BODY MOVEMENT ANALYSIS FOR BOWLING ACTIVITY IN A SPORT

Abstract

A system and method for analyzing human body movements relevant for various sports is described. The system requires connecting a multiplicity of sensors at specified locations of the human body. The set of sensors may be distinct for different sports. Raw data is gathered from the sensors and processed to derive various informative parameters. The informative parameters are displayed to the pupil with descriptive feedback. The system also features communication of the raw data and informative parameters to external entities through a computer network. The communication to the external entities enables provision of comparative study of the pupil's progress with time and with respect to professionals in the sport. The pupil could also get expert feedback over the computer network.

Description

PRIORITY DETAILS

This application claims priority to an Indian Application No. 4761/CHE/2015, filed on Sep. 8, 2015, the contents of which in its entirety are herein incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments herein relate to body movement analysis. More particularly, the embodiments relate to the body movement analysis for self-training of sports activity.

BACKGROUND

There are many skills and activities in human endeavor involving body movements. For instance, learning many sports, such as golf, football, cricket, tennis and the like, require body movements. The body movements comprise running, bowling, swinging and the like. When recuperating from many orthopedic conditions a patient is required to perform body movements according to a pattern. Similarly, physical fitness exercises such as yoga require flexing the body to certain well documented body movements.

Conventionally, the above body movements are practiced by pupils in the physical presence of a tutor. The tutor observes the body movements during practice and provides corrective measurements.

However, training under the tutor is associated with plurality of restrictions. One restriction from the plurality of restrictions includes a requirement of simultaneous physical presence of both the tutor and the pupil, and time synchronization of the tutor and pupil at a particular location. Another restriction from the plurality of restrictions is low individual attention by the tutor and cost expenses involved in personalized training.

Yet another restriction from the plurality of restrictions is that in a group, the pace of learning should be according to the group. Furthermore, there is no provision for replaying the tutor's instructions, unless electronic means are used by the tutor. Instruction and feedback from the tutor tends to be qualitative. For the pupil, it is difficult to comprehend how close the body movements are with respect to an ideal body movement and how much correction is required. A quantitative feedback helps comprehension of closeness to ideal.

SUMMARY

In view of the foregoing, the invention herein discloses a system for body movement analysis of a bowling activity in a sport. The system comprises of a monitoring device comprising of multiple sensors. The multiple sensors being connected to one or more parts of a human body, for gathering raw data associated with movements of the one or more parts. The system further comprises a processing means for transforming the raw data into a multiplicity of informative parameters relevant for a specific sport, a local communication means for communicating the raw data to the said processing means, a display means for presenting the informative parameters and a communication means to establish communication with external entities in a computer network.

The invention herein further discloses a method for body movement analysis of a bowling activity in a sports. The method comprises gathering raw data of body movements from a monitoring device comprising multiple sensors, the multiple sensors being connected to one or more parts of a human body. The method further comprises communicating the raw data to a the processing means, transforming the raw data by the processing means into a multiplicity of informative parameters relevant for a specific sport, providing feedback by displaying the informative parameters and communicating the data over a wide area computer network with external entities in a computer network.

These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following detailed description with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a system for body movement analysis of bowling activity in a sports, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 2 depicts a monitoring device with multiple sensors, for capturing data corresponding to body movements, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 3 depicts a preferred embodiment of a monitoring device, for cricket bowling, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 4 is a graph depicting angular velocity from a gyroscope, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 5 is a graph depicting a run-up speed as captured by an accelerometer according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 6 depicts a standard plot of gravity values according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 7 depicts a detection of end of run-up and highest point achieved by hand before the release of the ball, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 8 depicts an angle of an arm at the time of release of the ball from a back-to-chest vertical plane according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 9 depicts an angle of the hand at the time of release of the ball from an arm-to-arm vertical plane, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 10 depicts a gyroscope plot used to determine the wrist rotation, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 11 depicts the angle formed by legs at the time of delivery, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 12 depicts a likely position of the front foot at the time of release of the ball according to an embodiment as disclosed herein;

FIG. 13 depicts body co-ordination sequence, according to an embodiment as disclosed herein; and

FIG. 14 is a flowchart describing the steps in a method for analyzing the body movements for a sport.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments herein and the various features and advantages thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.

The embodiments herein disclose a system and method for body movement analysis for bowling activity in a sports, by measuring one or more informative parameters corresponding to one or more body movements. The one or more body movements, individually as well as, composed to a single score are provided as feedback to the pupil, indicating an overall proficiency in the bowling activity in the sports. Sensors that are used in the monitoring device are also disclosed. Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1 through FIG. 14, where similar reference numbers denote same features consistently throughout the figures, the sample embodiments are described below.

FIG. 1 depicts a system 100 comprising a monitoring device 102. The monitoring device 102 comprises multiple sensors 104 connected to one or more parts of the human body. The system 100 also comprises a data processing means 106. Examples of the data processing means comprises a mobile phone, tablet and a laptop. The monitoring device 102 collects raw data sensed by the multiple sensors corresponding to various movements of the human body. The monitoring device 102 has a local communication means 108 to transfer the raw data to a processing means 106 within the system 100. The processing means 106 computes informative parameters from the raw data and provides feedback to the user through the system 100. The processing means 106 has connectivity to a wide area communication network 110. The processing means 106 connects to the Wide Area Network (WAN), and connects the pupil to external entity 112 for a remote consultation. The connection to the WAN may also be used to retrieve data from remote repositories of the sport of professionals in the sport, for comparison with the raw data and informative parameters computed by the system 100. The connection may also be used to store the raw data along with the informative parameters computed by the system 100 for a session, in a server 114. The raw data and the informative parameters may be retrieved for future reference.

FIG. 2 depicts the monitoring device 102, with multiple sensors 104, for a right-handed person. Stronger and weaker arms and legs get reversed for a left-handed person. The monitoring device 102, having multiple sensors 104, is connected to the human body as shown in the FIG. 2 and as listed in table 1. In an embodiment, the monitoring device may include 9-axis gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors at each location. The monitoring device 102 may also include a display screen.

TABLE 1
Possible Sensor Locations as shown in FIG. 2
Sensor Body Location
S1     Strong Arm above the wrist
S2     Strong Arm above the Elbow
S3     Weaker Arm above the wrist
S4     Weaker Arm above the elbow
S5     Above the Ankle corresponding to strong leg
S6     Above the Ankle corresponding to weaker leg
S7     Above the Knee Corresponding to Strong leg
S8     Above the Knee Corresponding to Weaker leg
S9     Thumb of strong arm
S10    Index Finger of strong arm
S11    Middle Finger of strong arm
S12    Ring Finger of strong arm
S13    Little Finger of strong arm

In a preferred embodiment, the monitoring device 102 includes sensors S1 (302), S3 (310), S5 (318) and S6 (326) for self-monitored body movement analysis of cricket bowling. Multiplicity of informative parameters shown in table 2 are gathered from the S1 (302), the S3 (310), the S5 (318) and the S6 (326). The manner in which the multiplicity of informative parameters are computed is explained in later part of the detailed description.

FIG. 3 depicts a preferred embodiment of the monitoring device 102, consisting of only sensors S1 (302), S3 (310), S5 (318) and S6 (326), from Table 1. S1 is a 3-axis gyroscope 304, 3-axis accelerometer 306 and 3-axis magnetometer 308. S3 is a 3-axis gyroscope 312, 3-axis accelerometer 314 and 3-axis magnetometer 316. S5 is a 3-axis gyroscope 320, 3-axis accelerometer 322 and 3-axis magnetometer 324. S6 is a 3-axis gyroscope 328, 3-axis accelerometer 330 and 3-axis magnetometer 332.

The accelerometer and magnetometer, in each sensor Si (S1, S3, S5 and S6), are used to derive gravity measurements at the sensor Si. The X, Y and Z axes for each of the gyroscope, accelerometer and gravity measurements for each of the Sensors S1, S3, S5 and S6 are as shown in FIG. 3. The X, Y and Z axes are relative to the plane of display of the sensor with the positive X-axis pointing from the center of the display screen towards a notch shown on the display. The orientations of the Y and Z-axes are determined relative to the X-axis as shown in FIG. 3.

TABLE 2
Multiplicity of Informative Parameters gathered
for the preferred embodiment of cricket bowling
Informative
Parameter Description
M1        Run up rhythm
M2        Linear velocity of the tip of the arm at release
M3        Angle of the arm from the back-to-chest vertical plane at
          release
M4        Height of the Arm at the time of release
M5        Relative Wrist Rotation
M6        Follow Through
M7        Non-bowling arm pull
M8        Distance between legs at release
M9        Direction of front foot at release
M10       Body Coordination
M11       SlamdunQ score
M12       Prediction Metrics

The applicability of the multiplicity of the informative parameters to the one or more sports is shown in Table 3 below.

TABLE 3
Applicability of the multiplicity of Informative Parameters to one or more sports
Informative	Cricket	Cricket	Baseball	Baseball
Parameter	Bowling	Batting	Pitching	Batting	Tennis	Badminton	Golf
M1	Run-Up	Running	NA	Running	Average Speed	Average Speed	NA
	Rhythm	Between the		between bases	during play	during play
		wickets
M2	Bowling action	Arm speed	Arm speed during	Arm speed	Arm speed	Arm speed	Drive/Club swing
	rotation speed	during shot	pitching. Rhythmic	during shot	during shot	during shot	speed
		play	movements of lower	play	play/Serving/	play/Smashing
			and upper arm		Smashing
			during pitching
M3	Angle of Arm	Angle of	NA	Angle of	Angle of arm	Angle of arm wrt	Angle of Arm from
	from the body at	Arm/Leg from		Arm/Leg from	wrt the ball	the shuttle based	the body at the time
	release of the	the bat - stroke		the bat - stroke	based on shot	on shot selection	of swing
	ball	play during		play during	selection
		impact		impact
M4	Height of the	Position of the	Height of the	Position of the	Height of the	Height of the	Height of the arm at
	arm during	bat during	arm during	bat during	racket during	racket during	the time of impact
	release of the	impact	release of the	impact	impact	impact
	ball		ball
M5	Angle of	Rotation of the	Angle of delivery	NA	NA	NA	NA
	delivery during	wrist during	for curve
	spin/pace	stroke play	balls/Torque
	bowling
M6	NA	Shot	NA	Shot	Shot	Shot completion	Follow Through of
		completion/		completion/	completion to	to produce impact	the arm post impact
		Follow through		Follow through	produce
		detection		detection	swing/spin/
					velocity
M10	Front foot	Footwork for	Leg movement	NA	Body	Body	Body
	contact and	Stroke play	during pitching		coordination	coordination	Coordination
	release	steps			during specific	during specific	during shot play
					shot play	shot play
M11	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall	Overall
	performance of	performance of	performance of the	performance	performance of	performance of	performance of
	the bowling	the batting	Pitching	of the hitting	the shot	the shot	the shot
M12	Length of the	Direction of	Trajectory of the	Direction of	Trajectory of	Trajectory of the	Trajectory
	ball (Full/short/	the ball based	ball	the ball based	the ball	shuttle	Direction and
	yorker/Good) and	on the impact		on the impact			Speed of the
	speed of release						ball post impact

FIG. 4 illustrates a gyroscope plot and is a depiction of an angular velocity data collected from the gyroscope 304, on Y-axis, as a bowler rotates the arm from a vertically down position till delivery of the ball and the follow through. The Y-axis data is employed when fast bowling is involved. For spin bowling, X-axis data is used. The gyroscope plot is used to determine point of release of the ball. In cricket bowling, the bowler runs up to a pitch, ends the run up and then commences the rotation of the arm for releasing the ball. At the end of run up, the angular velocity of the arm is zero and the velocity keeps increasing as the bowler rotates the arm. According to description of the system 100, the point of release is equated with the point with a maximum angular velocity. The point of release so equated with the point with the maximum angular velocity is marked in the FIG. 4. The point of release is used for detecting and measuring other informative parameters from the multiplicity of informative parameters in the preferred embodiment, as described in the text below.

FIG. 5 depicts a velocity of the bowler through the run up phase. Data from the accelerometer 312 is recorded, with a sufficiently high sampling frequency. Small intervals, δ_t, of time are considered on a time axis. Knowing an initial velocity at a beginning of a time period and an acceleration through the time period δ_t, the velocity at an end of the time period δ_t could be computed. The velocity could be computed by integrating the acceleration over the time period δ_t and adding to the initial velocity. The velocity graph is plotted with piece-wise linear approximation over the various δ_t time periods. Informative parameter M1 from the multiplicity of informative parameters is computed from graph in FIG. 5 as follows:

M1=10−Number of negative slopes in FIG. 5

FIG. 6 depicts a standard plot from a soft gravity sensor derived from accelerometer 304 and magnetometer 308. When the hand is vertically downward, the gravity X-axis value is 9.8 m/s². When the hand is vertically upward, the gravity X-axis value is −9.8 m/s². The standard plot is superimposed on the gyroscope plot (of FIG. 4) to compute the other informative parameters from the multiplicity of informative parameters, described later in the text.

FIG. 7 depicts a superposition of the gyroscope 304 Y-axis plot with the gravity sensor, derived from accelerometer 304 and magnetometer 308, X-axis plot. The point of release of the ball is determined as described under FIG. 4. The point of release becomes a reference point for determining events such as end of run up and the highest point of the hand just before release.

The description here provides that the bowler runs up to the pitch, ends the run up, then rotates the hand and releases the ball. The description proposes that at the end of run up, the bowler's hand is vertically downward. Thus, in FIG. 7, traversing back from the point of release to a maximum on the positive X-axis of the gravity sensor, derived from accelerometer 304 and magnetometer, 308 detects the end of run up. The highest point achieved by the hand could be detected by traversing back from end of run up to a point of immediate minimum on the X-axis of the gravity sensor, derived from accelerometer 304 and magnetometer 308, as the readings on the gravity sensor X-axis reduce when the hand moves from a vertically down position to a vertically up position and vice versa.

The linear velocity of the tip of the hand at the time of release is relevant to the speed of the ball at release. The linear velocity of the tip of the hand is computed by the following formula:

Arm speed at release=g_i*t_i*d

Informative parameter M2 is the left hand side of the above equation.
where,

• • t_i is the time period between instances i and i+1 of the reading of Y-axis value of the gyroscope 304;
  • g_i is the Y-axis (angular velocity) value of the gyroscope 304 at the i^th sampling instance; and
  • d is the distance between the shoulder joint and the tip of the hand.

FIG. 8 depicts an angle of the arm θ₁ from the back-to-chest vertical plane. The angle of the arm θ₁ could be computed from the X-axis value of the gravity sensor, derived from accelerometer 304 and magnetometer 308, according to the following formula:

(−9.8)cos(θ₁)=X-axis gravity sensor reading at the point of release of the ball.

Informative parameter M3 is θ₁ in the above equation.

FIG. 9 depicts an angle, θ₂, made by the hand on the Z-axis, from the absolute vertical arm-to-arm plane at the point of release of the ball. θ₂ could be computed by the formula:

(−9.8)cos(θ₂)=Z-axis gravity sensor reading at the point of release of the ball.

The height of the tip of the hand at the time of release is computed by the following formula:

Height of the tip of the hand at the time of release=Height of shoulder from the ground+Length of the hand*cos(θ₂)

Informative parameter M4 is the left hand side of the above equation.

FIG. 10 depicts a gyroscope plot on the X-axis. The data from the gyroscope plot in FIG. 10 is used to determine an amount of wrist rotation speed achieved before the release of the ball. The data is used as an informative parameter for spin bowling. The wrist rotation commences some time before the release of the ball. The start of wrist rotation could be detected by the fact that the angular velocity on the X-axis gyroscope will be zero at the time of commencement of the rotation, T₁. The wrist rotation ends with the release, T₂. The two points, start point of wrist rotation and end point of wrist rotation, are indicated in the FIG. 10. Thus, the wrist rotation speed is the angular displacement between the start point of wrist rotation and end point of wrist rotation, divided by a time difference between the two points of measurement. The wrist rotation speed is computed by the following formula:

$\mathrm{Wrist}\mathrm{rotation}\mathrm{speed}=\left(\sum _i^{}g_i*t\right)/\left(T_2-T_1\right)$

where,
t is the sampling time; and
g_i is the gyroscope 304 value on the X-axis at instances i, separated by sampling time t, from the start of rotation to T₁ end of release T₂.
Informative parameter M5 is the left hand side of the above equation.

The follow through of the bowling action is an activity from release of the ball till the point of halt. Number of steps between release of the ball and the halting of the bowler is indicative of the quality of the follow through. The number of steps is informative parameter M6. M6 is derived by recording the magnitude of the acceleration vector of each sample from the accelerometer, after passing the measurement through a low-pass filter to remove high frequency noise. The count of the peaks (or valleys) in the filtered signal provides the value for M6.

The force exerted by the non-bowling arm is given by using the formula:

Force=mass*acceleration

where,
mass is of the non-bowling arm; and
acceleration is the average acceleration, on the Z-axis of S3 (310) accelerometer 314, of the non-bowling arm averaged over various instances of time between the end of run up and the release of the ball. Informative parameter M7 is the left hand side of the above equation.

FIG. 11 depicts a position of the legs at the time of release of the ball. As shown in the figure, angle C between the legs is θ₃+θ₄. The angle between the legs could be computed using sensors S5 (318) and S6 (326), in the following manner:

S5 Gravity sensor X-axis value at release=9.8*cos(θ₄)

S6 Gravity sensor X-axis value at release=9.8*cos(θ₃)

Angle C=(θ₃+θ₄)

Angle A=(90−θ₄)

Side c=Side a/sin(Angle A)*sin(Angle C)

Informative parameter M8 is the side c in the above equation.

At the beginning of the run up the front foot is aligned with the posterior-to-anterior plane of the strong leg. The co-ordinates of a unit vector U in the direction of the front foot would be (0, 1, 0). At the time of release the front foot may be at an angle to the same plane.

FIG. 12 depicts the position of the front foot at the time of release of the ball. The angle θ₅ the front foot makes with posterior-to-anterior plane is computed from the X, Y and Z-axis readings of the gyroscope (328) of S6 (326), by using standard rotation matrices in 3-dimensions. Assuming small intervals of time, commencing from beginning of run up, the gyroscope (314) readings are converted to angles of rotation along the three axes as follows:

θ_xi*g_xi*t_i

θ_yi=g_yi*t_i

θ_zi=g_zi*t_i

Ri will be the rotation matrix corresponding to the combined rotation on the three axes. Ri from fundamental geometry is:

$\left\{\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& \cos {\theta }_{\mathrm{xi}}& -\sin {\theta }_{\mathrm{xi}}\\ 0& \sin {\theta }_{\mathrm{xi}}& \cos {\theta }_{\mathrm{xi}}\end{array}\right\}\left\{\begin{array}{ccc}\cos {\theta }_{\mathrm{yi}}& 0& \sin {\theta }_{\mathrm{yi}}\\ 0& 1& 0\\ -\sin {\theta }_{\mathrm{yi}}& 0& \cos {\theta }_{\mathrm{yi}}\end{array}\right\}\left\{\begin{array}{ccc}\cos {\theta }_{\mathrm{zi}}& -\sin {\theta }_{\mathrm{zi}}& 0\\ \sin {\theta }_{\mathrm{zi}}& \cos {\theta }_{\mathrm{zi}}& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right\}$

The coordinates of U after the series of rotations from beginning of run up to release are computed as follows:

V=R1*R2 . . . *Rn*U

θ₅ is the angle vector V makes with vector U. θ₅ could be computed from the formula:

cos(θ₅)=Y coordinate of V

Informative parameter M9 is θ₅ in the equation.

FIG. 13 depicts a sequence of actions and corresponding durations for sequence of actions for an ideal cricket bowling action. The run up happens for T1 seconds. Informative parameter M1 is an indication of the quality of the run up. Arm rotation commences for a period of T2 seconds, after the end of run up. Informative parameter M2 is an indication of the quality of arm rotation. The release of the ball happens at the end of the arm rotation. Each of the Informative parameters M3, M4 and M5 are indicative of the quality of release. The bowler follows through after release, to come to a halt. The quality of the follow through is indicated by the Informative parameter M6. The composition of all the Informative parameters M1 to M9 as shown by the formula yields Informative parameter M10.

$M10=\left(\sum _{i=1}^nw_i*\mathrm{Mi}\right)$

where,

• • n is 9;
  • M_i and w_i are as given in the table below. The weights are determined according to the importance of the informative parameter for an ideal body movement for cricket bowling. The importance is determined by consultation with expert coaches and by experimentation.

TABLE 4
Weights for body co-ordination
	Weight number
	w1	w2	w3	w4	w5	w6	w7	w8	w9
Weight	0.10	0.25	0.10	0.10	0.15	0.10	0.10	0.05	0.05
value

A single, SlamdunQ, score is now computed from Informative parameters M1 to M6 and M10. The slamdunQ score indicates an overall quality of the bowling action of the pupil. The slamdunQ score is Informative parameter M11. M10 is computed as per the following formula:

$M11=\left(\sum _{i=1}w_i*\mathrm{Mi}\right)$

where,

• • i ranges from 1 to 6, and 10;
  • w_i is the weight for metric Mi, as given in the tables below.

TABLE 5
Weights for spin bowling
Weight number	w1	w2	w3	w4	w5	w6	w10
Weight value	0.00	0.35	0.15	0.15	0.25	0.05	0.05

TABLE 6
Weights for pace bowling
Weight number	w1	w2	w3	w4	w5	w6	w10
Weight value	0.20	0.25	0.25	0.20	0.00	0.05	0.05

The computation of the multiplicity of Informative parameters also allows a prediction of the trajectory of the ball after release and the speed at any point. It has been demonstrated in sports such as javelin, the momentum of the hand-plus-javelin is nearly conserved between the points just-before-release and just-after-release. The momentum of rest of the body remains more or less constant prior to and after the release, thus having no influence on the velocity of the javelin after release. Applying the same principles to cricket bowling, the velocity of the ball immediately after release could be computed as follows:

Momentum of Arm-plus-ball just-before-release=(Mass of Arm+Mass of ball)*Linear velocity of the tip of the hand,M2

The momentum of Arm-plus-ball just-before-release gets divided between the arm and the ball after release, from which the velocity of the ball after release could be computed as:

Velocity of the ball after release, V=(Momentum of Arm-plus-ball just-before-release−Momentum of the arm just-after-release)/Mass of the ball

From V and M4 (height of the tip of the hand at release), the trajectory of the ball and speed of the ball could be computed from the standard projectile theory of physics. The distance at which the ball touches the ground is known as a length of the ball. The length of the ball is Informative parameter M12. The Informative parameter M12 will enable the pupil to correlate the action with length of the ball.

The Informative parameters M1 to M12 are displayed to the pupil on the display of the monitoring device 102, with a description for interpreting them.

As an example, the description could specify a correct range for an informative parameter. As yet another example, the description could correlate the height of the arm at the time of release of the ball with the trajectory of the ball after release. The system 100 could also provide feedback to the pupil for improving the correctness of action;

The multiplicity of Informative parameters M1 to M12 could also be saved in a chronological order in a server 114 in a computer network 110. The system 100 could retrieve the saved data from the server 114 and provide a comparative study of the correctness, over time, of the pupil's bowling action.

The system 100 could also provide comparative study of the correctness of the bowling action with respect to professionals in the sport, by retrieving the recorded data of the professionals from the server 114 in the computer network 110.

The system 100 could also communicate the raw data or the Informative parameters over the computer network 110 to experts 112 in the sport to receive feedback in at least one of a real-time or a non-real-time.

FIG. 14 describes the steps in a method for body movement analysis for multiplicity of sports. Step 402 involves connecting the multiple sensors 104 of the monitoring device 102 to various parts of the human body. At step 404 the raw data is communicated from the monitoring device 102 to a processing means 106, over a communication medium 108. At step 406 the raw data from the multiple sensors 104 is gathered while the pupil performs the body movements. In step 408 the raw data is processed by a processing means 106 to derive informative parameters from the raw data, such as angles, start of a particular body movement, end of a particular movement and the like. At step 410 the informative parameters are presented to the pupil with descriptive text as feedback on the body movement performed. In step 412 the raw data and informative parameters are communicated over a computer network 110 to external entities. The communication enables storage of the raw data and informative parameters on a server 114 for future reference; for obtaining raw data and informative parameters of professionals in the sports for a comparative study or for a consultation with the experts 112 in the sport.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the claims as described herein.

Claims

1. A system for body movement analysis of a bowling activity in a sport, the system comprising of:

a monitoring device comprising of multiple sensors, the multiple sensors being connected to one or more parts of a human body, for gathering raw data associated with movements of the one or more parts;

a processing means for transforming the raw data into a multiplicity of informative parameters relevant for a specific sport;

a local communication means for communicating the raw data to the processing means;

a display means for presenting the informative parameters; and

a communication means to establish communication with external entities in a computer network.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the raw data gathered from the multiple sensors comprises data provided by sensors, wherein each of the multiple sensors is at least one of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a magnetometer.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the multiplicity of informative parameters comprises:

an informative parameter for run up rhythm;

an informative parameter for linear velocity of the tip of the hand at the time of release of the ball;

an informative parameter for angle of arm from the back-to-chest vertical plane at release;

an informative parameter for height of the arm at the time of release;

an informative parameter for wrist rotation angle;

an informative parameter for follow through after release of the ball;

an informative parameter for non-bowling arm pull;

an informative parameter for distance between the legs at the time of release;

an informative parameter for direction of the front foot at the time of release;

an informative parameter for body coordination;

an informative parameter for slamdunQ score; and

an informative parameter for trajectory prediction.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing means provides a feedback to the pupil for improving the correctness of action.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the raw data and the multiplicity of informative parameters are saved in a chronological order in the computer network by the processing means.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the processing means retrieves the saved raw data and the saved multiplicity of informative parameters from the computer network and provides a comparative study of the correctness of the body movement of the pupil with respect to time.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing means provides comparative study of the correctness of the body movement for cricket bowling with respect to professionals in the sport, by retrieving the raw data and the informative parameters of professionals in the sport from the computer network.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing means communicates at least one of the raw data and the processed informative parameters with the external entities to receive feedback in one of a real-time or a non-real-time.

9. A computerized method for body movement analysis of a bowling activity in sports, the computerized method comprising:

gathering, by a monitoring device comprising multiple sensors, raw data of body movements, the multiple sensors being connected to one or more parts of a human body;

communicating, by a local communication means, the raw data to a processing means;

transforming the raw data, by the processing means, into a multiplicity of informative parameters relevant for a specific sport;

providing, by a display means, feedback by displaying the informative parameters; and

communicating, by a communication means, the data over a wide area computer network with external entities in a computer network.

10. The computerized method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the raw data gathered from the multiple sensors comprises data provided by multiple sensors, wherein each of the multiple sensors is at least one of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a magnetometer.

11. The computerized method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the multiplicity of informative parameters comprises:

an informative parameter for run up rhythm;

an informative parameter for linear velocity of the tip of the hand at the time of release of the ball;

an informative parameter for angle of arm from the back-to-chest vertical plane at release;

an informative parameter for height of the arm at the time of release;

an informative parameter for wrist rotation angle;

an informative parameter for follow through after release of the ball;

an informative parameter for non-bowling arm pull;

an informative parameter for distance between the legs at the time of release;

an informative parameter for direction of the front foot at the time of release;

an informative parameter for body coordination;

an informative parameter for slamdunQ score; and

an informative parameter for trajectory prediction.

12. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter for run up rhythm is computed using the number of negative variations in the velocity from the time of commencing the run up.

13. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter for linear velocity of the tip of the hand at the time of release of the ball is computed using the angular velocity measured by a gyroscope, along the back-to-chest vertical plane, and length of the arm performing the action.

14. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter for angle of the arm performing the action, from the back-to-chest vertical plane at release, is computed from the value of a gravity sensor, along the arm.

15. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter for height of the arm performing the action, at the time of release, is computed from angle made by the arm with the vertical arm-to-arm plane.

16. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter for wrist rotation angle of the arm performing the action is computed from the angular velocity of the wrist.

17. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter for follow through after release of the ball is computed as the number of steps from the release of the ball to halting of the bowler.

18. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter for pull exerted by the non-bowling arm is computed as the force generated by the arm, averaged between the end of run up and release of the ball.

19. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter for distance between the legs at the time of release of the ball by the arm performing the action is computed from the angle made by each leg from the vertical, wherein the angle made by each leg from the vertical is derived from a gravity sensor.

20. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter for direction of the front foot at the time of release of the ball by the arm performing the action is computed by consecutively multiplying the initial 3-dimensional co-ordinates of the foot with 3-dimensional rotation matrices obtained the angular displacements in each dimension, from a gyroscope.

21. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter for body coordination from the beginning of run up to release of the ball is computed as a weighted average of informative parameters for run up rhythm, for linear velocity of the tip of the hand at the time of release of the ball, for angle of arm from the back-to-chest vertical plane at release, for height of the arm at the time of release, for wrist rotation angle, for follow through after release of the ball, for non-bowling arm pull, for distance between the legs at the time of release and for direction of the front foot at the time of release.

22. The computerized method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the informative parameter slamdunQ score indicating an overall quality of the action is computed as a weighted average of informative parameters for run up rhythm, for linear velocity of the tip of the hand at the time of release of the ball, for angle of arm from the back-to-chest vertical plane at release, for height of the arm at the time of release, for wrist rotation angle, for follow through after release of the ball, and for body coordination.