US 12,134,009 B1
Basketball launching device using machine vision
John G. Joseph, Upper Sandusky, OH (US)
Assigned to Shoot-A-Way, Inc., Upper Sandusky, OH (US)
Filed by Shoot-A-Way, Inc., Upper Sandusky, OH (US)
Filed on Oct. 6, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/961,259.
Application 17/961,259 is a continuation in part of application No. 17/160,929, filed on Jan. 28, 2021, granted, now 11,577,146.
Application 17/160,929 is a continuation in part of application No. 16/894,005, filed on Jun. 5, 2020, granted, now 11,400,355, issued on Aug. 2, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/858,524, filed on Jun. 7, 2019.
Int. Cl. A63B 24/00 (2006.01); A63B 69/00 (2006.01); A63B 69/40 (2006.01); A63B 71/06 (2006.01)
CPC A63B 24/0062 (2013.01) [A63B 69/0071 (2013.01); A63B 69/40 (2013.01); A63B 71/0605 (2013.01); A63B 71/0622 (2013.01); A63B 71/0669 (2013.01); A63B 2024/0037 (2013.01); A63B 2071/0675 (2013.01); A63B 2210/50 (2013.01); A63B 2220/05 (2013.01); A63B 2220/807 (2013.01); A63B 2225/093 (2013.01); A63B 2225/50 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for automatically detecting made and missed basketball shots using machine vision, said system comprising:
a structural subassembly;
a launcher connected to said structural subassembly and configured to pass basketballs to locations about a basketball playing area having a basketball goal;
one or more cameras connected to said structural subassembly and configured to, at least in part by position and orientation of said camera, capture images of an underside or an upper side of a rim of said basketball goal;
one or more controllers comprising software instructions, which when executed, configure said one or more controllers to:
program said launcher to pass at least one of said basketballs to various ones of said locations forming part of a basketball practice arrangement;
receive images from said one or more cameras for said basketball practice arrangement;
associate each of said received images with one of said passes from said launcher for said basketball practice arrangement; and
process each of said received images using a machine vision model to determine which of said received images indicate a made shot.