Sony might be on the prowl for a new foothold into the Sports Analytics Sector. As discussed in a previous weeks' insight, it is no surprise that big-name tech companies, like Sony and Intel, are attempting to enter the booming Sports Analytics market. While Intel may have landed its first granted patent in late June 2020, Sony was a little ahead of the game with nine (9) granted patents over the past ten years but seemed to have slowed substantially over the past three years with only one (1) granted patent and three (3) published applications.
While better than no patents in the field, these companies are going to need to increase their patent activity if they want to keep up with the 60+ document portfolios of some of the leaders in the sector. However, Sony's most recently filed application, published in early October 2020, shows that Sony might believe it has found a hole in the sector where there is enough opportunity to warrant its efforts.
Sony's most recent application within the sector, U.S. Patent App. No. 16/577945, covers golf swing monitoring to provide cutting-edge analytics and popular swing scoring metrics directly to consumers. While this technology may sound familiar, what differentiates Sony's technology is the fully video-analytic nature of the invention. While other products require secondary tools such as accelerometers placed in the golf-club handles, Sony's invention may be able to achieve the same metric accuracy through assigning a plurality of 3D points to the object of a video and tracking these points through 3D space.
Companies such as CaddieView, Arccos, SwingAI, and even Blast Motion all market products that would pose direct competition to that of Sony's if Sony were to bring this invention to market. While three of the possible competitors seem to be lacking in patent activity in the sector, with no granted patents and only one (1) published application combined, Blast Motion has been a long-time leader on the Data Analytics side of the radian for years, having fourteen (14) granted applications over the past three years, with many of the documents relating to its baseball and golf swing analytics technology. While only time will tell if the deep pockets and brand recognition of Sony will be enough to compete with the extensive patent portfolio of Blast Motion, it's no secret that the Sports Analytics patent sector is developing quickly with even big-name tech companies falling behind the curve.
Keep up with the rapidly developing patent activity in the Sports Analytics Sector by subscribing to the Magic Number® Sports Analytics Patent Forecast®
