KR102258670B1 - Device and method for crack detection for golf ball - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus and a method for determining a crack for a golf ball, presenting a specific method for determining whether a crack has occurred in a golf ball by analyzing a photographed image of a golf ball used in a golf practice system or a screen golf system. To this end, a method for determining a crack for a golf ball according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises steps of: acquiring a photographed image of a still golf ball; extracting the ball image from the photographed image; extracting a crack candidate from the extracted ball image; and determining a crack for the golf ball by determining whether the extracted crack candidate corresponds to a predetermined crack discrimination condition.

Description

A device and method for determining cracks for a golf ball {DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CRACK DETECTION FOR GOLF BALL}

The present invention relates to a crack determination device for selecting a bad golf ball, that is, a crack ball, such as when a user strikes a golf ball through a golf practice system or a screen golf system, and a control method of the crack determination device It is about the invention.

In general, golf practice systems or screen golf systems are equipped with a ball supply system that prepares many golf balls in advance and supplies golf balls one by one each time the user takes a golf shot because the user repeats the golf shot many times. There are many cases.

At this time, the ball supply system of the golf practice system or the screen golf system collects the golf balls hit by the user and sequentially transfers them to the user's at-bat to provide a golf ball when taking a golf shot.

However, the golf balls supplied to the plate at bat are golf balls that have been hit multiple times by the user, and some of them include a golf ball that has been damaged by the hit and cracked, that is, a cracked ball. When a user hits a normal golf ball, it becomes a completely different hitting ball than when hitting a normal golf ball, i.e., when a crack ball is hit, a normal hitting ball according to the golf shot is not formed. There is a problem in that undesirable results may appear in practice or in a virtual golf game through a screen golf system.

As described above, it is important to select crack balls and exclude them from ball supply in the supply of balls in a golf practice system or screen golf system. To this end, a technology related to a device for selecting crack balls has been developed.

Prior art documents such as Patent Publication No. 10-1358177, Patent Publication No. 10-1632414, and Registration Patent Publication No. 10-1436933 have been disclosed as techniques related to such a conventional crack discrimination device.

Registered Patent Publication No. 10-1358177 above relates to a technology for determining whether a crack ball exists through sound wave analysis detected by a sound wave sensor that detects a collision sound generated when a hitting unit strikes a golf ball. No. 10-1632414 relates to a technology for determining a golf ball having a certain elasticity as a good golf ball and a golf ball having lost elasticity as a bad golf ball by freely falling a golf ball at a predetermined height.

However, if there is a crack in the golf ball, but it is not severe, it is very difficult to determine the crack ball by analyzing the collision sound of the golf ball, and it is difficult to downsize because the size of the device is large. Even in the case of discrimination, if the crack is not severe, it is impossible to discriminate, and there is a problem that miniaturization is impossible because the size of the device is quite large because a space for free fall of the golf ball is required.

As a solution to the above-described problem, in Patent Publication No. 10-1436933 above, a measuring camera is installed in the path of the golf ball, and the image of the golf ball photographed by the measuring camera is analyzed and applied to the golf ball. It provides a technology to determine whether a crack has occurred.

However, the above-described prior art relates to the configuration of a device capable of determining whether a crack has occurred in a golf ball using a measuring camera, and specifically, it is suggested how to detect a crack from an image photographed about a golf ball. In the case of a golf ball, since a number of dimples exist on the surface and a specific logo or trademark is displayed, it is quite difficult to detect a crack from an image captured of a golf ball.

[Prior technical literature]

Registered Patent Publication No. 10-1436933

Registered Patent Publication No. 10-1358177

Registered Patent Publication No. 10-1632414

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for determining a crack for a golf ball, providing a specific method for determining whether a crack has occurred in a golf ball by analyzing a photographed image of a golf ball used in a golf practice system or a screen golf system. To provide.

A method for determining a crack for a golf ball according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: acquiring an image photographed for a stopped golf ball; Extracting a ball image from the captured image; Extracting a crack candidate from the extracted ball image; And determining a crack for a golf ball by determining whether the extracted crack candidate corresponds to a predetermined condition for determining a crack.

In addition, preferably, the step of extracting the crack candidate includes detecting edge pixels on the surface of the ball with respect to the photographed ball image, and the detected edge pixels for the repeatedly photographed image of a preset number of times. And extracting continuously detected edge pixels by examining continuity, and extracting the crack candidate from the continuously detected edge pixels.

In addition, preferably, the step of extracting as a crack candidate includes detecting edge pixels on the surface of the ball with respect to the captured ball image, and the detected edge pixels for the repeatedly photographed image of a preset number of times. And removing a portion in which a change of a pixel occurs, and extracting, as the crack candidate, a portion determined as a dense pixel cluster with respect to the removed edge pixels.

In addition, preferably, the step of extracting the crack candidate from the continuously detected edge pixels includes determining a pixel cluster having a higher degree of aggregation of the pixel cluster than a preset reference through clustering of the continuously detected edge pixels. It characterized in that it comprises the step of extracting as a crack candidate.

In addition, preferably, the step of acquiring the photographed image includes the step of acquiring an image of a continuous frame repeatedly photographed for a predetermined number of times of the still golf ball, and the step of extracting the ball image, And extracting the ball image for each image of the repeatedly photographed continuous frame, and the step of extracting the crack candidate group includes edge pixels relating to the surface of the ball for each of the extracted ball images of the continuous frame. Detecting and preparing each edge pixel image; examining the continuity of corresponding edge pixels of each of the edge pixel images and extracting the continuously detected edge pixels to prepare a continuous edge image; and And extracting the crack candidate group by analyzing edge pixels on the image.

In addition, preferably, the step of determining the crack includes statistical analysis information on the brightness values of the pixels of the crack portion, size information of the crack portion, and characteristic information about the crack including at least one of the shape information of the crack portion. And determining the crack by determining whether the crack candidate corresponds to at least one of characteristic information regarding the crack, which is preset as a condition for determining the crack.

On the other hand, an apparatus for determining a crack for a golf ball according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a camera device for acquiring an image photographed on a stopped golf ball; And an image processing unit for extracting a ball image from the image captured by the camera device and extracting a crack candidate using the extracted ball image, and a condition for determining a crack in advance, and extracted by the image processing unit. And a calculation device including a crack determination unit for determining a crack for a golf ball by determining whether a crack candidate corresponds to the preset crack determination condition.

Also preferably, the image processing unit detects edge pixels on the surface of the ball with respect to the ball image photographed by the camera device, and maintains continuity of the detected edge pixels for the repeatedly photographed image of a preset number of times. And extracting the continuously detected edge pixels by irradiation, and extracting the crack candidate from the continuously detected edge pixels.

The apparatus and method for determining a crack for a golf ball according to the present invention provides a specific method for determining whether a crack has occurred in a golf ball by analyzing a photographed image of a golf ball used in a golf practice system or a screen golf system. By presenting it, the structure is simple and miniaturization is possible, so that it can be easily applied to an existing golf practice system or a screen golf system.

1 is a view schematically showing a state in which a ball supply system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to and installed in a screen golf system.
2 is a view showing the configuration of the ball supply system shown in FIG.
3 is a view for explaining the configuration of a crack determination apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG.
4 is a block diagram showing an overall control system of a ball supply system including a crack determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart of a method for determining a crack according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 and 7 are views for explaining a method of determining a crack of a golf ball according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A detailed description of the crack determination apparatus and method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, a ball supply system including a crack determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

1 is a view schematically showing a state in which a ball supply system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a screen golf system and installed, and FIG. 2 is a view showing the configuration of the ball supply system shown in FIG. 1.

1 shows an example in which the ball supply system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to the screen golf system, but the present invention is not limited to the screen golf system, and it is necessary to supply a golf ball for a golf shot of a user such as a golf practice system. Of course, it can be applied to all systems.

As shown in FIG. 1, a screen 30 on which a virtual golf simulation image is projected is provided on the front of the screen golf booth, and a golfer is mounted on the floor 10 to make a golf swing and a golf swing. A golf mat 22 on which the ball 1 is placed is provided, and although not shown in the drawing, a sensing device for sensing that a user hits the golf ball may be provided.

In addition, a simulator (S) is provided at one side of the booth as a computing device to implement a simulation image to be projected onto the screen 30 by performing predetermined data processing for a virtual golf simulation according to the result sensed by the sensing device. I can.

The ball transfer device 100 of the ball supply system according to an embodiment of the present invention may be installed in the installation space 50 formed under the floor 10 of the booth, and between the screen 30 and the floor 10 The inclined surface 32 is formed so that the golf ball 1 hit by the user hits the screen 30 and rolls down along the inclined surface 32 to move to the ball transfer device 100 in the installation space 50. Can be configured.

In addition, it is preferable that the installation space 50 is covered by the cover plate 52 so that the ball transfer device 100 is protected.

On the other hand, a space of a predetermined size is provided under the turn at bat 20, and a tee-up device 500 for teeing up a golf ball is installed in the space so that the golf balls are automatically supplied to the golf mat 22 one by one. I can.

In this way, the user hits the golf ball 1 a plurality of times, and each of the hit golf balls 1 is recovered by the ball transfer device 100 and supplied to the turn at bat through the tee-up device 500 again. At this time, golf balls with large and small cracks may occur due to several hits. A defective golf ball with cracks in this way will be referred to as a crack ball.

1 and 2, the ball supply system according to an embodiment of the present invention is a crack determination device that selects and excludes crack balls before being supplied to the user in the process of circulating a golf ball as described above. 200 may be provided between the ball transfer device 100 and the tee-up device 500.

That is, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the ball transfer device 100 and the crack determination device 200 are connected to the ball transfer pipe 150, the crack determination device 200 and the tee-up device 500 Is connected to the ball supply transfer pipe 550, as the golf ball 1 is recovered, the ball transfer device 100 transfers the golf ball to the crack determination device 200 through the ball transfer pipe 150 and determines the crack The device 200 determines whether or not there is a crack ball for each of the transferred golf balls one by one, and selects only normal golf balls, that is, normal balls, not crack balls, and transfers them to the tee-up device 500 through the ball supply and transfer pipe 550. The tee-up device 500 receiving the normal ball is to supply the golf ball, which is the normal ball, by using the tee 502. (In this case, instead of the tee-up device, an arm may be provided with a so-called caddy that grips the golf ball and supplies it to the turn at bat).

At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the golf ball determined as a normal ball by the crack determination device 200 for the golf ball transferred through the ball transfer pipe 150 is a tee-up device through the ball supply transfer pipe 550 While being transferred to 500, the golf ball determined as a crack ball by the crack determination device 200 may be transferred to a different path than the normal ball, so that it is excluded from circulation of the ball supply, FIG. 2 As shown in FIG. 1, only the crack balls may be transferred to a location where only the crack balls are separately collected through the crack ball transfer tube 560 provided separately from the ball supply transfer tube 550.

The conceptual configuration of the crack discriminating apparatus 200 used in the ball supply system shown in FIG. 2 is shown in FIG. 3A.

As shown in (a) of FIG. 3, the crack determination apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention may be configured simply by including the camera devices 210 and 220 and the computing device 230.

Inside the crack determination device 200, as shown in (a) of FIG. 3, the ball is connected from the ball transfer device 100 to the tee-up device 500 (more specifically, the ball of the ball transfer device 100). Connected from the transport pipe 150 to the ball supply transport pipe 550), an observation transport passage 250 may be provided, so that the camera device may be configured to observe the golf ball on the observation transport passage 250. .

The observation transfer path 250 is implemented in the form of a transparent tube as shown in (a) of FIG. 3 so that the camera device can sufficiently observe the golf ball 1 inside the observation transfer path 250. I can.

The observation transfer path 250 is not formed in the form of a transparent tube as described above, but consists of an observation transfer path 252 in the form of an opaque tube as shown in FIG. 3(b), but within the range of the angle of view of the camera device. By forming the window 253 that is transparent only to the area, it is also possible for the camera device to detect cracks through image capture and analysis of only the golf ball observed through the window 253.

It is preferable that the window 253 is formed on a surface facing the first camera device 210 and a surface facing the second camera device 220, respectively.

2 and 3, a plurality of golf balls transferred along the ball transfer pipe 150 from the ball transfer device 100 enters the crack determination device 200 according to the present invention while the ball transfer pipe It is transported along the observation transport path 250 connected to the 150, and in the process of moving the golf ball along the observation transport path 250, whether a crack ball is determined by the camera devices 210 and 220 and the computing device 230 It is determined, and in the case of a normal ball, the ball is continuously transferred along the observation transfer path 250, and then goes out to the ball supply transfer pipe 550 and is supplied to the tee-up device 500, and when it is determined as a crack ball, the crack ball 2 ) Can be separated and discharged by bypassing to a separate crack ball transfer path 260.

The crack ball transfer path 260 is connected to the crack ball transfer pipe 560, and the crack ball 2 bypassed from the observation transfer path 250 to the crack ball transfer path 260 as described above is a crack ball It may be moved to the transfer pipe 560 and separated and discharged separately.

For example, although not shown in the drawing, a bypass passage connected to the crack ball transport passage 260 on one side of the observation transport passage 250 as shown in FIG. 3 (a) and an opening/closing member for opening and closing it When the calculation device 230 determines that a crack exists in the golf ball at the position photographed by the camera devices 210 and 220, a control means such as the calculation device opens the opening/closing member. Thus, it is possible to allow the golf ball determined as a crack ball to be discharged from the observation transfer path 250 to the crack ball transfer path 260 through the bypass path.

At this time, the crack ball transfer passage 260 may have a slope to facilitate discharging, or a separate mechanism may be used to allow the crack ball to be transferred along the crack ball transfer passage 260.

On the other hand, the camera device acquires a photographed image of a still golf ball. The camera device 220 is provided to simultaneously observe one side of the golf ball and the opposite side of the golf ball so that the crack can be determined using each photographed image, thereby increasing the accuracy of the crack determination of the golf ball.

When the angle of view of each of the camera devices 210 and 220 is widened, a number of golf balls may be included in one frame, and thus a problem of specifying a golf ball to be identified may arise. Therefore, the range of the angle of view is narrowed. It is preferable that one golf ball appears completely on the photographed image and only a part of the golf balls around it appear.

If the shape of a single golf ball is fully displayed in the captured image and only a part of the shape of a golf ball around it appears, the outline of the object is extracted from the image and the object whose outline has the shape of a circle is specified as a golf ball. It is preferable in that it can be easily extracted.

If, as described above, the observation transport path is configured in the form of an opaque tube as shown in (b) of FIG. 3, not a transparent tube as shown in (a) of FIG. 3, but with respect to the field of view of the camera device. In the case of forming the transparent window 253, the golf ball 1 observed through the window 253 is completely displayed in the image captured by the camera device, and thus a plurality of golf balls appear on the captured image, causing cracks. It is possible to solve the problem of specifying a golf ball as a discrimination object.

On the other hand, although not shown, it is preferable that an illumination device that provides separate visible light as illumination is provided inside the crack determination device 200 or each of the camera devices 210 and 220 is configured to include an illumination device together.

On the other hand, with reference to Figures 4 and 5 will be described a crack determination apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and a control method of the ball supply system including the same.

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the overall control system of the ball supply system including a crack determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 is a crack determination method by a crack determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention This is a flowchart showing the process.

As shown in Figure 4, the crack determination device 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a camera device (a first camera device 210 and a second camera device 220) and an operation device 230, , The computing device 230 may include an image processing unit 231 and a crack determining unit 232 that can be classified according to hardware or software functions.

The image processing unit 231 functions to extract a ball image from an image captured by the camera devices 210 and 220 and extract a crack candidate using the extracted ball image, and the crack determination unit 232 ) Sets a condition for determining a crack in advance, and determines whether a crack candidate extracted by the image processing unit 231 corresponds to the preset condition for determining a crack, thereby determining a crack for a golf ball.

Detailed functions of the image processing unit 231 and the crack determination unit 232 will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 4, the ball supply system allows the crack determination device 200, the ball transfer device 100, and the tee-up device 500 to operate under control by the ball supply control unit 400. Can be configured.

In addition, depending on the embodiment, the ball supply control unit 400 and the calculation device 230 of the crack determination device 200 may be implemented separately, but may be implemented as one and the same controller.

The ball supply control unit 400 may be provided as a controller of a simulator in, for example, a screen golf system, or may be provided as a controller provided in the ball supply system itself.

In addition, the computing device S may be a component corresponding to a client computer (simulator) or server of a golf practice system or a virtual golf simulation system using the above-described ball supply system.

A method for determining a crack according to an embodiment of the present invention having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5.

As described above, a plurality of golf balls 1 are transported while being in close contact with each other in the observation transport path 250 in the crack determination device 200 as shown in FIG. 3(a), and one golf ball tee-up As supplied through the device, a number of golf balls are pushed through the section corresponding to one golf ball and transferred, and until the next golf ball is teeed up, it is not transferred and is in a stopped state.

When the state is stopped, the camera devices 210 and 220 acquire a photographed image of a golf ball in order to determine a crack.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the camera device acquires an image of a continuous frame repeatedly photographed for a predetermined number of times for a stopped golf ball (S100).

The image acquired by the camera device is transmitted to a computing device, and the image processing unit of the computing device extracts a ball image for each of the images of the repeatedly photographed continuous frame as described above (S110).

The image processing unit detects edge pixels on the surface of the ball for each of the ball images of the continuous frame extracted as described above, and prepares edge pixel images for each (S120).

The image processing unit provides a continuous edge image by extracting the continuously detected edge pixels by examining the continuity of corresponding edge pixels of each of the edge pixel images prepared as described above (S130).

The image processing unit includes clustering of edge pixels on the continuous edge image, that is, a portion in which pixels having similar characteristics (eg, brightness values in a similar range, etc.) are concentrated as a pixel cluster. It is grouped and classified (S140).

The image processing unit extracts, as a crack candidate, a pixel cluster having a degree of cohesion within the pixel cluster (a degree of density of pixels constituting the pixel cluster) higher than a preset criterion among the pixel clusters classified by the clustering (S150). For example, among several pixel clusters, only those with a number of pixels equal to or greater than a preset reference value may be selected and extracted as crack candidates.

As described above, when a crack candidate or a crack candidate group is extracted through a predetermined image processing by the image processing unit, the crack determination unit of the computing device determines whether the extracted crack candidate corresponds to a predetermined crack determination condition (S160). In the case where it is determined that the crack candidate corresponds to the above-described condition for determining the crack, that is, when it is determined that it is a crack ball (S170), the operation device may cause an alarm with video, voice, sound, text, etc. that the crack ball is detected, The determined crack ball may be separated from the ball transport path (eg, the observation transport path as shown in FIG. 3A) to be discharged separately (S180).

For example, in the case of a screen golf system, a method such as displaying a crack ball on a screen or a separate display as an image or alarming by voice is possible.

If none of the crack candidates as described above corresponds to the condition for determining the crack, the ball is transferred normally and the next golf ball is transferred so that it stops at the camera's angle of view, that is, at the shooting position (S190).

The process from the step of extracting the ball image of S110 to the step of extracting the crack candidate of S150 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

6 is a diagram illustrating a process of generating a continuous edge image from a ball image through image processing of a crack determination method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a crack candidate extraction using the continuous edge image. It is a diagram showing the thing.

First, referring to FIG. 6, the image captured by each camera device includes not only the golf ball but also parts around it according to the angle of view, and only the part corresponding to the golf ball can be extracted from the first acquired image. have.

In other words, it is possible to easily identify a golf ball in the shape of a circle by detecting the contour of the object appearing on the initially acquired image and examining the shape, size, and aspect ratio of the contour. By extracting only the part corresponding to the golf ball, ball images referred to as b1, b2, and b3 of FIG. 6 may be extracted.

As described above, the camera device does not capture and acquire only one image of a still golf ball, but repeatedly shoots a single still golf ball a predetermined number of times to obtain an image of a continuous frame. A plurality of ball images b1, b2, and b3 may be generated as shown in FIG. 6 by extracting a portion corresponding to a golf ball from each image of the frame.

Assuming that the preset number of shots for the golf ball is n, as shown in FIG. 6, the ball image of b1 can be extracted from the image of the n-2th frame, and the image of the n-1th frame The ball image of b2 can be extracted from and the ball image of b3 can be extracted from the image of the nth frame.

In this way, the ball image of the image repeatedly photographed for one still golf ball is an image of the same subject, but each ball image is a different image. This is because the pixel values of the same pixel position of each ball image may be different from each other, because light reflected from the surface of the golf ball by the illumination provided to the golf ball changes slightly over time.

Since any golf ball always has dimples on the surface of the golf ball, the light provided to the surface of the golf ball is reflected from the concave portions of each dimple and appears as an image, so ball images (b1, b2, b3) When an image edge of is detected, an image having edge pixels such as e1, e2, and e3 shown in FIG. 6, that is, an edge pixel image, is generated, respectively. In order to make the edge pixels more clearly visible, e1, e2, and e3 of FIG. 6 represent that each of the edge pixels extracted from the ball image is binarized and generated as an edge pixel image.

Here, the edge refers to a part in the image where the brightness value of the pixel changes rapidly.As described above, since a number of dimples are formed on the surface of the golf ball, light due to illumination is reflected from the concave part of the dimple. As a result, since a shadow is formed in the neighboring part, the brightness value of the pixel changes rapidly in the dimple part, and when an edge pixel of the ball image is detected as described above, the part corresponding to the dimple is generally detected as an edge pixel. do.

Here, if a crack is formed in the golf ball, the crack portion must have a difference in brightness values of the pixel and the peripheral portion thereof. Therefore, when an edge pixel is detected, the crack portion is detected as an edge pixel.

Accordingly, as shown in the edge pixel image such as e1 of FIG. 6, a portion corresponding to a dimple and a portion corresponding to a crack of a golf ball can be detected as edge pixels.

However, as seen on the edge pixel image, if there are many parts corresponding to the dimple on the image, it becomes difficult to extract the crack part, so it is desirable to remove the edge pixels of the part corresponding to the dimple through appropriate image processing. .

Here, looking at the characteristics of the edge pixels of the dimple part, when photographing a golf ball with visible light as illumination, due to the flicker phenomenon caused by the difference between the visible light illumination and the shutter speed of the camera device, from the dimple As the brightness of the reflected reflected light changes on the image, edge pixel images extracted from each of a plurality of repeatedly photographed images have different images.

On the other hand, the crack portion formed in the golf ball is consistently displayed on the edge pixel image despite the flicker phenomenon because the difference between the cracked portion and the peripheral portion is clear.

As shown in FIG. 6, when edge pixel images e1, e2, and e3 are generated for each of the ball images b1, b2, and b3 on the repeatedly photographed continuous frame, the respective edge pixel images e1 and e2 Since, e3) appears differently according to the change of the reflected light of the dimple portion, only edge pixels continuously detected from all edge pixel images may be extracted by examining the continuity of each edge pixel on all generated edge pixel images.

In other words, by examining the brightness values of pixels existing at the same location in all the generated edge pixel images (e1, e2, e3), only pixels included in the range of identity are extracted, and pixels whose pixel values rapidly change from image to image are excluded. By doing so, the edge pixels for the dimple part can be removed to some extent.

In FIG. 6, by examining the continuity of each pixel from the edge pixel images (e1, e2, e3) and extracting only edge pixels continuously detected from all images, a continuous edge image (CE) from which dimples are removed to some extent is generated. I can.

In the continuous edge image (CE) generated as described above, most of the cracks clearly appearing in all edge pixel images (e1, e2, e3) are included, and the edge of the dimple part where the change occurred in each edge pixel image. The pixels will appear removed.

Meanwhile, with reference to FIG. 7, extraction of crack candidates using the above-described continuous edge image will be described.

Extracting a crack candidate using the continuous edge image is a process of extracting a pixel cluster having a higher degree of aggregation of the pixel cluster than a preset reference through clustering of the continuously detected edge pixels as a crack candidate.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, an image corresponding to the continuous edge image referred to as PI in FIG. 7 is extracted by extracting pixels on the ball image bi corresponding to each pixel on the continuous edge image CE. (PI) can be obtained.

In order to determine which part of the PI image corresponds to a crack, first, pixel clustering, that is, clustering, in which pixels having similar characteristics are grouped together may be performed.

Pixels that are once attached to the PI image are set as one pixel cluster, but since the characteristics of the pixels may be different within the PI image, the pixel clusters can be classified according to the characteristics of the pixels, for example, the average brightness value of the pixels.

Even if the pixel clusters are classified as described above, if the number of pixels in the pixel cluster is considerably small, the probability of being judged as a crack is very low. Therefore, a pixel cluster in which pixels are densely concentrated can be determined as a candidate for cracking.

That is, among the pixel clusters classified by clustering as described above, a pixel cluster having a degree of aggregation higher than a preset reference may be selected, and this may be determined as a crack candidate.

For example, in FIG. 7, a group of pixels having some degree of dense pixels such as a G1 portion, a G2 portion, and a G3 portion on the PI image may be determined as a crack candidate.

When the crack candidate or the crack candidate group is determined as described above, the crack determination unit of the operation device of the crack determination apparatus of the present invention may determine whether the crack candidate corresponds to preset characteristic information about the crack, and whether or not the crack is cracked.

Here, the characteristic information on the crack may include information such as statistical analysis information on brightness values of pixels of the crack portion, size information of the crack portion, shape information of the crack portion, and the like.

For example, if the average value of the brightness values of the pixels constituting the crack candidate is too high or too low, it may be determined that it is not a crack, and if the shape of the crack candidate is a square shape or a circle with a similar aspect ratio, it is not a crack. If the size of the crack candidate is too small, it may be determined that it is not a crack.

In this way, the characteristic information on the crack that can be determined as a crack is set in advance as a condition for determining the crack, and the crack candidate extracted according to the condition for determining the crack can be determined to determine whether or not a crack exists.

As described above, the apparatus for determining cracks and the method for determining a crack for a golf ball according to the present invention analyzes a photographed image of a golf ball in a process of being transported for a golf shot in a golf practice system or a screen golf system. It presents a specific method to determine whether a crack has occurred, and has the advantage of being able to sort out crack balls by an easy and simple method.

Methods implemented as software modules or algorithms according to the present invention may be stored on a computer-readable recording medium as computer-readable codes or program instructions executable on a processor. Here, the computer-readable recording medium includes a magnetic storage medium (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), floppy disk, hard disk, etc.), and an optical reading medium (e.g., CD-ROM). ) And DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)). The computer-readable recording medium is distributed over networked computer systems, so that computer-readable codes can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. The medium is readable by a computer, stored in memory, and executed on a processor.

All documents, including publications, patent applications, patents, etc., cited in the present invention may be incorporated into the present invention in the same manner as that each cited document is individually and specifically merged or expressed as a whole in the present invention. .

For the understanding of the present invention, reference numerals are given in the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings, and specific terms are used to describe the embodiments of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited by specific terms, and the present invention May include all components commonly conceivable to those skilled in the art.

The invention can be represented by functional block configurations and various processing steps. These functional blocks may be implemented with various numbers of hardware or/and software components that perform specific functions. For example, the present invention provides integrated circuit configurations such as memory, processing, logic, and look-up tables, which can execute various functions by controlling one or more microprocessors or by other control devices. Can be adopted. Similar to how the elements of the present invention can be implemented with software programming or software elements, the present invention includes various algorithms implemented with a combination of data structures, processes, routines or other programming constructs, including C, C++. , Java, assembler, or the like may be implemented in a programming or scripting language. Functional aspects can be implemented with an algorithm running on one or more processors. In addition, the present invention may employ conventional techniques for electronic environment setting, signal processing, and/or data processing. Terms such as “mechanism”, “element”, “means”, and “composition” can be used widely, and are not limited to mechanical and physical configurations. The term may include a meaning of a series of routines of software in connection with a processor or the like.

Specific implementations described in the present invention are examples, and do not limit the scope of the present invention in any way. For brevity of the specification, descriptions of conventional electronic configurations, control systems, software, and other functional aspects of the systems may be omitted. In addition, the connection or connection members of the lines between the components shown in the drawings exemplarily represent functional connections and/or physical or circuit connections. It may be referred to as a connection, or circuit connections. In addition, if there is no specific mention such as “essential” or “important”, it may not be a necessary component for the application of the present invention.

In the specification of the present invention (especially in the claims), the use of the term “above” and a similar reference term may correspond to both the singular and the plural. In addition, when a range is described in the present invention, the invention to which an individual value falling within the range is applied (unless otherwise stated), and each individual value constituting the range is described in the detailed description of the invention. Same as. Finally, unless explicitly stated or contradicted to the order of the steps constituting the method according to the present invention, the steps may be performed in a suitable order. The present invention is not necessarily limited according to the order of description of the steps. The use of all examples or illustrative terms (for example, etc.) in the present invention is merely for describing the present invention in detail, and the scope of the present invention is limited by the above examples or illustrative terms unless limited by the claims. It does not become. In addition, those skilled in the art can recognize that various modifications, combinations, and changes may be configured according to design conditions and factors within the scope of the appended claims or their equivalents.

100: ball transfer device, 200: crack discrimination device
210: first camera device, 220: second camera device
230: computing device, 231: image processing unit
232: crack detection unit, 500: tea-up device

Claims (8)

As a method of discriminating cracks on a golf ball,
Acquiring a photographed image of a still golf ball;
Extracting a ball image from the captured image;
Extracting a crack candidate from the extracted ball image; And
Comprising the step of determining a crack for a golf ball by determining whether the extracted crack candidate corresponds to a predetermined condition for determining a crack,
The step of extracting the crack candidate,
Detecting edge pixels on the surface of the ball with respect to the photographed ball image,
Extracting the continuously detected edge pixels by examining the continuity of the detected edge pixels with respect to the repeatedly photographed image of a preset number of times;
And extracting the crack candidate from the continuously detected edge pixels. delete As a method of discriminating cracks on a golf ball,
Acquiring a photographed image of a still golf ball;
Extracting a ball image from the captured image;
Extracting a crack candidate from the extracted ball image; And
Comprising the step of determining a crack for a golf ball by determining whether the extracted crack candidate corresponds to a predetermined condition for determining a crack,
The step of extracting the crack candidate,
Detecting edge pixels on the surface of the ball with respect to the photographed ball image,
Removing a portion in which a pixel change occurs among the detected edge pixels with respect to the repeatedly photographed image of a preset number of times;
And extracting, as the crack candidate, a portion determined as a dense pixel cluster with respect to the removed edge pixels. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting the crack candidate from the continuously detected edge pixels comprises:
And extracting, as the crack candidate, a pixel cluster having a degree of aggregation of the pixel cluster higher than a preset reference through clustering of the continuously detected edge pixels. As a method of discriminating cracks on a golf ball,
Acquiring a photographed image of a still golf ball;
Extracting a ball image from the captured image;
Extracting a crack candidate from the extracted ball image; And
Comprising the step of determining a crack for a golf ball by determining whether the extracted crack candidate corresponds to a predetermined condition for determining a crack,
The step of acquiring the photographed image includes the step of acquiring an image of a continuous frame repeatedly photographed for a predetermined number of times for the still golf ball,
The step of extracting the ball image includes extracting the ball image for each image of the repeatedly photographed continuous frame,
The step of extracting the crack candidate,
For each of the extracted continuous frame ball images, detecting edge pixels on the surface of the ball to prepare an edge pixel image,
Providing a continuous edge image by extracting the continuously detected edge pixels by examining the continuity of each corresponding edge pixel of each of the edge pixel images; and
And extracting the crack candidate by analyzing edge pixels on the continuous edge image. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the crack,
The crack candidate is preset as a condition for determining the crack for characteristic information about a crack including at least one of statistical analysis information about the brightness value of the pixels of the crack portion, information about the size of the crack portion, and information about the shape of the crack portion. And determining whether the crack corresponds to at least one of the characteristic information about the crack. A camera device for acquiring an image photographed on a still golf ball; And
An image processing unit that extracts a ball image from the image captured by the camera device and extracts a crack candidate using the extracted ball image,
And a calculation device including a crack determination unit configured to determine a crack for a golf ball by determining in advance whether a crack candidate extracted by the image processing unit corresponds to the preset crack determination condition, and ,
The image processing unit,
For the ball image captured by the camera device, edge pixels related to the surface of the ball are detected, and the continuity of the detected edge pixels is examined for a predetermined number of repetitively photographed images to extract continuously detected edge pixels. And extracting the crack candidate from the continuously detected edge pixels. delete

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