Low scale production system and method

• US 8,970,666 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2011
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Gefen, Smadar, DiGiovanni, Jay J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Perungavoor, Sath V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Duley, Janese
• Application Number:
  US13/234,481
• Publication Number:
  US 20130070047A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• Field of Search: 700/91
• US Class Current: 348/36
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/38 Arrangements for distribution where lower stations, e.g. receivers, interact with the broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/04 Studio equipment; Interconnection of studios
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/07 characterised by processes or methods for the generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/194 Transmission of image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/20 Image signal generators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234345 the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4728 for selecting a Region Of Interest [ROI], e.g. for requesting a higher resolution version of a selected region
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/816 involving special video data, e.g 3D video
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8549 Creating video summaries, e.g. movie trailer retrieval in video databases by using presentations in form of a video summary G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/222 Studio circuitry; Studio devices; Studio equipment cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors, or control thereof H04N23/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/28 Mobile studios

Abstract

Systems and methods for low-scale and low-cost production of events. The system having a plurality of video cameras, each of the video cameras capturing a video stream, a video processing server receiving the video streams from the video cameras and generating a panoramic video stream from the video streams and a video production server selecting a region of interest based on a selection received from a user and generating a video broadcast including the region of interest, the region of interest being a portion of the panoramic video stream.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a plurality of video cameras, each of the video cameras capturing a video stream;

a video processing server receiving the video streams from the video cameras and generating a panoramic video stream from the video streams; and

a video production server defining a region of interest based on a selection of production rules received from a viewer and generating a video broadcast including the region of interest, the region of interest being a portion of the panoramic video stream.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the video cameras are fixed to provide overlapping fields of view encompassing a venue.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the video production server converts the video broadcast into a pair of stereoscopic video broadcast streams.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the cameras is a stereoscopic camera capturing a pair of stereoscopic video streams and the video production server generates a stereoscopic video broadcast including the region of interest.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a data feed receiving event data relating to an event being captured by the plurality of the video cameras,

wherein the video production server uses a portion of the event data when generating the video broadcast.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the event data comprises one of audio data, a score, and a game clock.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a data storage unit storing one of the video streams, event data relating to an event being captured and the selection received from the viewer, wherein the data storage unit makes available to one of the viewer and a further viewer the one of the video streams, event data relating to the event being captured and the selection received from the viewer.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the data storage unit is configured to store information identifying a highlight segment of the video streams based on a highlight selection of the viewer received by the video production server.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the video production server receives a further selection from the viewer during the video broadcast, and wherein the video production server defines a further region of interest based on the further selection.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the video production server adds additional content to the region of interest while generating the video broadcast.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the additional content is one of audio content and visual content.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the additional content is selected based on viewer specific information including a further viewer selection.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a video capture system receiving the video streams from the video cameras, wherein the video capture system compresses the video streams prior to transmitting the video streams to the video processing server.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the video production server is disposed remotely from the plurality of video cameras.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions executable by a processor, the set of instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of video streams;

merging the video streams to form a panoramic video stream;

receiving, from a viewer, a selection of production rules relating to video production preferences;

defining a region of interest of the panoramic video stream on the basis of the selection of production rules received from the viewer;

generating a video broadcast including the region of interest; and

providing the video broadcast to the viewer.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from a further viewer, a further selection of production rules relating to video production preferences;

defining a further region of interest of the panoramic video stream on the basis of the further selection of production rules received from the further viewer;

generating a further video broadcast including the further region of interest; and

providing the further video broadcast to the further viewer.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the viewer, a further selection of production rules; and

defining a further region of interest of the panoramic video stream on the basis of the further selection of production rules received from the viewer,

wherein the video broadcast includes the region of interest and the further region of interest.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the video broadcast simultaneously includes the region of interest and the further region of interest.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting, to the viewer, an indication of a plurality of events to be displayed to the viewer; and

receiving a selection of one of the events from the viewer, wherein the plurality of video streams are for the selected one of the events.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the selection relating to the video production preferences is based on one or more production rules selectable by the viewer.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions executable by a processor, the set of instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a viewer, a selection of production rules relating to a panoramic video stream, wherein the panoramic video stream is created from a plurality of video streams;

defining a region of interest of the panoramic video stream on the basis of the selection of production rules received from the viewer;

generating a video broadcast including the region of interest; and

providing the video broadcast to the viewer.