Patent ID: 8348276

Claim:
A method of determining parameters of a contact between physical bodies occurring within a sporting, game, recreational or entertainment activity, the method comprising the steps of: directing a digital image capture apparatus towards a target area during the course of the activity and capturing image frames of the target area including image data in the infra red region of the spectrum, said image data in the infra red region of the spectrum including localised infra red emission appearing in at least one incident frame, the localised infra red emission being indicative of heat having been generated by the contact which has occurred in the target area and which has generated heat, including at least one of friction between the bodies or by deformation of at least one of the bodies involved in the contact; recording the image data for the at least one incident frame; selectively displaying the at least one incident frame by visual display including the image data in the infra red region of the spectrum by presenting infra red image data in a visible display of a scene captured for the at least one incident frame to enable visual inspection of the activity in the target area at the time of the at least one incident frame and that gave rise to the contact producing the infra red emission; and analysing the image data for at least one of the at least one incident frames to determine at least one parameter of the parameters of the contact, and wherein the analysing the image data step includes verification of each incident frame as being indicative of a legitimate event in the activity giving rise to the contact by analysing at least one parameter of the localised infra red emission as recorded in the infra red image data, including at least one of: analysing at least one of a shape and a size of the target area exhibiting emissions in the infra red part of the spectrum and represented by contiguous pixels of the captured image frame; analysing an infra red signature indicative of contact consisting of the localised infra red emission characteristics indicative of a pre-determined temperature change; analysing a duration of decay of the localised infra red emission in the cluster of contiguous pixels; and analysing the location of contiguous pixels having a predetermined amount of infra red emissions within the target area of the activity.