Patent ID: 8020098

Claim:
A video analysis system for analyzing video of a swing motion for hitting a ball, the video analysis system comprising: an imaging unit that records video of the swing motion; an impact detection unit that detects impact with the ball; a video display unit; a control unit that performs functions (a) to (h): (a) receiving the video of the swing motion from the imaging unit; (b) receiving an impact detection signal from the impact detection unit; (c) recording the video of the swing motion received from the imaging unit into the control unit; (d) in response to the control unit recording the video of the swing motion received from the imaging unit, determining an impact time based on the impact detection signal received from the impact detection unit and recording images of the swing motion for a predetermined time period that includes the impact with the ball; (e) displaying the video of the swing motion received from the imaging unit; on the video display unit; (f) while displaying the video of the swing motion on the video display unit, slowing down replay speed of the video of the swing motion to be lower than an actual speed of the recorded swing; (g) while displaying the video of the swing motion on the video display unit, temporarily stopping the video; and (h) while displaying the video of the swing motion on the video display unit, switching video replay between a forward mode and a backward mode; and a personal computer that includes software that performs function (1): (1) designating frame numbers of the video at an address position, a top position, an impact position, and a finish position in an image memory, and capturing images at the address position, the top position, the impact position, and the finish position from the video of the swing motion in response to a menu selection, and displaying the four captured images on the same screen of the video display unit, wherein the control unit is connected to the personal computer, wherein the functions (a) to (h) are activated by the control unit, remotely from the personal computer, and performed by the control unit, and wherein the function (1) is activated by and performed automatically by the personal computer.