FEEDBACK APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR IMPROVING X-FACTOR

Abstract

An X-factor feedback apparatus senses three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis in a golf swing motion of a user, collects, synchronizes and stores the sensed three-dimensional direction information, analyzes the change of angle in the three-dimensional direction information based on the stored data information, extracts a backswing top point in the swing motion, evaluates the degree of twist of the shoulder and the pelvis based on the angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis at the backswing top point, and provides a feedback to the user.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates to analyzing and correcting twist of an upper body when a user performs a golf swing, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing a graded feedback by collecting and analyzing data about an X-factor according to the progress of swing by inputting a golf swing motion of the user.

2. Description of the Related Art

Even though the golf has become popular and related industries have been developed, the golf is one of sports whose skills are not easily trained. This is because the golf swing requires a complicated mechanism composed of fixation of the line of vision, center of gravity, movement, swing trajectory or the like, rather than physical conditions. To overcome this, there is demanded a device capable of providing a suitable feedback to a user by using automatic analysis and numerical and visual information about essential factors of a correct swing in order to induce the improvement of swing.

As described above, in such an automatic analyzing device for essential elements of a golf swing, the importance of an X-factor, which is a key element for the improvement of an accurate impact and a fast club head speed obtained by a stable swing posture, is increasing. The X-factor represents the change of a relative distortion (twist) or an angle between the upper body (or the shoulder) and the pelvis in a golf swing (an address, a backswing, a backswing top, a downswing, an impact, and a follow-through). In addition, the X-factor increases from the address to the backswing top, and at the backswing top, the X-factor should have a constant size to prevent an inaccurate impact from generating due to excessive motion of the upper/lower body at the downswing. Moreover, by generating a strong impact by a stable twist of the upper and lower bodies, a flying distance of a ball may increase. As described above, desirable twist of the upper body and the pelvis has a very close relation with accurate impact, prevention of a slice, prevention of a topping hit, and the increase of a flying distance caused by the improvement of a club head speed, and is so very important for the improvement of a swing posture.

In order to improve the X-factor, in the conventional art, a user uses a golf swing exercise instrument to limit or facilitate the movement of joints such as the wrist, the shoulder and the pelvis of the user in order to induce a mechanical swing exercise, or performs a muscle reinforcing exercise for making strong muscles and impacts in order to improve a flying distance.

Nevertheless, conventional golf exercise instruments do not provide a solution for a user to improve an X-factor since they are not able to analyze and diagnose the X-factor and thus not able to provide a suitable feedback.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure is directed to providing a method for helping a user to recognize the degree of his X-factor in his swing motion and repair problems of the swing motion by himself, without being limited to a simple muscle strengthening exercise, even though the user does not use a separate instrument or specially-manufactured club which limits or facilitates movement of the user.

In one aspect, there is provided an X-factor feedback apparatus, which includes: a sensing unit for sensing three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder, the pelvis and a golf club in a golf swing motion of a user; an analyzing unit for calculating the change of an angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis and extracting a backswing top point from the swing motion; a determining unit for determining an angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis at the backswing top point; and an output unit for providing feedback information to a user based on the determined angle.

In another aspect, there is provided an X-factor feedback method, which includes: sensing three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder, the pelvis and a golf club in a golf swing motion of a user; calculating the change of an angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis; extracting a backswing top point in the swing motion; determining an angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis at the backswing top point; and providing feedback information to the user based on the determined angle.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, it is possible to analyze and evaluate an angle between the shoulder and the pelvis at a backswing top in the golf swing of a user and provide a feedback for improving an X-factor to the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the disclosed exemplary embodiments will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram showing an apparatus for outputting an X-factor evaluation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an X-factor feedback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3a is a diagram showing an analyzing unit of the X-factor feedback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3b is a diagram showing a backswing top motion point in the turning of a golf club according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of a feedback comment and a score according to an angle between the shoulder and the pelvis according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for illustrating an X-factor feedback method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the angle between the shoulder and the pelvis according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an apparatus 100 for receiving a golf swing motion of a user and outputting a graded feedback for the degree of twist of the shoulder and the pelvis (X-factor) of the user according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The X-factor feedback apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure senses the degree of twist (angle) between the shoulder and the pelvis based on the angle (three-dimensional direction information) between the shoulder and the pelvis in a sequential golf swing motion of the user, evaluates the degree of twist at a backswing top point, and provides a graded feedback to improve the X-factor of a golf swing of the user.

Referring to FIG. 2, the X-factor feedback apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a sensing unit 202 for sensing sequential three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder, the pelvis and a golf club of the user in a golf swing, a data storing unit 204 for collecting, synchronizing and storing the sensed three-dimensional direction information, an analyzing unit 206 for calculating the change of angle (the degree of twist) in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis based on the stored data information and extracting a backswing top point in the swing motion, a determining unit 208 for determining an angle in the three-dimensional direction information (vector) at the backswing top point, and an output unit 210 for providing a feedback for the angle to the user.

The sensing unit 202 of the apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure receives a golf swing motion (three-dimensional direction information) of the user and sends a direction vector or a coordinate system (hereinafter, referred to as direction information) to the data storing unit 204 in a three-dimensional space for the measurement of an angle between the shoulder and the pelvis and the measurement of a relative angle change of a golf club based on an address point.

The sensing unit 202 of the X-factor feedback apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may collect data for measuring the change of angle, which represents an X-factor in a golf swing of the user, namely the degree of twist of the shoulder and the pelvis according to the progress of swing, through sensors. In order to measure the direction information in the three-dimensional space for the measurement of the angle, various kinds of sensors may be used. For example, a vision sensor may be used to detect a location of an important joint portion (for example, the shoulder and the pelvis) of the user in the three-dimensional space so that a relatively twist degree between the shoulder and the pelvis is calculated to deduce the change of X-factor. In another case, an IMU sensor may be attached to the shoulder, the pelvis or the like to calculate the change of X-factor by using turning information obtained from the IMU sensor according to the progress of swing. In addition, a hybrid method using both the vision sensor and the IMU sensor may also be used. If both the vision sensor and the IMU sensor are used, the direction information may be measured by homogenizing a coordinate system by means of calibration, measuring direction information of the shoulder (or, the pelvis and the golf club) through a vision sensor and attaching the IMU sensor to the pelvis (or, the shoulder and the golf club).

In the sensing unit of the apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sensor for sensing a golf swing motion may use either a contact-type sensor or a non-contact type sensor. In detail, in the contact type, in a state where a sensor is attached to or contacts a human body, location, rotation or movement information of the contacting sensor is received to tract a motion. Representatively, systems using an optical motion tracker (which attaches a marker to a human body to be traced and traces a motion of the marker in a three-dimensional space according to the body motion), an acceleration sensor (which is attached to a human body and outputs an acceleration value of the attachment portion according to a motion to estimate a motion of the body), a pressure sensor (which measures an input pressure, and for example, in a case where pressure sensors are installed at the bottoms of both feet, the pressure sensors may measure the change of ground reaction force according to time), an IMU sensor (which outputs the degree of turn of a body portion to which the sensor is attached) or the like may be used. In the non-contact type, in a state where a sensor or other substance is not attached or adhered to a human body, a body motion is traced by using a camera (or, a vision sensor). Since a user does not feel sense of difference, the user may perform a free swing.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the data storing unit 204 successively receives three-dimensional direction information of each of the shoulder, the pelvis and the golf club in the golf swing of the user input from the sensing unit, collects the information till the swing terminates, and transmits the information to the analyzing unit 206. The swing termination point where data collection ends may be defined in various ways, such as by an input of a user or as a point where the collected three-dimensional direction information has not changed for a certain period. In addition, since the collected three-dimensional direction information is obtained to be accurately synchronized on a time axis, the direction information of the shoulder, the pelvis and the golf club obtained at a certain time may be stored in pairs.

FIG. 3a shows the analyzing unit 206 of the X-factor feedback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The analyzing unit 206 may include a calculating unit 302 and a point extracting unit 304. The sequential three- dimensional direction information of shoulder and the pelvis may be input to the analyzing unit 206, and the analyzing unit 206 may output an analysis result of the three-dimensional direction information. The analysis result may include a calculated value of the angle between the shoulder and the pelvis, the backswing top point or the like.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the calculating unit 302 of the analyzing unit 206 of the X-factor feedback apparatus may calculate the change of angle between the shoulder and the pelvis based on the three-dimensional direction information stored in the data storing unit 204 and may calculate a relative angle change of the golf club in the swing motion based on the location of the golf club at an address posture. The address posture may be defined as a direction in which the club head is directed perpendicular to the ground.

The twist angle of the shoulder and the pelvis mentioned in the specification represents an interior angle between a line (vector) connecting both the shoulders in the three-dimensional space and a line (vector) connecting both the pelvises (see FIG. 6). Generally, the X-factor in the golf swing represents the degree of twist between the shoulder and the pelvis at the backswing top point, which may be measured through the interior angle between two vectors, and the interior angle between vectors may be calculated by using the vector inner product in Equation 1.

The calculating unit 302 of the X-factor feedback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may calculate angle between the shoulder and the pelvis by calculating an angle in the direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis in the three-dimensional space, obtained by the sensing unit 202 and input from and synchronized by the data storing unit 204. For example, in a case where a three-dimensional direction vector (x_arm) of the shoulder and a direction vector (x_club) of the golf club are obtained, a relative angle θ of the shoulder and the pelvis in the three-dimensional space may be calculated by Equation 1 below.

x_upperx_heap=∥x_upper∥∥x_heap∥cos(θ),0≦θ≦π  Equation 1

Here, x_upper represents a three-dimensional direction vector of the shoulder, and x_heaf represents a three-dimensional direction vector the pelvis.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a turning data group of each of the upper body and the pelvis in the three-dimensional space, which is collected from the IMU sensor attached to the upper body and the pelvis of the user in the golf swing of the user, is received by input, and the degree of relative twist or turn of the upper body and the pelvis may be calculated from the turning data of each of the upper body and the pelvis.

The point extracting unit 304 which may be included in the analyzing unit of the X-factor feedback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may extract important points of the golf swing according to a relative turning angle based on an address point. The important swing points may include a backswing top point and an impact point in order to evaluate an X-factor.

The degree of twist of the shoulder (the upper body) and the pelvis may be regarded as a desirable golf swing when a relative twist of the upper body and the pelvis in the three-dimensional space or a distortion of the upper body corresponds to the range of 50° to 53° at a backswing top posture. In other words, the X-factor should be in a suitable level of 50° to 53°. Therefore, it is important to check the backswing top point.

In order to check important points, important points corresponding to important motions in the golf swing may be extracted according to a relative turning angle of the golf club based on the location of the golf club at the address point, by using the sensor described above.

FIG. 3b is a graph showing a relative turning angle of a golf club in the progress of swing based on the golf club at the address point. In view of the relative turning angle of a golf club expressed on a time axis, the turning angle of the golf club has a maximum value at the backswing top point. Since the value does not change greatly for a certain time, the angular speed is close to 0. In addition, at the instant of an impact, the turning angle of the golf club decreases and then increases, and the angular speed changes from a negative value to a positive value. Therefore, a zero-crossing point of the angular speed may be defined as the impact point. In another case, the backswing top point may be defined based on a turning angle of the golf club, and the impact point may be defined as an instant where a ball starts moving when being actually hit, which may be sensed by using a sensor.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the determining unit 208 of the X-factor feedback apparatus 100 determines the degree of twist (angle) of the shoulder and the pelvis of a user at the backswing top point. The X-factor may be evaluated as being more desirable when being closer to the range of 50° to 53° mentioned above. In detail, in Equation 1, θ represents an angle which is a relative twist of the upper body and the pelvis in the three-dimensional space, and the three-dimensional data of the upper body and the pelvis obtained at the backswing top point in the golf swing obtained by the point extracting unit may be applied to Equation 1 to determine the degree of twist of the shoulder and the pelvis in the swing of the user.

The determining unit 208 of the X-factor feedback apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may generate a graded feedback comment and a score for improving the X-factor in the golf swing of the user by using the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis and the backswing top point information, transmitted from the analyzing unit 206, and such information may also be generated by another device included in the output unit. The generated feedback comment and score may be generated in advance according to the range of angle between the shoulder and the pelvis based on the information collected from a golf swing specialist group and stored in the apparatus.

FIG. 4 shows a relation table about a feedback comment and a score according to the range of angle between the shoulder and the pelvis of the user at the backswing top point. In other words, the determining unit 208 of the X-factor feedback apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may generate the feedback comment and the score based on the relation table of FIG. 4.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the X-factor feedback apparatus may include the output unit 210 for providing feedback information about the X-factor to the user. The feedback information may be a feedback or a score, without being limited thereto. The output unit 210 may receive the X-factor (the angle between the shoulder and the pelvis at the backswing top point) about the angle between the shoulder and the pelvis and output a graded feedback comment, a score or the like. The graded feedback comment and the score may be stored in the data storing unit 204 in advance, and a result corresponding to the angle between the shoulder and the pelvis of the user at the backswing top point may be output. The feedback comment and the range angle between the shoulder and the pelvis may be prepared based on the data provided from a specialist group.

The output unit 210 of the X-factor feedback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a feedback to the user by using audio/video multimedia data. In other words, a user may recognize the feedback information through a display device or a sound device (a speaker) having a graphic-based interface or a voice-based interface. In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the feedback information may be provided to the user based on the table relating to the X-factor previously stored in the data storing unit

An X-factor feedback method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include sensing three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder, the pelvis and a golf club in a golf swing motion of a user (S501), collecting, synchronizing and storing the sensed three-dimensional direction information (S502), calculating the change of angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis based on the stored data information (S503), extracting a backswing top point in the swing motion (S504), determining an angle between the shoulder and the pelvis at the backswing top point (S505), and outputting (providing) feedback information to the user based on the determined angle (S506).

In the X-factor feedback method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the degree of twist of the shoulder and the pelvis, namely an angle, may be calculated by using Equation 1 above.

In the X-factor feedback method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an angular speed for a turning angle of the golf club of the user may be calculated after the address point in order to extract the backswing top point. In addition, a point where the angular speed is 0 may be defined as the backswing top point, or a point where the angle has a maximum value may be defined as the backswing top point. In this case, in Operation of sensing a swing motion, it may be required to sense three-dimensional direction information of the arm and the golf club in addition to the shoulder and the pelvis of the user. In addition, the angular speed for a turning angle of the golf club of the user may be calculated by using a marker or marker-less user motion recognition method or by using the sensors mentioned above.

In the X-factor feedback method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the feedback information provided to the user may be provided based on the relation table relating to the feedback comment and the score according to the angle between the shoulder and the pelvis, stored in advance, and the relation table may be configured so that the angle between the shoulder and the pelvis is divided into a plurality of sections in the range of 43° to 53°.

The above methods may be implemented with various computer-executable programs and recorded on computer-readable media. The computer-readable media may include program commands, data files, data structures or the like, solely or in combination.

Even though the present disclosure has been described with reference to the embodiments depicted in the drawings, it is just an example, and a person skilled in the art will understand that various changes or modifications can be made therefrom. However, such modifications should be regarded as belonging to the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the sincere scope of the present disclosure should be defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An X-factor feedback apparatus, comprising:

a sensing unit for sensing three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder, the pelvis and a golf club in a golf swing motion of a user;

an analyzing unit for calculating the change of an angle in the three-dimensional direction information and extracting a backswing top point from the swing motion;

a determining unit for determining an angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis at the backswing top point; and

an output unit for providing feedback information to a user based on the determined angle.

2. The X-factor feedback apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the analyzing unit includes:

a calculating unit for calculating a relative angle change of the golf club based on the change of an angle in the three-dimensional direction information and an address posture; and

a point extracting unit for extracting the backswing top point based on the calculated change of angle.

3. The X-factor feedback apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensing unit includes an IMU sensor or a vision sensor.

4. The X-factor feedback apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit provides the feedback information to the user based on a relation table relating to a feedback comment and a score according to an angle between the shoulder and the pelvis, previously stored.

5. The X-factor feedback apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a data storing unit for collecting, synchronizing and storing the sensed three-dimensional direction information,

wherein the analyzing unit calculates the angle in three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis based on the stored data information.

6. The X-factor feedback apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit provides the feedback information to the user by using a display device or sound device having a graphic-based interface or a voice-based interface.

7. An X-factor feedback method, comprising:

sensing three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder, the pelvis and a golf club in a golf swing motion of a user;

calculating the change of an angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis;

extracting a backswing top point in the swing motion;

determining an angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis at the backswing top point; and

providing feedback information to the user based on the determined angle.

8. The X-factor feedback method according to claim 7,

wherein said calculating of the change of an angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis includes calculating a relative angle change of the golf club based on an address posture,

wherein said extracting of a backswing top point in the swing motion includes extracting the backswing top point based on the change of a calculated angle of the golf club.

9. The X-factor feedback method according to claim 7, wherein said calculating of the change of an angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis uses an equation defined below:

xupper·xheap=∥xupper∥∥xheap∥cos(θ),0≦θ≦π

where θ represents a relative angle of the shoulder and the pelvis in a three-dimensional space, xupper represents a three-dimensional direction vector of the shoulder, and xheaf represents a three-dimensional direction vector of the pelvis.

10. The X-factor feedback method according to claim 8, wherein, in said extracting of a backswing top point in the swing motion, a point where an angular speed of the calculated golf club is 0 is defined as the backswing top point.

11. The X-factor feedback method according to claim 7, wherein, in said providing of feedback information to the user, a feedback comment and a score are provided to the user based on a relation table relating to a feedback comment and a score according to an angle between the shoulder and the pelvis, previously stored.

12. The X-factor feedback method according to claim 11, wherein the relation table is configured so that the angle between the shoulder and the pelvis is divided into a plurality of sections in the range of 43° to 53°.

13. The X-factor feedback method according to claim 7, further comprising:

collecting, synchronizing and storing the sensed three-dimensional direction information,

wherein, in said calculating of the change of an angle in the three-dimensional direction information of the shoulder and the pelvis, the change of angle is calculated based on the stored data information.

14. The X-factor feedback method according to claim 7, wherein said providing of feedback information to the user includes:

providing the feedback information to the user by using a display device or a sound device having a graphic-based interface or a voice-based interface.