Apparatus, method and computer program for tracking, capturing and observing sports-related events

A system, comprising:

• a first housing configured to be mounted to a first net pole of a racket-sport court, the first housing having a size and shape configured to fit within dimensional bounds permitted for a tennis regulation-compliant net pole when mounted to, or integrated into, such a pole;
• a first printed circuit board (PCB) inside the first housing, the first PCB being smaller than or equal to 65 millimeters (mm) tall by 20 mm wide;
• a first processor mounted to the first PCB;
• a first camera communicatively coupled to the first processor via the first PCB;
• and
• a second camera communicatively coupled to the first processor via the first PCB, wherein the first camera and the second camera are between 30 mm and 70 mm apart from one another and at least partially inside the first housing, and wherein the first PCB includes a first set of signal paths for a first synchronization signal by which the first camera is synchronized with the second camera;
• wherein the first processor is configured to effectuate operations by one or more computer-vision systems to:
• detect a ball in a first set of synchronized images including images from both the first camera and the second camera;
• crop or reduce resolution of portions of the first set of synchronized images not including the ball;
• track movement of the ball;
• and
• determine whether the ball bounced in-bounds or out-of-bounds on the racket-sport court.

A method comprising:

• obtaining, with a processor, a first set of synchronized images including images from both a first camera and a second camera, the images depicting overlapping portions of a racket-sport court having a boundary line;
• detecting, with the processor, a ball in the first set of synchronized images including images from both the first camera and the second camera;
• cropping or reducing resolution of portions of the first set of synchronized images not including the ball with the processor;
• tracking, with the processor, movement of the ball;
• and
• determining, with the processor, whether the ball bounced in-bounds or out-of-bounds on the racket-sport court relative to the boundary line,
• wherein the method is performed by a system having a size and shape configured to fit within dimensional bounds permitted for a tennis regulation-compliant net pole when mounted to, or integrated into, such a pole.