JP2002048857A - Track calculating device for sphere - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To determine the best hit point of an opponent to which a ball is hit back by predicting the track of the ball. SOLUTION: This device is equipped with a table-tennis table 31, a racket 32, a plurality of microphones 35 which collect sound in the space wherein the ball 33 is present, a timer 36 which measures a time, and a computing means 37 which computes the generation source of the sound and the movement position of the ball from sound information collected by the microphones 35 and time information obtained by the timer 36. Consequently, the track of the ball 33 which moving between players can easily be computed at any time through the very simple constitution and the track of the ball can be predicted by using the computation result.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for calculating the trajectory of a moving sphere.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an apparatus of this type, there has been an apparatus described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-52316. FIG. 3 shows a monitor system for measuring the flight characteristics of a moving sports object described in the above publication. In FIG. 3, reference numerals 18 and 19 denote cameras located at positions apart from each other, and have flash lamps 21 and 22 and 23 and 24, respectively.

[0003] With the above configuration, the flash lamps 21, 22, 2
The two cameras 18 and 19 capture the reflected light from the sporting object illuminated by 3 and 24, and optically measure and monitor the flight characteristics of the sporting object from its temporal change. .

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional configuration, although the trajectory of an object that starts moving in one direction from a stationary state, for example, the trajectory of a hit golf ball, can be calculated, it can be found in the table tennis rally. The trajectory of the ball reciprocating between competitors could not be calculated one by one.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention provides a table tennis table, a racket for table tennis, a plurality of microphones for collecting sound in a space having a ball, and time measurement. And a calculating means for calculating a sound source and a moving position of the sphere from sound information collected by the microphone and time information obtained from the timer.

According to the present invention, the trajectory of a ball reciprocating between competitors can be easily calculated at any time with a very simple configuration, and the trajectory of the ball can be predicted using the calculation result.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a table tennis table, a table tennis racket, a plurality of microphones for collecting sound in a space having a ball, a timer for measuring time, and the microphone The sound source collected in the above and the calculating means for calculating the moving position of the ball from the time information obtained from the timer, a ball that reciprocates between the competitors with a very simple configuration Can be easily calculated at any time, and the trajectory of the sphere can be predicted using the calculation result.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an entire system of a trajectory calculating apparatus for a sphere according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a flowchart up to the calculation of the trajectory of the sphere. In FIG. 1, 31 is a table tennis table, 3
2 is a table tennis racket, 33 is a ball, 34 is a table tennis net provided in the table tennis table 31, 35 is a plurality of microphones for collecting sounds in these spaces, and 36 is a timer for measuring time. And 37 are calculation means for calculating the sound source and the moving position of the sphere from the sound information collected by the microphone 35 and the time information obtained from the timer 36.

The operation of the above configuration will be described.
While constantly collecting sound using multiple microphones, the sound of hitting a ball with a racket or the sound of a bouncing ball can be distinguished from other sounds by performing frequency analysis at high speed. Can be extracted from white noise. And
The trajectory of the sphere can be predicted using this sound information.

[0011] In table tennis, except in the case of serve, a rally between competitors hits a ball with a racket because the game is continued by hitting the ball that bounces in his own area and bouncing in the area of the opponent. If the position where the ball was hit (1st point) and the position where the ball bounced at the table tennis table (2nd point) can be specified, the trajectory of the ball can be predicted from the positional relationship between them and the strength of the sound when the ball bounces. Becomes In other words, the movement course of the ball can be determined by the position where the ball was hit with the racket and the position where the ball bounced in the opponent area after straddling the net, and the trajectory of the subsequent ball can be predicted from the sound intensity at the time of the bounce .

Here, in order to specify the first point and the second point, at least four microphones are used, and the positions of the two points can be specified from the difference in propagation time of sound to each microphone and the positional relationship between the microphones. . If the position of the ball is known, the traveling direction of the ball can be known, and if the strength of the rebound of the ball at the second point is known from the sound information, the flight distance of the ball thereafter can be known.
Therefore, if these are used, it is possible to predict the trajectory of the sphere thereafter.

As described above, since it is possible to predict the trajectory of a sphere at any time, for example, when an automatic machine such as a robot makes a human opponent of table tennis or picks up a sphere, it is difficult for a human to pick up the ball. By predicting the trajectory of the hit ball, the ball can be bounced back or picked up at an accurate position and timing.

[0014] Even when a plurality of table tennis tables are present in one room and a plurality of games proceed simultaneously, it is possible to cope with the sound of the ball of each table tennis table by increasing the number of microphones. Becomes

[0015]

As is clear from the above description of the embodiments,
According to the first aspect of the invention, the trajectory of the ball reciprocating between the competitors can be easily calculated at any time with a very simple configuration, and the next trajectory of the ball can be predicted using the calculation result. A table tennis robot or the like can automatically hit or catch the ball.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an entire system of a trajectory calculation device for a sphere in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart up to calculation of a trajectory of a sphere according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a conventional monitor system for measuring the flight characteristics of a moving sports object.

[Explanation of symbols]

 31 table tennis table 32 racket 33 ball 35 microphone 36 timer 37 calculating means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A table tennis table, a racket for table tennis, a plurality of microphones for collecting sound in a space having a ball, a timer for measuring time, sound information collected by the microphone, and information obtained from the timer. A trajectory calculation device for a sphere, comprising calculation means for calculating a sound source and a movement position of the sphere from the time information.