System and method for data assisted chroma-keying

• US 8,022,965 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2006
• Issued: 09/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Gibbs, Simon, Hoch, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Bella; Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAHMJOO, MANUCHER
• Application Number:
  US11/439,304
• Publication Number:
  US 20060209088A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,947 Days
• Field of Search: 345/619, 345/620, 345/625, 345/469, 345/616, 345/589, 345/592, 345/601, 345/602, 348/169, 348/218.1, 348/333.04
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/69 Involving elements of the real world in the game world, e.g. measurement in live races, real video
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8017 Driving on land or water; Flying
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/026 Control of mixing and/or overlay of colours in general G09G5/022 and G09G5/024 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/377 for mixing or overlaying two or more graphic patterns G09G5/02, G09G5/397 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21805 enabling multiple viewpoints, e.g. using a plurality of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23617 by inserting additional data into a data carousel, e.g. inserting software modules into a DVB carousel arrangements for broadcast or for distribution of identical information repeatedly in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44012 involving rendering scenes according to scene graphs, e.g. MPEG-4 scene graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8146 involving graphical data, e.g. 3D object, 2D graphics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2224 related to virtual studio applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/75 Chroma key

Abstract

The invention illustrates a system and method of displaying a base image and an overlay image comprising: capturing a base image of a real event; receiving an instrumentation data based on the real event; identifying a visual segment within the base image based on the instrumentation data; and rendering an overlay image within the visual segment.

Claims

1. A computerized method:

capturing, by a data acquisition system, a base image of a real event and instrumentation data associated with the real event, wherein the base image comprises a representation of a dynamic object that is moving relative to a multi-chromatic background in the real event, and the instrumentation data comprises global positioning data characterizing the dynamic object location in the real event;

transmitting the captured base image and the instrumentation data;

receiving the transmitted base image and the instrumentation data;

using the received global positioning data to identify a visual segment within the received base image, wherein the visual segment is part of the base image, excludes an entire area of the base image occupied by the dynamic object representation, is smaller than a size of the base image, and includes a part of the multi-chromatic background;

rendering an overlay image within the visual segment, wherein the overlay image is behind the dynamic object representation; and

simultaneously outputting the base image and the overlay image within the visual segment.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the instrumentation data is further associated with a camera device and includes information associated with at least one of a camera position, a camera zoom, a camera pan, a camera tilt, and a camera field-of-view.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the instrumentation data further comprises performance instrumentation data associated with one or more physical parameters of the real event.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the performance instrumentation data is associated with a participant in the real event.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising tracking a location of the visual segment within the base image using the instrumentation data.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the visual segment is defined by a moving surface.

7. The method according to claim 6 further comprising updating the visual segment by utilizing the updated key color value.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising identifying an updated key color value for a key color value from a color distribution of the visual segment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay image is one of an advertisement, a scoreboard, and a logo.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the characterizing data further includes data indicating a force on the object.

11. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a depth map for the base image, the depth map illustrating a layer representation of the dynamic object in the base image; and

pre-segmenting the visual segment to identify the dynamic object in the received base image using depth map.

12. An apparatus comprising:

means for capturing a base image of a real event, the base image comprises a representation of a dynamic object that is moving relative to a multi-chromatic background in the real event;

means for capturing and broadcasting instrumentation data associated with the real event by the data acquisition system, the instrumentation data comprises global positioning data characterizing the dynamic object location in the real event, wherein means for capturing and broadcasting the instrumentation data includes a sensor;

means for identifying a visual segment within the base image by utilizing received global positioning data, wherein the visual segment is part of the base image, excludes an entire area of the base image occupied by the dynamic object representation, is smaller than a size of the base image, and includes a part of the multi-chromatic background;

means for rendering an overlay image within the visual segment, wherein the overlay image is behind the dynamic object representation; and

means for simultaneously outputting the base image and the overlay image within the visual segment.

13. The system according to claim 12 wherein the instrumentation data is further associated with a camera device and includes one of a camera position, a camera zoom, a camera pan, a camera tilt, and a camera field-of-view.

14. The system according to claim 12 wherein the instrumentation data is associated with a participant in the real event.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the overlay image is one of an advertisement, a scoreboard, and a logo.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the characterizing data further includes data indicating a force on the object.

17. A computerized method comprising:

receiving, by a data acquisition system, a base image of a real event and instrumentation data associated with the real event, wherein the base image comprises a representation of a dynamic object that is moving relative to a multi-chromatic background in the real event, the instrumentation data comprises global positioning data characterizing the dynamic object location in the real event, and the base image and the instrumentation data are concurrently captured;

identifying a visual segment within the received base image using the received global positioning data, wherein the visual segment is part of the base image, excludes an entire area of the base image occupied by the dynamic object representation, is smaller than a size of the base image, and includes a part of the multi-chromatic background;

rendering an overlay image within the visual segment, wherein the overlay image is behind the dynamic object representation; and

simultaneously outputting the base image and the overlay image within the visual segment.