TRACKING OF HANDHELD SPORTING IMPLEMENTS USING COMPUTER VISION

A path and/or orientation of at least a portion of a handheld sporting implement swung by an athlete is tracked using two or more cameras. At least two sets of video images of the handheld sporting implement being swung are obtained using at least two different cameras having different positions. Motion regions within video images are identified, and candidate locations in 2D space of an identifiable portion (e.g., a head) of the handheld sporting implement is/are identified within the motion region(s). Based thereon, a probable location in 3D space of the identifiable portion is identified, for each of a plurality of instants during which the handheld sporting implement was swung. A piecewise 3D trajectory of at least the identifiable portion (e.g., the head) of the sporting implement is approximated from the probable locations in 3D space of the head for multiple instants during which the sporting implement was swung.