JP2006003965A - Image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

A viewer can easily recognize a desired racehorse or athlete on the screen by pointing a specific racehorse or athlete in the video displayed on the screen.
A camera control apparatus 101 acquires video data captured by a camera 100 and camera control information indicating a depression angle and a horizontal angle of the camera 100 and supplies the acquired camera control information to a PC 10. The PC 10 displays the video data supplied from the camera control unit 101 on the screen, recognizes the shooting direction of the camera based on the camera control information, and indicates which part of the stadium or racetrack the video data was shot. to decide. Next, the desired racehorse or athlete is recognized from the video data by image processing based on its color, shape, etc., and the video data is combined with a figure such as an arrow indicating the desired racehorse or athlete. Video data is created and the composite video data is displayed on the screen.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing system, and more particularly, to an image processing system that recognizes racehorses and athletes and displays detailed information thereof.

Conventionally, horse racing, soccer, baseball, bicycle racing, car racing, etc. are often watched on television. For example, in horse racing, the viewer visually determines from where the racehorse he is betting is running from the video displayed on the screen of the television. Similarly, in soccer, baseball, bicycle race, car race, etc., the viewer has visually judged from the video displayed on the screen where his / her competitor is now.
A system for controlling in-facility information provision processing related to competition for users who have visited a horse racing facility, comprising a mobile phone or a portable mobile device having a low-power / short-range wireless transmission / reception circuit unit Comprehensive center consisting of a terminal brought in by the facility, an in-facility information transmitting / receiving device that is installed in the facility and provides in-facility information by wireless communication with the terminal, and a host computer that is managed in advance by the operator of the competition facility Voting data collected from all racetracks to the general center and the latest in-house information including at least the tour guide / racetrack / odds are received and stored in the competition information database. Communicates with the facility information transmission device via the intranet, searches the database, and sends response data to the user's requirements. A terminal that the visitor possesses by receiving an information provision request from a user who has visited the competition facility from a variety of information related to the competition, and searching for desired information from a variety of information related to the competition that is transmitted to the communication device Some machines are designed to provide low-power, microwave wireless communication.
JP 2003-296492 A

As described above, in the background art, there is a problem that it is necessary for the viewer to visually check where the target athlete is, and it is sometimes difficult to know where the target racehorse or athlete is now. It was.
Further, in the invention of Patent Document 1, a request for providing information from a user who has visited a competition facility is retrieved from various information related to the competition, and desired information is searched. Although it can be provided by radio wave communication, there is a problem that a mark indicating a desired racehorse or athlete cannot be displayed on an image of a racetrack or stadium displayed on a television.
This invention is made | formed in view of such a condition, and enables it to display the detailed information regarding a desired racehorse or a player in competitions, such as a horse race and soccer.

The image processing system according to claim 1, a photographing means for photographing a part or all of an image of a stadium or a racetrack, a detecting means for detecting a photographing direction of the photographing means, and an image photographing operation by the photographing means; A time information acquisition unit that acquires time information in synchronization with a predetermined time interval, an image captured by the imaging unit, an imaging direction detected by the detection unit, and a time acquired by the time information acquisition unit are mutually connected. Storage means for storing in association, recognition means for recognizing a predetermined athlete or racehorse from an image taken by the photographing means, photographing direction of the photographing means detected by the detecting means, and an image photographed by the photographing means Based on the display position of the competitor or racehorse above, the position of the competitor in the image included in the image, or the position of the racehorse included in the image in the racetrack Characterized in that it comprises a calculating means calculating for.
In addition, it is possible to further include position storage means for storing the position calculated by the calculation means in association with the time information.
Moreover, the measuring means which measures the moving speed of an athlete or a racehorse, and the speed memory means which memorize | stores the moving speed measured by the measuring means can be further provided.
The image display device may further include display means for displaying an image, and mark display means for displaying a predetermined mark at a display position on the image of the athlete or racehorse recognized by the recognition means.

  According to the image processing system of the present invention, since a mark indicating a desired racehorse or athlete can be displayed on the image of a racetrack or stadium, where the target racehorse or athlete is now. Can be easily recognized.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an embodiment of a position display system of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the present embodiment controls a camera 100 that captures a racetrack 200, controls the camera 100, and supplies video data captured by the camera 100 to a personal computer (PC) 10 to be described later. The camera control device 101 detects the orientation of the camera 100 and supplies a depression angle representing the orientation and a rotation angle in the left-right direction to the PC 10.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the PC 10. As shown in the figure, the PC 10 includes a ROM 12 that stores an IPL (Initial Program Loader) and various control programs, and an OS (Operating System) that is stored in a storage device 20 that will be described later according to the IPL stored in the ROM 12. Is expanded in the RAM 13 and started, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 that executes various processes according to various application programs, and various data necessary for the CPU 11 to execute various processes are temporarily stored while the OS is expanded. Are connected to a bus 23 via an interface (I / F) 14 and are operated when inputting various data and commands, and via an interface (I / F) 16. To bus 23 Connected to the bus 23 via the interface 19, the display unit 17 for displaying various display data supplied from the CPU 11, the communication control unit 18 for controlling communication with the external device, and the interface 19. A storage device 20 that stores various data, an image processing unit 21 that performs image recognition processing and the like on video data stored in the storage device 20, a current date and time, and a current date And a clock circuit 22 that supplies time to the CPU 11 as time information.

  Next, a procedure for storing video data corresponding to a video shot by the camera 100 in the storage device 20 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. First, in step S <b> 1, under the control of the CPU 11, the communication control unit 18 receives video data supplied from the camera control device 101 and supplies it to the CPU 11 via the bus 23. Next, in step S <b> 2, the CPU 11 acquires time information corresponding to the current date and time measured by the clock circuit 22.

  Next, in step S3, the CPU 11 supplies the video data and time information to the storage device 20 via the interface 19, and stores each frame of the video data in association with the time information. In step S4, it is determined whether or not the end of the process has been instructed. If it is determined that the end of the process has not been instructed, the process returns to step S1 and the processes after step S1 are repeatedly executed. On the other hand, if it is determined that the end of the process has been instructed, the present process ends.

  Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4, a procedure for storing the depression angle of the camera 100, the angle in the left-right direction, and time information in the storage device 20 will be described. First, in step S <b> 11, the camera control apparatus 101 acquires the current depression angle of the camera 100. Next, in step S12, the current left-right angle of the camera 100 is acquired. The acquired depression angle and left-right direction angle are supplied to the PC 10 as camera control information.

  When the CPU 11 of the PC 10 receives the camera control information indicating the depression angle and the horizontal angle of the camera 100 supplied from the camera control unit 101 via the communication control unit 18, in step S <b> 13, the current date from the clock circuit 22. Time information including date and time is acquired, and camera control information and time information are supplied to the storage device 20 in step S14. The storage device 20 stores the camera control information and time information supplied from the CPU 11 in association with each other.

  In step S15, it is determined whether an instruction to end the process has been issued. When it is determined that the end of the process is not instructed, the process returns to step S11, and the processes after step S11 are repeatedly executed. On the other hand, if it is determined that the end of the process has been instructed, the present process ends.

  Next, an image processing procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S21, the CPU 11 reads video data and time information from the storage device 20. Next, in step S22, camera control information including the depression angle, the horizontal angle, and time information is read from the storage device 20.

  Next, in step S23, the CPU 11 recognizes the shooting direction of the camera 100 based on the camera control information, and determines which part of the racetrack the shot video corresponds to. Next, in step S24, the CPU 11 recognizes a specific racehorse and jockey from the video data based on the outline, color components, and the like.

  Next, in step S25, the running position (running course) of the specific racehorse at each time is calculated, and data indicating the trajectory that the racehorse has run is calculated. Next, in step S26, the traveling speed at each time is calculated. In step S27, the intermediate time of the racehorse is measured.

  Next, in step S <b> 28, the CPU 11 creates composite video data by combining the video data with a figure such as an arrow pointing to a specific racehorse, and the composite video data is displayed on the display unit 17 via the interface 16. Supply. Thereby, the composite video data is displayed on the screen of the display unit 17.

  Thereafter, in step S29, it is determined whether or not an instruction to end the process is given. When it is determined that the end of the process is not instructed, the process returns to step S21, and the processes after step S21 are repeatedly executed. On the other hand, if it is determined that the end of the process has been instructed, the present process ends.

  The storage device 20 stores a course information table, a horse information table, a tabulation table, and the like. The course information table includes a plurality of records including items such as “racetrack name”, “weather”, “course distance”, “course width”, and “slope”. The horse information table is composed of a plurality of records including items such as “horse name”, “sex”, “age”, “volume”, “pedigree”, and “odds”.

  In addition, the table for totalization includes “horse name”, “race date (date of race)”, and “race name (race name where race was conducted)”, as shown in FIG. It consists of a plurality of records composed of items such as “running position (track of racehorse)”, “running speed”, and “intermediate time” calculated in steps S25 to S27. Furthermore, an item “rank” indicating the final rank at the end of the race can be added to the record.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, among the racehorses running on the racetrack, a predetermined figure (mark) can be synthesized and displayed on the screen for the target racehorse, so the target racehorse Can easily recognize where he is now.

  In addition, a predetermined figure can be synthesized and displayed on the screen for the target racehorse in real time at the time when the horse race is performed, or once stored in the storage device 20, a desired race can be displayed at a later date. It is also possible to search and reproduce, and to display a predetermined figure on the target racehorse displayed on the reproduction screen. At that time, “Horse Race Name”, “Weather”, “Course Distance”, “Course Width”, “Slope”, “Horse Name”, “Gender”, “Age”, “Balance”, “Blood Line”, “ The racehorse trajectory, “traveling speed”, “intermediate time”, “rank”, and the like can also be read and combined and displayed.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a racehorse running on a racetrack has been described. The present invention can also be applied to a baseball player who competes, a bicycle racer who competes at a bicycle racetrack, a track and field athlete who competes at a racetrack, and the like.

  The configuration and operation of the above embodiment are examples, and it goes without saying that they can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of one Embodiment of the position display system of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of PC. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the procedure in which the video data corresponding to the image | video image | photographed with the camera are memorize | stored in a memory | storage device. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the procedure in which the depression angle of a camera, the angle of the left-right direction, and time information are memorize | stored in a memory | storage device. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an image processing procedure.

Explanation of symbols

10 PC
11 CPU
12 ROM
13 RAM
14, 16, 19 interface (I / F)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Operation part 17 Display part 18 Communication control part 20 Memory | storage device 21 Image processing part 22 Clock circuit 100 Camera 101 Camera control apparatus 200 Stadium

Claims (4)

Photographing means for photographing a part or all of the stadium or the racetrack;
Detecting means for detecting a photographing direction of the photographing means;
Time information acquisition means for acquiring time information at predetermined time intervals in synchronization with the image capturing operation of the image capturing means;
Storage means for storing the image photographed by the photographing means, the photographing direction detected by the detection means, and the time obtained by the time information obtaining means in association with each other;
Recognition means for recognizing a predetermined athlete or racehorse from the image photographed by the photographing means;
The competition included in the image based on the photographing direction of the photographing means detected by the detecting means and the display position of the competitor or the racehorse on the image photographed by the photographing means. An image processing system comprising: a calculation means for calculating a position of the race person in the racetrack or a position of the racehorse included in the image on the racetrack. The image processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a position storage unit that stores the position calculated by the calculation unit in association with the time information. Measuring means for measuring the moving speed of the competitor or the racehorse;
The image processing system according to claim 1, further comprising: a speed storage unit that stores the moving speed measured by the measurement unit. Display means for displaying the image;
The mark display means which displays a predetermined | prescribed mark in the display position on the said image of the said athlete or the racehorse recognized by the said recognition means is further provided. The Claim 1 thru | or 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. Image processing system.

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