Sportvision, Inc.

Fox Sports Productions, LLC

Etak, Inc.

Sportsvision, Inc.

Stanley K Honey

Richard H Cavallaro

Marvin S White

James R Gloudemans

Kenneth Alan Milnes

Jerry Neil Gepner

Alan C Phillips

Walter Hsiao

David Blyth Hill

Terence J O'Brien

Fred Judson Heinzmann

Kevin R Meier

Timothy P Heidmann

James Orville McGuffin

Patrick Wade Olsen

Alan Alexander Burns

Philip C Evans

Edward Gerald Goren

Charles Lawrence Rino

William F Squadron

Harold Guthart

Walter B Zavoli

Matthew T Lazar

George E Loughmiller, Jr

Andrew G Setos

Patrick C Fenton

Stuart K Neubarth

Roberto J Peon

John Roy Borton

Thomas John Ford

James L Buxton

Rand Pendleton

Nicholas R Kalayjian

Marvin S White, Jr

James O Mcguffin

An automated system is configured to enhance live video in real time by adding virtual graphics to imagery obtained from a moving camera, where the added virtual graphics can represent real yet not visible attributes such as wind speed and direction and non-real attributes such as lines indicative of racing advantages. The displayed positions of the virtual graphics are dependent on sensor measurements of the locations and/or attitudes in a real world 3D coordinate system of objects and of the movable camera The displayed positions of the virtual graphics are functions of corresponding locations in the real world 3D coordinate system.

System for enhancing video from a mobile camera

A telestrator system is disclosed that allows a broadcaster to annotate video during or after an event. For example, while televising a sporting event, an announcer (or other user) can use the present invention to draw over the video of the event to highlight one or more actions, features, etc. In one embodiment, when the announcer draws over the video, it appears that the announcer is drawing on the field or location of the event. Such an appearance can be performed by mapping the pixels location from the user's drawing to three dimensional locations at the event. Other embodiments include drawing on the video without obscuring persons and/or other specified objects, and/or smoothing the drawings in real time.

Telestrator system

Pan, tilt and zoom sensors are coupled to a broadcast camera in order to determine the field of view of the broadcast camera and to make a rough estimate of a target's location in the broadcast camera's field of view. Pattern recognition techniques can be used to determine the exact location of the target in the broadcast camera's field of view. If a preselected target is at least partially within the field of view of the broadcast camera, all or part of the target's image is enhanced. The enhancements include replacing the target image with a second image, overlaying the target image or highlighting the target image. Examples of a target include a billboard, a portion of a playing field or another location at a live event. The enhancements made to the target's image can be seen by the television viewer but are not visible to persons at the live event.

System for enhancing video

A system is disclosed for using camera attitude sensors with a camera. A camera assembly includes a tripod base, a tripod head interface mounted on the tripod base, a tripod head mounted on the tripod head interface and a camera mounted on the tripod head. The tripod head enables the camera to pan and tilt. The system also includes a first optical encoder for detecting the amount that the camera has been panned and a second optical encoder for detecting the amount that the camera has been tilted. Two inclinometers are mounted on the tripod head interface to measure attitude of the tripod head. Two gyroscopes ('gyros') are mounted on the camera assembly. Data from the encoders, gyros and inclinometers are packaged and sent to graphics production equipment to be used for enhancing video captured by the camera.

Measuring camera attitude

A system is disclosed for blending two image that makes use of a color map which indicates colors in a foreground can be mixed with the background and how much of each source to mix. One embodiment of the invention restricts the use of the color map to only pixels in the foreground that correspond to a graphic (or effect) in the background. Another embodiment makes use of a gray scale matte which stores blending values for each pixel in the foreground.

Video compositor

A system uses GPS receivers and other sensors to acquire data about one or more objects at an event. The data acquired by the GPS receivers and the sensors is used to determine various statistics about the objects and/or enhance a video presentation of the objects. In one embodiment, the acquired data is used to determine three dimensional positions of the objects, determine the positions of images of the objects in a video and enhance the video accordingly. One exemplar use of the present invention is with a system for tracking automobiles at a race. The system determines statistics about the automobiles and enhances a video presentation of the race.

GPS based tracking system

A track model is created for use with a GPS receiver. In one embodiment, the track model is a set of planar surfaces which approximate the contiguous surface on which navigation takes place. The GPS receiver searches for an appropriate planar surface associated with its approximate position. Having found the appropriate planar surface, the GPS receiver constrains its position using the planar surface associated with its approximate position. Using the track model improves the accuracy of the computed position at the time and improves the ambiguity estimation process so that positions with greatly improved accuracy are available sooner.

Track model constraint for GPS position

A system is disclosed that uses GPS and additional data to determine the location of an object. Typically, GPS receivers need valid data from four satellites to accurately determine a three dimensional location. If a GPS receiver is receiving valid data from fewer than four satellites, then additional data is used to compensate for the shortage of satellites in view of the GPS receiver. Examples of additional data includes a representation of the surface that the object is traveling on, an accurate clock, an odometer, dead reckoning information, pseudolite information, and error correction information from a differential reference receiver. An exemplar use of the disclosed system is to concurrently track a set of one or more automobiles during a race. The determined locations of the automobile can be used to provide route information, to generate statistics and/or to edit video of one or more of the automobiles.

Locating an object using GPS with additional data

A three-dimensional model is created to represent an environment to be captured on video. A camera is fitted with pan, tilt and/or zoom sensors. An operator selects a location in the environment. The three-dimensional model is used to determine the three-dimensional coordinates of the location selected by the operator. Information from the pan, tilt and/or zoom sensors is used to transform the three-dimensional coordinates to a two-dimensional position in the video from the camera. Using the two-dimensional position of the video, a graphic is properly added to the video such that the graphic appears to be at the selected location in the environment.

System for enhancing a video presentation of a live event

A system is disclosed that can be used to enhance a video of an event. Sensors are used at the event to acquire information. For example, the system can include pan, tilt and zoom sensors to acquire camera view information. This information can be added to the video signal from a camera (e.g. in the vertical blanking interval) or otherwise transmitted to a central studio. At the studio, the sensor information is used to enhance the video for broadcast. Example enhancements include drawing lines or other shapes in the video, adding advertisements to the video or adding other graphics to the video.

Enhancing a video of an event at a remote location using data acquired at the event

A system is disclosed that can determine the speed of a golf club or golf ball, and report that speed in a format suitable for use on a television broadcast, a radio broadcast, the Internet or another medium. In one embodiment, the system includes a set of radars pointed toward the golf ball. Data from the radars is collected and sent to a computer which can determine the speed of the club during a swing, the speed of the ball after being hit, the angle of the path of the ball and/or other related statistics.

System for determining information about a golf club and/or a golf ball

A system is disclosed that can determine the distance a baseball would have traveled after being hit if its path was not interrupted. Thus, when a player hits a home run and the ball collides with an obstruction such as the seating area of a stadium or a wall, the present invention can determine how far the ball would have traveled had the ball not hit the stadium or the wall. The present invention can also be used to determine information about the path of objects other than a baseball.

System for determining the end of a path for a moving object

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Stanley K Honey