Patent Application
20090015677
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of tracking data processing systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well-known in the art, when a director instructs a camera operator to track the position of an object that is out of the field-of-view, audio messages must be passed between camera operators to indicate the approximate location of the object to be tracked. For live-television event directors, the current approach is to search various displays that correspond to simultaneously operating cameras. Once the live-television event director has found the object to be tracked, the live-television event director must manually select the alternate camera's view. Conversely, live-television event directors must constantly be tracking the existing output of cameras to ensure that objects not desired to be displayed do not appear in view.
The present invention includes a system and method for implementing beyond field-of-view tracked object positional indicators for television event directors and camera operators. The present invention includes a camera having a field-of-view. A data processing system tracks an off-screen object. A coordinate manager blends an on-screen indication of distance that the object is away from said field-of-view. The camera is positioned to avoid the object in the field-of-view.
The above, as well as additional purposes, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further purposes and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures, wherein:
Referring now to the figures, and in particular, referring to
Exemplary system 100 includes a wire camera 102, video camera 104, and data processing system 200. Wire camera 102 is a type of remote camera that enables a camera operator to record events from locations that the camera operator may not be physically able to access. Wire camera 102 also offers viewers a different perspective of playing field 108 from that of video camera 104. As shown, wire camera 102 transmits an overhead perspective of playing field 108. Wire camera 102 is mounted over playing field 108 via a set of safety cables and may be controlled remotely via hand triggers, radio transmitters, or a built-in self-timer. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a camera operator controls wire camera 102 via a radio transmitter. Wire camera 102 also sends images and present location coordinates to coordinate manager 230 (
As illustrated, video camera 104 is positioned to capture a side view of playing field 108 and sends the images and any object tracking coordinates to data processing system 200. In an embodiment of the present invention, assume for the purposes of discussion, that the live television remote broadcast includes at least a director, a sound engineer, and at least one camera operator. The director observes the raw feeds from multiple cameras and selects the view that he or she believes to be the most appropriate view for the live broadcast.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the director can designate certain objects for tracking purposes. Once certain objects (e.g., football, a certain player, wire camera 102, and the like) are designated for tracking (hereinafter a “tracked object”), cameras (e.g., video camera 104 or wire camera 102) send coordinates of the designated objects to coordinate manager 230 (
Those with skill in the art will appreciate that a director may desire certain objects to be shown on a television broadcast. For example, the director may be more interested in keeping the location of the football in the field of view (e.g., field of view 106), while minimizing the time that wire camera 102 spends in the field-of-view of other cameras in system 100. The director can designate objects as “desirable” or “undesirable” objects. Hereinafter, a “desirable” object is an object that the director may want to be on-screen in the live broadcast whenever possible (e.g., a football or a certain star player in a football game). An “undesirable” object is an object that the director may want to exclude from the live broadcast whenever possible (e.g., wire camera 102 or some other distracting background element).
For example, assume for exemplary purposes that the director has designated both the football and wire camera 102 as tracked objects. Further, the director has designated the football as a “desirable” object, whereas wire camera 102 is designed as an “undesirable” object. As discussed herein in more detail in conjunction with
Those with skill in the art will appreciate that exemplary system 100 can include many additional components (e.g., monitors, microphones, recording equipment such as video tape, etc., sound boards and the like) not specifically illustrated in
With reference to
As shown, system memory 206 includes operating system 220, which further includes shell 222 for providing transparent user access to resources such as application programs 226. Generally, shell 222 is a program that provides an interpreter and an interface between the user and the operating system. More specifically, shell 222 (as it is called in UNIX®) executes commands that are entered into a command line user interface or a file. Thus, shell 222, also called a command processor in Windows®, is generally the highest level of the operating system software hierarchy and serves as a command interpreter. The shell provides a system prompt, interprets commands entered by keyboard, mouse, or other user input media, and sends the interpreted command(s) to the appropriate lower levels of the operating system (e.g., kernel 224) for processing. Note that while shell 222 is a text-based, line-oriented user interface, the present invention will support other user interface modes, such as graphical, voice, gestural, etc. equally well.
As illustrated, operating system 220 also includes kernel 224, which includes lower levels of functionality for operating system 220 and application programs 226, including memory management, process and task management, disk management, and mouse and keyboard management. Application programs 226 can include a browser 228, utilized for access to the Internet, world processors, spreadsheets, and other application programs. Also, system memory 206 includes coordinate manager 230, which processes coordinates of tracked objects and displays tracked object indicators (e.g., indicia 112 of
Those with skill in the art will appreciate that data processing system 200 can include many additional components not specifically illustrated in
The process continues to step 404, which depicts coordinate manager 230 gathering any camera field-of-view geographical coordinates, which define the geographical area that is visible in the field-of-view of any cameras in system 100. The process proceeds to step 406, which illustrates coordinate manager 230 determining if a tracked object is within a camera field-of-view.
If the tracked object is not within the camera field-of-view, the process continues to step 414, which depicts coordinate manager 230 determining if the tracked object is a desired object. If the tracked object is an undesirable object, coordinate manager 230 displays a red arrow indicating the off-screen position overlaid on the field-of-view display to indicate the distance and direction of the desired object, as illustrated in step 418 and
Returning to step 414, if the track object is a desirable object, coordinate manager 230 displays a green arrow indicating the off-screen position overlaid on the field-of-view display to indicate the distance and direction of the undesired object, as illustrated in step 416 and in
Returning to step 406, if a tracked object is within the field-of-view of video camera 104, the process continues to step 408, which depicts coordinate manager 230 determining if the tracked object is a desirable or an undesirable object. If the tracked object is a desirable object, the process continues to step 410, which illustrates coordinate manager 230 displaying a green border overlaid on the field-of-view display of video camera 104, as illustrated in
Returning to step 408, if the tracked object is an undesirable object, the process continues to step 412, which shows coordinate manager 230 displaying a red border overlaid on the field-of-view display of video camera 104, as illustrated in
As discussed, the present invention includes a system and method for implementing beyond field-of-view tracked object positional indicators for television event directors and camera operators. The present invention includes a camera having a field-of-view. The camera tracks an off-screen object. A coordinate manager blends an on-screen indication of distance that the object is away from said field-of-view. The camera is positioned to avoid the object in the field-of-view.
It should be understood that at least some aspects of the present invention may be alternatively be implemented in a computer-usable medium that contains a program product. Programs defining functions in the present invention can be delivered to a data storage system or a computer system via a variety of signal-bearing media, which include, without limitation, non-writable storage media (e.g., CD-ROM), writable storage media (e.g., hard disk drive, read/write CD-ROM, optical media), system memory such as, but not limited to random access memory (RAM), and communication media, such as computer networks and telephone networks, including Ethernet, the Internet, wireless networks, and like networks. It should be understood, therefore, that such signal-bearing media, when carrying or encoding computer-readable instructions that direct method functions in the present invention, represent alternative embodiments of the present invention. Further, it is understood that the present invention may be implemented by a system having means in the form of hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware as described herein or their equivalent.
While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
