Lucent Technologies Inc.

Sarma Vgk Pingali

Ingrid Birgitta Carlbom

Yves Darly Jean

Gary Wayne Elko

James Edward West

Vishvjit Singh Nalwa

Jakub Segen

Man Mohan Sondhi

Thomas A Funkhouser

Arthur Clifford Hart, Jr

Matthew A Kordys

A system and method for acoustic modeling partitions an input 3D spatial model into convex cells, and constructs a cell adjacency data structure representing the neighbor relationships between adjacent cells. For each sound source located in the spatial environment, convex pyramidal beams are traced through the input spatial model via recursive depth-first traversal of the cell-adjacency graph. During beam tracing, a beam tree data structure is constructed to encode propagation paths, which may include specular reflection, transmission, diffuse reflection, and diffraction events, from the source location to regions of the input spatial model. The beam tree data structure is then accessed for real-time computation and auralization of propagation paths to an arbitrary receiver location.

Acoustic modeling system and method using pre-computed data structures for beam tracing and path generation

A method and apparatus for tracking objects used in connection with athletic activities or sporting events, especially, balls, pucks, and the like. The method includes the steps of differencing present and previous frames of a video image including the, for example, ball to obtain motion regions, converting the motion regions to HSV color space, extracting the region corresponding to the ball based on empirical color data about the ball, obtaining a motion vector based on the motion of the ball region from a previous frame to the current frame, and updating the ball trajectory based on the newest motion vector obtained. The method also preferably includes a step of identifying completed trajectories based on preset constraints. The method is preferably expanded on by using at least one pair of cameras to provide a three-dimensional trajectory, and sometimes preferable expanded on by using a plurality of cameras, especially a plurality of pairs of cameras. An apparatus according to the present invention includes at least one camera connected to a computer which operates to difference previous and current frames, compute the ball track, convert ball regions to HSV color space and output the tracking and video information. In a case where one or more pairs of cameras are used, the computer is preferably also provided with a stereo matching device or module for matching the tracking results from respective cameras and/or respective pairs of cameras.

Method and apparatus for tracking position of a ball in real time

A method and apparatus for deriving an occupancy map reflecting an athlete's coverage of a playing area based on real time tracking of a sporting event. The method according to the present invention includes a step of obtaining a spatio-temporal trajectory corresponding to the motion of an athlete and based on real time tracking of the athlete. The trajectory is then mapped over the geometry of the playing area to determine a playing area occupancy map indicating the frequency with which the athlete occupies certain areas of the playing area, or the time spent by the athlete in certain areas of the playing area. The occupancy map is preferably color coded to indicate different levels of occupancy in different areas of the playing area, and the color coded map is then overlaid onto an image (such as a video image) of the playing area. The apparatus according to the present invention includes a device for obtaining the trajectory of an athlete, a computational device for obtaining the occupancy map based on the obtained trajectory and the geometry of the playing area, and devices for transforming the map the a camera view, generating a color (or other visually differentiable) coded version of the occupancy map, and overlaying the color coded map on a video image of the playing area. In particular, the spatio-temporal trajectory may be obtained by an operation on a video image of the sporting event, in which motion regions in the image are identified, and feature points on the regions are tracked as they move, thereby defining feature paths. The feature paths, in turn, are associated in clusters, which clusters generally correspond to the motion of some portion of the athlete (e.g., arms, legs, etc.). The collective plurality of clusters (i.e., the trajectory) corresponds with the motion of the athlete as a whole.

Method and apparatus for determination and visualization of player field

A process for determining at least one dynamic of a vehicle, particularly slip angle, during travel. The process involves optically monitoring, in real time and from the vehicle itself, the movement in one or more camera images of surface features as the vehicle passes over the surface. The direction in which the surface features are moving at any given time indicates the actual direction of vehicle movement with respect to the orientation of the optical monitoring equipment. From this actual direction of movement, in combination with the known orientation of the optical monitoring equipment and the direction in which the vehicle is being steered, it is possible to calculate the slip angle in real time.

Process for determining vehicle dynamics

A method for integrated audio-visual localizing and tracking of at least one object. The method includes the steps of capturing and transmitting an image of a video scene using a camera at an instant of time, identifying an object contained in the image having a preselected visual feature, and estimating a location of the object by determining an angular orientation relative to the image plane of the camera of an imaginary line extending from an optical center of the camera to a point on the image plane of the camera representing a portion of the object. The method further includes the steps of converting acoustic waves from an audio source into audio signals using at least two microphones at substantially the same time, identifying the audio source by determining a locus of points representing an estimate of the location of the audio source on the basis of the audio signals. An improved estimate of the location of the object is computed by determining the location of a region of intersection between the imaginary line and the locus.

Audio-visual object localization and tracking system and method therefor

A method and apparatus for tracking moving objects, such as people, in real time by grouping existing feature paths from a current video frame with preexisting clusters from current video frames. Grouping is accomplished by selecting, as a candidate cluster to a specified feature path, the cluster having the closest relative distance to the specified feature path. The relative distance is calculated according to a function having a first component and a second component. The first component is representative of a maximum displacement between the select feature path and the candidate cluster, and the second component is representative of the difference between velocity vectors defining the select feature path motion and velocity vectors defining the candidate cluster motion. The method and apparatus also provide for updating the candidate cluster with parameters obtained from the select feature path and for merging overlapping clusters.

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Basking Ridge, NJ, United States of America

Sarma Vgk Pingali