GB2382033A

GB2382033A - A sports analysis system intended for use in a betting game

Info

Publication number: GB2382033A
Application number: GB0117319A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Samantha Bhalla; Russell Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-07-16
Filing date: 2001-07-16
Publication date: 2003-05-21
Also published as: GB0117319D0

Abstract

Method or apparatus that provides a system which is envisaged for use for betting on competitive games comprising means for defining a plurality of game areas, means for associating each game area with a corresponding playing area of a playing field, means for storing game participant information linking a participant with a game area, means for determining a game area in which an event has occurred and means for identifying the game participant associated with the determined game area. The system may be used for betting on football, hockey, ice hockey, basketball, American football, Australian rules football, cricket or baseball. A participant of the game bets on the likelihood of an event occurring in a specific area of the playing field 5 the location of the event in question may be monitored by cameras 4.

Description

GAMES APPARATUS This invention relates to games apparatus which enables a participant to have an involvement in a sporting activity, in particular, but not exclusively, a team game such as football.

In one aspect the present invention provides games apparatus having means for defining a grid of areas each corresponding to an area of an actual playing field or arena, means for associating a subscriber or participant with an area or areas selected by the subscriber or participant, means for determining the grid area or areas in which a particular event has occurred during the playing of a game on the playing field or in the playing arena and means for identifying the subscriber associated with that area.

In an embodiment, the means for determining the grid area in which a certain event takes place comprises means for identifying the location of a ball or other playing implement such as a puck, shuttlecock or the like relative to the areas defined by the grid.

In an embodiment, the means for identifying the location of the ball or playing implement comprises means for receiving video footage of at least a portion of the game from at least two cameras having different viewing angles and means for processing the received video footage to determine the location of the ball or playing implement.

In an embodiment, the means for processing the video footage comprises means for enabling a user or operator to identify the location of the ball or other playing implement within a frame of the video footage for the at least two different camera viewing angles.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a block diagram of apparatus embodying the present invention; Figure 2 shows very diagrammatically and in plan view an illustration of a soccer pitch or field to show the location of cameras of the apparatus shown in Figure 1 around the field;

Figure 3 shows a block diagram illustrating in greater detail a game controller and camera controller shown in Figure 1 wherein the game controller comprises computing apparatus; Figure 4 shows a block diagram illustrating functional components provided by the computing apparatus shown in Figure 3 when programmed to provide the game controller shown in Figure 1; Figure 5 shows a block diagram illustrating functional components of a video retriever shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 shows a block diagram illustrating functional components of a location determiner shown in Figure 4; Figure 7 shows a block diagram illustrating functional components of a results determiner shown in Figure 4; Figure 8 shows diagrammatically a data base or data store provided by the game controller; Figure 9 shows a diagram illustrating an example of a grid suitable for use with apparatus embodying the present invention;

Figures 10 to 15 shows flow charts for illustrating steps carried out by apparatus embodying the present invention to identify a grid square from which a ball was struck towards a goal; Figures 16 and 17 are diagrams for explaining how location data may be obtained from images taken by cameras having different viewing angles; Figures 18 and 19 are flow charts for illustrating further steps carried out by apparatus embodying the present invention to identify a winning subscriber or better and to determine the amount that the subscriber or better has won; Figures 20 to 25 show screens that may be displayed to an operator of the game controller; and Figure 26 shows a diagram to illustrate different ways in which a subscriber or better may stake a claim or bet on a particular event occurring in a particular area of a playing field or arena.

Referring now to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a block diagram of games apparatus embodying the invention. As

shown, the apparatus comprises a game controller 2, a camera controller 3 and a number in the example 8, of digital video cameras 4 of the type generally used by TV companies for videoing outdoor broadcasts such as sporting events.

Figure 2 shows a very schematic diagram of a playing field or arena 5 to illustrate the distribution or location of the cameras 4 around the playing field 5. In the example shown, the playing field 5 is a soccer pitch having, as is well known, a center area C, penalty areas PA, goal areas GA and goal nets GN.

The cameras 4 are mounted at precisely defined fixed locations around the playing field 5 so that each part of the playing field is within the viewing angle VA of at least two of the cameras 4. In addition, precisely positioned markers P are provided on the playing field 5. As shown these are provided at the corners of the playing field and may be associated with the corner flags (not shown).

The game controller 2 is, as shown in Figure 3, implemented as computing apparatus comprising a processor 10, memory 11 in the form of ROM and/or RAM, a mass

storage device such as a hard disk drive or a number of hard disk drives 12, a communications interface 13 for communicating with other computing apparatus for example over a network such as the Internet, a display 14 such as a CRT or LCD display, a user interface 15 comprising a keyboard 15a and a pointing device such as a mouse 15b.

As shown, the computing apparatus also has a removable disk disk drive (RDD) 16 for receiving a removable disk (RD) 17. The removable disk disk drive may be, for example, a CD ROM, DVD or floppy disk drive or any combination of these.

The computing apparatus 2 is programmed by processor implementable instructions and/or data to provide the game controller 2. The program instructions and/or data may be downloaded into the memory 11 or hard disk 12 from a removable disk 17 inserted into the removable disk disk drive 16 may be supplied as a signal S via the communications interface 13 or may be prestored in the memory 11 or may be provided by any combination of these.

In this embodiment, the camera controller 3 comprises a camera control 17 for controlling operation of the cameras 4 and a video receiver 18 for receiving video data from the cameras 4. The camera controller 3 may also

be provided by computing apparatus specifically adapted for video processing and programmed in the same manner as the computing apparatus 200.

Figure 4 shows a block diagram illustrating basic functional components provided by the computing apparatus 200 when programmed to provide the game controller 2. As shown, the game controller comprises a video retriever 20 which receives video data from the camera controller 3, a location determiner 30 for determining, as will be described below, the location of a ball on the playing field 5 shown in Figure 2 and a results determiner 40 for determining as will be described in greater detail below, a winning subscriber or better and the amount of their winnings in accordance with the location determined by the location determiner 30.

Figures 5 to 7 show functional elements of the video retriever 20, location determiner 30 and results determiner 40, respectively, while Figure 8 shows very diagrammatically the different types of data stored by a data store 60 of the computing apparatus 200. This data store 60 is provided on the mass storage device.

As shown in Figure 5, the video retriever 20 comprises a user input receiver 23 for receiving instructions from an operator of the game controller 2, a video data retriever 21 for retrieving video data from a video data store 65 of the data store 60 and a video data displayer 22 for causing the display 14 to display the retrieved video data to the operator in known manner.

As shown in Figure 6, the location determiner 30 consists of a pixel path determiner 31 for determining, as will be described in detail below, a pixel path defined by the operator in a displayed frame of video data, a center determiner 32 for determining from the pixel path a center of the ball and a coordinate determiner 33 for determining, on the basis of center data obtained from a plurality of different images taken by cameras at different viewing angles, the coordinates of the center of the ball relative to areas of the field 5 using the determining center data and camera data stored in a camera data store 66 of the data store 60.

Figure 7 shows a functional block diagram of the results determiner 40 which consists of a grid square identifier 41 that accesses grid data stored in a grid data store 61. This grid data defines a virtual map of the playing

field or area 5 and divides the playing field or area 5 into a, in this example, rectangular grid of grid areas. Figure 9 shows a diagram illustrating one example of such a grid 300.

As can be seen from Figure 9, the playing field 5 is divided into 60 rows labelled 1 to 60 and 38 columns labelled A to Z and AA to AN so providing a total of 2280 grid squares 301. The grid data store 61 stores the grid data as array of data points defining the corners of each grid square 301 relative to one of the precisely defined positions on the pitch, the position P' (Figure 2). Each grid square 301 shown in Figure 9 is associated with odds or weighting data that is stored in an odds data store 62 of the data store 60 so that each grid square is associated with a particular value that determines a subscriber or better's winnings should the event upon which he is staking his money occur in his or her selected grid square.

As shown in Figure 9, the grid 300 representing the playing field 5 is divided into 11 weightings regions Al to All with the weighting value being the same for all grid squares within a particular weighting region.

Weightings regions Al and A10 represent the goal areas GA, weightings regions A2 and A9 representing the penalty areas PA, weightings regions A3, A4 and A5 represent regions of the playing field increasingly more distant from the penalty area PA in one half of the playing field while weightings regions A8, A7 and A6 represent the corresponding areas in the other half of the playing field. Region All represents, in this case, four grid squares at the center of the playing field having their own weighting.

The actual weighting for the different regions Al to All is determined in accordance with the likelihood of the event on which a subscriber or better is staking a claim or betting occurring in a grid area within that region. In this example, the event is the last contact between a player and the ball before the ball enters the goal, that is the location from which the goal was struck.

It will be appreciated that in this case each of the regions Al to A10 is associated with a first weighting relating to the likelihood of a goal being scored in the goal 302 at one end of the playing field by a player striking the ball in that region and a second weighting relating to the likelihood of a goal being scored at the

other end 303 of the playing field by a player striking the ball in that region with the weighting for regions closer to the goal into which the goal is scored being lower than for regions further away from the goal so that the winnings will be greater when a goal is scored from a region from which goal scoring is unlikely than for a region from which goal scoring is likely.

Accordingly, the weightings will be lower for the penalty and goal areas Al, A2 or A9 and A10 immediately adjacent the goal in which the goal was scored than other areas because the likelihood of a goal being scored from these areas is, in practice, higher.

The results determiner 40 also includes a subscriber/better determiner 42 which accesses a bets data store 63 and a subscriber data store 64 (Figure 8) which include information identifying betters and subscribers, respectively, and associating with their identities the grid square or squares in which they have staked a claim or bet upon.

The subscriber determiner 42 determines from the data accessed from the bets data store 63 and subscriber data store 64 the identity of the subscriber (s) and/or

better (s) associated with the grid square in which the ball is determined by the location determiner 30 to be located when last struck by a player before a goal and passes this information to a winnings determiner 43 which accesses the odds data base 62 to determine the winnings payable of the identified subscriber (s) and/or better (s).

As will be evident from the above, there are two main ways in which a person may participate in the game. One is as a subscriber and the other is as a better. Where a person wishes to participate as a subscriber, then the person purchases rights to one or more grid areas 301 corresponding to areas of the playing field 5 for a fixed period of time. This period of time may be, for example, an entire football season or may be a limited number of games. The amount paid by the person to purchase rights so that he"owns" (alone or possibly with other subscribers) a grid area corresponding to an area of the playing field will be determined by the weightings region Al to All within which the grid area or areas selected by the subscriber is located with the price being higher for grid areas from which players are more likely to score goals than for areas from which they are less likely to score goals.

A subscriber is thus a person who purchases the rights to "own"or"part own"a grid area corresponding to an area of the playing for a predefined period of time. The subscriber thus can be said to own a virtual area of the playing field.

In contrast, a better is a person who places money or a bet on the likelihood of a goal being scored from a particular goal area on a match by match basis so that, for example, a better may bet only on a single match or on one or more matches and has no virtual rights in any areas of the playing field. It will, of course, be appreciated that the odds or winnings for betters may be different than for subscribers.

Selection of the grid areas that a subscriber wishes to own or that a better wishes to bet upon is effected in the same way. Thus, the subscriber or better, as the case may be, is presented with a representation of the grid as shown in Figure 9 with the different weightings or odds regions Al to All distinguished from another, by being shown in different colours, for example, together with details of the odds available for each of those regions.

When a subscriber selects the grid area or grid areas which he wishes to"own", then information identifying the subscriber is entered into the subscriber data base 64 together with information associating that subscriber identity with the selected grid area or areas.

Similarly, when a better places a bet upon a particular grid area or areas information identifying the better and his selected grid area or grid areas is stored in the bet data store 63. The only real difference between the data stored for the subscriber and the better is that the data for the better is held only for the duration of a single match.

In the example described so far, the subscriber or better selects his or her grid area or areas on a physical representation of the grid shown in Figure 9 and data identifying the selected grid area or areas and the subscriber or betters identity is entered into the subscriber data or bets data store 64 or 63 as the case may be by the operator of the game controller 2. operation of the games apparatus will now be described with the assistance of Figures 10 to 26.

In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the location of the cameras 4 has been precisely determined and that this camera position information together with camera characteristic information (viewing angle and focal length) is pre-stored in a camera data store 66 of the data store 60. It will, of course, be appreciated that the camera positions and camera characteristics data will be checked periodically and any necessary corrections made to ensure that the data stored is precise and accurate.

Just before the start of a game, the operator of the game controller 2 causes the game controller 2 to instruct the camera controller 3 to synchronize operation of the cameras 4 at step Sl in Figure 10 to ensure that all of the cameras 4 acquire frames of video data at the same time so that each camera 4 provides a stream of video data frames with each successive frame in each stream of video data frames representing a specific time instant during the game or match.

At step S2 the video receiver 18 of the camera controller 3 receives the video data streams from the cameras 4 and passes the video data to the game controller 2. The video data streams may be received in parallel and may be

multiplexed by the video receiver 18 for supply to the game controller. Video data received by the game controller 2 is stored in the video data store 65 of the data store 60 so that each frame of video data from each camera is associated with a time value indicating the time into the game at which the frame was captured.

At the end of the game, the operator of the game controller 2 causes the camera controller 3 to deactivate the cameras 4. At this stage, video data from each of the cameras 4 is stored for the entirety of the game with each frame of data with each camera being referenced to a specific time.

The operator then uses the user interface 15 to identify within the stored video data the frame (that is time) at which the location of the ball needs to be determined. In the present case, these frames will be the frames that show the last player to strike the ball before a goal was scored, that is the person to whom the goal is attributed. In order to do this, the game controller 2 displays on the display 14 a camera selection screen enabling the operator to select the video data from one of the, in this example, eight cameras. Figure 20 shows an example of a display screen 51 that may be displayed

to the operator. This display screen shows a representation 5'of the field and representations 4'of the cameras. In this case, the operator selects the camera by, for example, double clicking on the representation 4'of the camera shown on the display screen.

Once the operator has selected a camera, then the game controller 2 displays a second display screen on the display 14 requesting the operator to either initiate playing of the video data stream from the selected camera from the beginning or, if the operator has a rough idea of the location within the video screen at which a goal occurred, to enter a frame number or time into the game for which the operator wishes to commence viewing the video data stream.

Figure 21 shows an example of a typical display screen 60 which has a display window 61 for displaying video data, windows 54 and 55 for enabling the operator to enter a selected frame number or time using the keyboard, an OK button 66, a control bar 62 consisting of STOP 62d, PLAY 62c, FRAME FORWARD 62b, FAST FORWARD 62a, FRAME REVERSE 62f, FAST REVERSE 62g and PAUSE 62e buttons enabling the operator to scroll through the selected video data using

the pointing device 15b. When the operator clicks on the OK button 56 after entering a frame number or time in the window 54 or 55 or clicks on the play button 62c, then, at step S3 in Figure 11, the user input receiver 23 receives this request from the operator for video data and at step S4 the video data retriever 21 retrieves the requested video data from the video data store 65 and at step S5 the video data displayer 22 causes the first frame of the requested video data to be displayed in the display window 61. The operator can then move through or watches the selected video data using the control bar 62 buttons. As he does this the frame number of the currently displayed frame and the time into the game of that frame are displayed in windows 63 and 64.

When the operator has identified the frame that he is looking for, that is the frame in which a player last struck (kicked or headed in the case of football) the ball before a goal was scored, then the operator can pause the playing of the video to enable him to identify the frame number for the displayed frame and click on the OK button 66.

When the operator does this, then a further display screen is displayed to the operator prompting him to

identify the periphery of the ball within the frame.

Figure 22 shows an example of a typical display screen 70 having a display window 71 for displaying the selected frame and carrying a message prompting the user to trace the periphery of the ball in the image. As shown in Figure 23, the display screen 70 may include a zoom button 75 having a drop down menu enabling the operator to, using the pointing device 15a in known manner, zoom into a selected portion of the frame to enable him or her to better view the periphery of the ball. The operator then traces the periphery of the ball in the image using the pointing device 15b. As the operator traces the periphery of the ball, the pixel path determiner 31 reads the position of the pointing device cursor on the display window 71, stores the pixel coordinates within the image at which the cursor is positioned and, in this embodiment, changes the colour or inverts the colour of the pixel so that the operator can see the path that he is tracing out.

When the operator has completed his tracing of the periphery of the ball, then the operator clicks on either a button 73 labelled YES or a button 74 labelled NO. If the operator is not happy with the trace periphery, then he may click on the NO button 74 causing the periphery to

be erased and returning to step S6 in Figure 12 enabling the operator to recommence tracing the periphery. If however, the operator is happy with the trace periphery then he can click on the YES button. When the answer at step S7 in Figure 12 is YES, that is the operator has confirmed that the pixel path is correct, then at step S38 in Figure 12 the pixel path determiner 31 stores the determined pixel path.

Then at step S9 in Figure 13 the center determiner 32 receives the pixel path data from the pixel path determiner 31 and at step 510 performs, in this embodiment, a conventional least squares fitting procedure to determine the circle that most closely fits the received pixel path data. Then at step Sll, the center determiner 32 sets the center of the fitted circle as the center of the ball in that frame and stores that information for that frame in a calculated data store 68 (Figure 8) so that it is associated with the camera data for the camera from which that frame was acquired.

Then, at $tep S12, the location determiner 30 determines whether image data from another camera is to be processed. If, the image data previously processed was the image data from a first one of the eight cameras then

the answer at step S12 will be YES and the processor 10 will display on the display 14 a further screen prompting the user to select another camera. Figure 23 shows an example of such a display screen 80 which is similar to that shown in Figure 20 but has the previously selected camera blacked out.

The steps described above with reference to Figures 12 and 13 and Figures 20 to 22 are then repeated for a selected second camera. Once this has been done, then the processor 10 prompts the user to either select a third camera or to request processing to determine the ball location. Figure 23 shows an example of a display screen 81 that may be displayed to the operator at this stage.

If the operator selects another camera by clicking on the displayed pictorial representation 4'of a camera that is not blacked out, then the steps shown in Figures 12 and 13 and Figures 20 to 23 are again repeated. When however, the user selects processing of the acquired data to determine the location of the ball by, for example, double clicking on the process button 82 shown in the display screen 81, then, at step S13 in Figure 14, the coordinate determiner 33 retrieves the sets of center data and associated camera data from the calculated data and camera data stores 68 and 66 of the data store 60 and

at step S14 calculates using the retrieved sets of center data and associated camera data the coordinates of the ball center.

The principles underlining obtaining the actual coordinates of the ball center from the center data for the various images will now be briefly explained.

Figure 16 shows a ray diagram to illustrate the geometric principles behind derivation of depth information from images produced by two cameras having converging fields of view. In Figure 16, the cameras are represented by their respective lenses LL and LR and their imaging planes dL and d and both have a focal length F. As shown, the point whose depth is to be determined is point Po which is imaged at PL and PR respectively, by the two cameras. The angle Op and radius r of the point Po from a point CA on a center line 1 bisecting the line C between the centres of the two lenses where the two

camera axis intersect can be calculated as follows :

, e = tan '/.

E) R taii I.

8R = tan le . 1 = 90-+0 L 2 2 A B=90-- : te 2 R ('= 190- ( + ) e A c = 1) sin 2

By sine rule :

c sin. 4 sin (' suc

By cosine rule :

h = 2 - : 2 oh cas

By Pythagoras :

; c ? I i 2 D- 2

By cosine rule :

2 1 : 2 ; c c d = Ib2 ±2b-cos A 2 2

Radius from intersection CA of camera axis :

r = \ +D - 2hf) cosA

Angle from centre line L, by cosine rule :

')')') -]/ t - dE) = cos p ?/r

Angle from reference line RL :

If. < B, 0 =- (0 + 90) else 8 = 8 - 90 s s

In the present case there are more than two pairs of cameras and the reference lines for different pairs of cameras will be rotated relative to one another. In order to combine the results from images produced by different pairs of cameras, this rotational difference must be removed. In order to do this, a base camera pair is

chosen and the results modified in accordance with :

(E) = 6 + (E) s v y v

Where 8v is the angle between the center lines 1 of the base pair and the second pair as shown in Figures 17.

The angle and radius have thus been determined relative to an axis of rotation of the scene. In order to convert these coordinates to x, y, z coordinates, an origin may be defined on the axis of rotation where the epipolar intersecting raster scan line zero for all cameras intersects this axis so that all points from raster scan line zero will be located on a plane y=o in the camera reference frame and coordinates from raster line n in the

plane y=n so that the x and z coordinates are calculated relative to the bas camera pairs reference line RL as :

x = rcose y = 8

It can thus be seen that the position of an object Po can be determined by identifying the location of the object in two or pore images taken by cameras having converging fields of view. The location of the object Po in the camera reference frame may be converted to a world frame, that is to the coordinate system of the actual playing field, by using the information stored in the camera data store giving the precise positions within the world frame of the cameras using the reference points P shown in Figure 2. The actual location of the center of the ball in the world frame may thus be determined and referenced to the grid using the grid data stored in the grid data store 61.

For the purposes of determining the location of the ball relative to the grid, it is the projection of the position of the ball onto the grid that is important, that is for the purposes of determining the location of the ball relative to the grid, information relating to the height of the ball above the playing field can be

ignored. This is, in effect, equivalent to considering the grid as consisting of right parallelopipeds extending indefinitely upwards from the playing field or projecting the ball perpendicularly down onto the playing field as represented by the grid.

The video image footage produced by the different cameras can be used to produce a three dimensional computer model reconstruction of at least the portion of the game from when a player last touched the ball until the goal was scored onto which the grid can be superimposed so that the operator can visually confirm the location of the ball relative to the grid. Various techniques are known for generating 3D models from such image data and reference may be made to, for example, US-A-5714997, WO 99/65223, WO 96/31047, US-A-5363297 and EP-A-0903695 the whole contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

Figure 25 shows schematically a display screen 82 that may be displayed to the operator to enable viewing of the 3D model representation of the portion of the game during which a goal was scored. Like the screen 60 shown in Figure 22, this display provides a control button bar 62 enabling the operator to play, pause, stop, move a frame

at a time and move quickly forward and backwards through the 3D computer model. The thus generated 3D computer model sequence may also be displayed to the subscribers and/or betters on, for example, a public viewing screen so that the subscriber or better can check whether the ball was last touched near their grid square.

Once the location of the ball relative to the grid when it is was last touched by a player before scoring of a goal has been identified then, at step S20 in Figure 18, the subscriber/better determiner 42 accesses the subscriber and bets data stores 63 and 64 to identify any subscriber and any better associated with the identified grid square and at step S21 sets the identified subscriber and/or better as the winner subscriber/better and advises the game operator accordingly by, for example, displaying a display screen giving the identity of the winner subscriber and/or better.

It is, of course, possible that the location of the ball when last touched by a player lies on a boundary between two grid squares or at the intersection of four grid squares. If this occurs, then the two grid squares bounding the location of the ball or the four grid squares at the intersection at which the ball is located

will be considered as winner grid squares and the subscribers and/or betters associated with those grid squares will be identified.

Then at step S22 in Figure 19, the winnings determiner 43 determines from the odds data store 62 the odds associated with the identified grid square or grid squares and at step S24 checks whether two or more grid squares were identified. If the answer is YES then the winnings determiner 43 weights the odds in accordance with the number of identified grid squares at step S23 to, for example, divide the winnings equally between the number of identified grid squares and then, at step S25, determines the winnings amount in accordance with the weighted or unweighted odds and advises the games operator accordingly.

Generally each grid square will be allocated to only one subscriber although more than one person may bet on a given grid square. As is well known in the bettings field, the odds obtainable by betters may be modified in accordance with the number of people betting on a particular grid square with the odds being advised to the better before the better bets on the grid square.

As mentioned above, a 3D computer model simulation of the game play from the moment just before the last player touched the ball to the scoring of the goal overlain by the grid may be generated and displayed to the games operator and/or to subscribers and/or betters on the display screen 82. Once the location determiner 30 has determined the grid square at which the ball was located when last touched by a player, then the identification of this grid square may be displayed or flashed up on the display screen 82. If desired, the identity of the subscriber"owning"that square may also be displayed on the screen.

The description so far assumes that the subscriber and/or betters are physically located at the location of the game controller 2. This need not necessarily be the case and, as illustrated schematically in Figure 26, a subscriber may connect to the games controller 2 via a network N such as the Internet using his computer 90 which may have a structure similar to that shown in Figure 2 for the computing apparatus 200 and a conventional web browser. As another possibility, as also shown schematically in Figure 26, a subscriber's computer may coupled to the games controller not directly over a network N but via an intermediary 91. The intermediary

91 may be, for example, a web site maintained by a football club or football association so that the club or football association may encourage interest in their particular club or the association by encouraging fans to become subscribers"owning"areas of the playing field for the duration of a season, enabling generation of income for the football club or association and encouraging involvement in the club or association by the fans.

As another possibility or additionally, the intermediary 91 may be the web site of a betting company enabling, for example, access to the game via conventional betting outlets or over a web site maintained by the betting company.

In the above described embodiment, the event on which a subscriber or better stakes money is the possibility of the last contact of the ball with a player before scoring of a goal occurring in their grid square. The present invention may be applied to other events occurring within a game of football so that the subscriber or better can stake a claim or bet upon the possibility of, for example, a foul, throwing, free kick, drop ball, yellow

or red card for example, a penalty kick etc occurring in their square.

The present invention may also be applied to other goal scoring team games such as, for example, hockey, ice hockey, basketball, US football, Australian rule football and so on and may also be applied to, for example, tennis where subscribers or betters may stake claims or bets on the position on the court at which the ball lands when a point is won and also to games such as cricket or baseball where, for example, the subscriber/better may stake a claim or bet on the area of the pitch at which the ball is caught, for example.

In the above described embodiment, an operator at the game controller 2 identifies the location of the ball in the relevant frames of video from the cameras. It may, however, be possible to automate identification of the ball especially if the ball can be made to stand out clearly from the remainder of the playing field and the players by, for example, ensuring that the colour of the ball is unique on the playing field and using voxel colouring techniques described in, for example, a paper entitled"Photorealistic Scene Reconstruction"by Voxel Coloring by Steven M Seitz and Charles R Dyer published

in the Conferences Proceedings: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 1997 pages 1067-1073 June 1997.

Where such automatic identification of the ball or other playing piece (puck, shuttlecock etc) is used, then the apparatus may display the identified position of the ball to a games operator before a final decision is made so that the operator can ensure that, especially where the ball may be partially obscured in some images, the game controller has correctly identified the position of the ball.

In the above described embodiments, an optical system is used to identify the location of the ball or other playing piece or implement. Where it is possible to modify the ball or playing piece, then other techniques may be used to identify the location of the ball or playing piece. For example, if the ball can be modified by applying reflective material to the ball, then radar location/tracking systems may be used. In addition, if it is possible to incorporate a transmitter into the ball that enables its location to be detected, then this may be used to determine the position of the ball.

In the above described embodiments, the subscribers or betters stake a claim or bet on a location of the playing

piece or ball. It may also be possible for a subscriber or better to stake a claim or bet upon the location of a particular player, for example on the possibility of a particular player in a game of football scoring from their grid area.

It will be appreciated that the above described embodiment$ illustrate one way in which the present invention may be implemented and that the game controller 2 need not necessarily be separated into the individual functional modules shown in Figures 5 to 7 or may be separated into different functional modules and that the data store 60 need not necessarily have separate data stores for the different types of data. Furthermore, each grid area may be associated with a winning sum rather than with odds or weightings. Also the winnings may be cash equivalents, for example, free match passes.

In the above described embodiment, the game controller 2 is located at the ground where the game takes place. This need not necessarily be the case and, for example, the video feeds from the cameras 4 may be supplied by the camera controller to the game controller over a link which may comprise a fixed capable or a network link even

for example the Internet so that the game controller need not be physically located at the game.

In the above described embodiments, the grid of grid squares or game areas is virtual but the playing field is real. However, the playing field itself may be a computer simulator.

Other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A games apparatus comprising: game area defining means for defining a plurality of game areas; associating means for associating each game area with a corresponding playing area of a playing field or arena; game participant information storing means for storing information linking a games participant with a game area; determining means for determining the game area corresponding to a playing area in which a particular event occurred on the playing field or in the playing arena; and game participant identifying means for identifying from the game participant information storing means the game participant or participants linked to the determined game area.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the game area defining means is arranged to define the game areas as a grid of game areas.

<Desc/Clms Page number 37>
3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the game area defining means is arranged to define the plurality of game areas as a rectangular grid of game areas.
4. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the determining means comprises processing means for determining the location of a playing component on the playing field or in the playing arena to determine the playing area in which the particular event occurred.
5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processing means comprises: image receiving means for receiving frames of image data from a plurality of image sensors located at different positions around the playing field or arena; identifying means for identifying the position of the playing component in corresponding frames from different ones of said plurality of sensors; and calculating means for calculating from the identified positions in corresponding frames of the playing component information regarding the position of the sensors, the actual location of the playing component on the playing field at which the particular event occurred.

<Desc/Clms Page number 38>
6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image sensors comprise video cameras.
7. Apparatus according to claim 5 or 6, further comprising storing means for storing sensor position information.
8. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the identifying means comprises: displaying means for displaying a frame of image data to the user; and receiving means for receiving user input identifying in a displayed frame part of the playing component; and detecting means for detecting the location of the playing component in the frame on the basis of the information received from the user input.
9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the user input receiving means is operable to determine the position on the display of a cursor moveable by the user.
10. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the identifying means is operable to identify a periphery or part of a periphery of the playing component traced by the user by moving the cursor.

<Desc/Clms Page number 39>
11. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the determining means is operable to detect as the playing component a ball or similar playing element.
12. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the determining means is operable to determine the game area corresponding to a playing area in which a ball or similar playing piece was last struck by a player before a goal was scored on the playing field or in the playing arena.
13. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the game participant information storing means comprises subscriber data storing means for storing information linking a games participant with a game area for a predetermined period of time such as a number of matches or a playing season.
14. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the game participant information storing means comprises bets data storing means for storing bets made by games participants for a particular match to be played on the playing area or arena as to the game area in which the particular event will occur on the playing field or arena.

<Desc/Clms Page number 40>
15. A method of enabling playing of a game, which method comprises causing processor means to carry out the steps of : associating each of a plurality of game areas with a corresponding playing area of a playing field or arena; storing information linking a games participant with a game area; determining the game area corresponding to a playing area in which a particular event occurred on the playing field or in the playing arena; and identifying from the game participant information storing means the game participant or participants linked to the determined game area.
16. A method according to claim 15, which comprises causing the processor means to define the game areas as a grid of game areas.
17. A method according to claim 15, which comprises causing the processor means to define the plurality of game areas as a rectangular grid of game areas.
18. A method according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein the determining step comprises determining the location of a playing component on the playing field or

<Desc/Clms Page number 41>

in the playing arena to determine the playing area in which the particular event occurred.
19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the determining step comprises the steps of: receiving frames of image data from a plurality of image sensors located at different positions around the playing field or arena; identifying the position of the playing component in corresponding frames from different ones of said plurality of sensors; and calculating from the identified positions in corresponding frames of the playing component and information regarding the position of the sensors, the actual location of the playing component on the playing field at which the particular event occurred.
20. A method according to claim 19, wherein the image sensors comprise video cameras.
21. A method according to claim 19 or 20, further comprising storing sensor position information.
22. A method according to any one of claims 19 to 21, wherein the identifying step comprises the steps of:

<Desc/Clms Page number 42>

displaying a frame of image data to the user; receiving user input identifying in a displayed frame part of the playing component; and detecting the location of the playing component in the frame on the basis of the information received from the user input.
23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the user input receiving step determines the position on the display of a cursor moveable by the user.
24. A method according to claim 22, wherein the identifying step identifies a periphery or part of a periphery of the playing component traced by the user by moving the cursor.
25. A method according to any one of claims 15 to 24, wherein the determining step detects as the playing component a ball or similar playing element.
26. A method according to any one of claims 15 to 25, wherein the determining step determines the game area corresponding to a playing area in which a ball or similar playing piece was last struck by a player before

<Desc/Clms Page number 43>

a goal was scored on the playing field or in the playing arena.
27. A method according to any one of claims 15 to 26, wherein the game participant information storing step comprises storing information linking a games participant with a game area for a predetermined period of time such as a number of matches or a playing season.
28. A method according to any one of claims 15 to 27, wherein the game participant information storing step comprises storing bets made by games participants for a particular match to be played on the playing area or arena as to the game area in which the particular event will occur on the playing field or arena.
29. A computer program product comprising processor implementable instructions for causing processor means to implement a method in accordance with any one of claims 15 to 28.
30. A storage medium carrying a computer program product in accordance with claim 29.

<Desc/Clms Page number 44>
31. A signal carrying a computer program product in accordance with claim 29.