Video event statistic tracking system

• US 20050285877A1
• Filed: 06/07/2005
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sportsmedia Technology Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sportsmedia Technology Corporation
• Inventors: Garci, Erik J., Cox, Brian C., Rosen, Matthew Lane, Dengler, John D., Tolman, Kenneth T., Hall, Gerard J., Weber, Hans
• Granted Patent: US 7,868,914 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/632
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30221 Sports video; Sports image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30241 Trajectory
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/246 using feature-based methods, e.g. the tracking of corners or segments
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/97 Determining parameters from multiple pictures depth or shape recovery from multiple images G06T7/55; stereo camera calibration G06T7/85

Abstract

A method for calculating a parameter from an image sequence includes selecting a first frame and a second frame in an image sequence. The image sequence has a frame speed. The image sequence or another image sequence is enhanced using a calculation that considers the frame speed and selected frames. The enhancement may be with text, graphics or both such as those that may present statistics corresponding to an event in the image sequence.

Claims

1. A method of calculating a parameter from a frame sequence comprising:

selecting a first frame in a frame sequence, wherein the frame sequence has a frame rate;

selecting a second frame in the frame sequence; and

calculating a first parameter utilizing the frame rate.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first parameter corresponds to at least one real world event in the first frame and a related real world event in the second frame.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting of the first frame and the selecting of the second frame are performed while the frame sequence is occurring in real time.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting of the first frame and the selecting of the second frame are performed during a playback mode after the frame sequence has been recorded.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the selecting of the first frame includes selecting a first location of a first real world event in the first frame;

the selecting of the second frame includes selecting a second location of the a second world event in the second frame; and

the calculating step also uses data corresponding to the first and second locations.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the calculating step also uses a predetermined factor corresponding to a real world event.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the factor comprises at least one of distance, length, space, height, altitude, and elevation.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first parameter comprises at least one of distance, speed, or elapsed time.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

selecting an intermediate frame in the frame sequence; and

calculating a second parameter using the frame speed.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein:

the selecting of the first frame includes selecting a first location of a first real world event in the first frame;

the selecting of the second frame includes selecting a second location of a second real world event in the second frame;

and wherein the second parameter comprises a location in a third frame, wherein the third frame is positioned between either the first frame and the intermediate frame or between the second frame and the intermediate frame in the frame sequence.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the frame sequence has been captured from a first camera at a first camera location;

a second sequence has been captured from a second camera at a second camera location; and

the method further comprises inserting, into the second sequence, an image corresponding to the parameter at a location derived using the first parameter.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the inserting step is performed based on knowledge of a characteristic of the first camera and the second camera and without reference to any content of the second sequence.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising enhancing a selected frame sequence using the first parameter.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the enhancing step comprises inserting an image that is representative of the parameter into the selected frame sequence.

15. The method of claim 2, further comprising enhancing a selected frame sequence using the first parameter by inserting an image that is representative of the first parameter into the selected frame sequence, wherein the enhancing is performed in real time as the real world events occur.

16. A system for calculating a parameter from a frame sequence comprising:

an image viewing device wherein an operator selects a first frame and a second frame in a frame sequence with a predetermined frame rate;

a parameter calculation device which calculates a first parameter using the frame rate and a unit of measure corresponding to the first frame and the second frame; and

an image displaying device which displays the information from the parameter in the form of a graphic that is inserted into a second frame sequence.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the unit of measure comprises one or more of the following:

a number of elapsed frames, a difference in time codes, or a distance between selected points.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein:

the image viewing device also enables an operator to select an intermediate frame in the frame sequence; and

the parameter calculation device calculates a second parameter using the frame rate.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the displaying device inserts the information into an image sequence in correspondence to a time of occurrence of one or more real world events.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein:

the image viewing device also allows the operator to select within the first frame a first location of a real world event;

the image viewing device also allows the operator to select within the second frame a second location of a second real world event; and

the parameter calculating device uses the first and second locations.