System and method for real time insertion into video with occlusion on areas containing multiple colors

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product for real-time insertion of indicia (e.g., an advertisement) into a live (or taped) broadcast. Typically, the invention allow insertion with occlusion onto surfaces such as tennis courts, the wall behind home plate on a baseball field, the grass or turf on a soccer or football stadium, and the like. The occlusion processing described herein can handle multiple colors in the background image during the insertion of the indicia into a video image. The invention can thus adapt to changing light conditions in the video image. The process includes obtaining a video image from a camera. The video image is typically digitized. Next, the pixels within the video image are sampled. A plurality of background colors are then identified for the sampled pixels. An opacity value is then assigned to each pixel in the indicia based on whether the color of a positionally corresponding pixel in the video image is the same color as one of the plurality of background colors. Finally, pixels within the indicia are displayed in the video image if the color of the positionally corresponding pixel in the video image is the same color as one of the background colors and a pixel in the indicia is not displayed in the video image if the positionally corresponding pixel in the video image is not the same color of as one of the background colors.