking unit comprises: (i) at least one camera configured for capturing a video of said individuals performing group sport sessions; (ii) a videorecorder configured for recording said video; and (iii) a video processing circuitry; (b) a memory configured for storing said video; and (c) a control unit configured for: (i) extracting contact data relating to each individual and (ii) determining a contact time between said individuals of said group.

A further object of the invention is to disclose said tracking unit configured for tracking a separate body part selected from the group consisting of a head, a leg, a hand and assessing an infection risk according to relative distance and time of body part between different individuals. A further object of the invention is to disclose said tracking unit configured for detecting an orientation of said head of at least one individual and using said orientation to assess said infection risk according to a mutual orientation of at least two individuals and said distance therebetween.

A further object of the invention is to disclose said control unit configured for comprising detecting a number of face-to-face contacts between said individuals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as an example and are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references may indicate similar elements and in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a player tracking system; and

Figs 2a to 2d illustrate a user interface that shows various statistics that can be derived from tracking player locations over time.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description is provided, so as to enable any person skilled in the art to make use of said invention and sets forth the best modes contemplated by the inventor of carrying out this invention. Various modifications, however, are adapted to remain apparent to those skilled in the art, since the generic principles of the present invention have been defined specifically to provide a method of assessing an infection risk in a group of individuals performing group sport sessions and a system for implementing the same.

Reference is now made to Fig. 1 presenting system 100 for assessing an infection risk in a group of individuals performing group sport sessions. The system comprises at least one camera (for example, 20a, 20b and 20c) mounted at the sport session venue and configured for capturing a video of said individuals performing group sport sessions. The captured videos are recorded by videorecorder 10. Then, the captured video is transferred to cloud-based video processing circuitry 60 where the captured videos are processed in multi-channel video-processor 30a/30b/30c such that positions of the individuals taking part in the spot session are determined. The obtained data relating to the determined positions and timeline thereof are stored in memory 40. Numeral 50 refers to circuitry configured for extracting contact data relating to each individual and determining contact times between said individuals of the group.

Reference is now made to Fig. 2a to 2d show a user interface graphically reflecting statistics derived from tracking player locations.

Table below is an example of a tracking mutual positions of the individual in a 3 vs 3 game with a referee. The table specifies the time periods where each of players was at the distance less than 2 meters from the others.

While several embodiments of the disclosure have been shown in the drawings and/or discussed herein, it is not intended that the disclosure be limited thereto, as it is intended that the disclosure be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that the specification be read likewise. Therefore, the above description should not be construed as limiting, but merely as exemplifications of particular embodiments. Those skilled in the art will envision other modifications within the scope and spirit of the claims appended hereto.