JP2002325246A - Relay system for athletic field - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a relay system for a competition capable of obtaining desired images that cannot be obtained by a conventional TV relay, including a data display system by means of interactive communication. SOLUTION: The relay system for an athletic field is provided with a relay system comprising more than one wide view angle imaging device 1 for simultaneously picking up images with wide view angle, an image conversion device 3 for converting images obtained by the wide view angle imaging device into strip shaped images by a numerical processing, an image composition device 4 for compositing the strip shaped images, and an image transmitting device 6 for transmitting the composited images, and further comprising a tracking image generation device 5 for tracking a competition object specified by the viewer from the images obtained by the image composition device, a traveling characteristic measurement device 8 for measuring state quantities of the competition object, and a competition result prediction device 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a relay system for a stadium. In particular, the present invention relates to a relay system for a stadium, which is obtained by digitally processing an image obtained by a wide-field imaging technique.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In conventional analog broadcasting, relay of athletics, skating, horse racing, and the like in a stadium is usually performed while switching images from a plurality of cameras. The image displayed on the TV screen is a close-up image of the players and racehorses participating in the race, and there was a problem that the position of a certain player or horse was not clear in the flow of the entire race . Also, since viewers can only get videos edited by TV stations,
Sometimes you don't see the players or horses you are interested in.

[0003] In the future, where digital broadcasting will become common, taking advantage of digital broadcasting, for example, the viewer can enlarge only the screen showing the overall flow of the race, the target of his / her attention, and change the viewpoint. There is a need for a system that allows the user to freely select the screen as much as a video game screen. However, at the moment, on TV broadcasts such as sports broadcasting,
There is no known relay mode in which a viewer can freely obtain a desired image. Furthermore, there is no known comprehensive system that provides various services by combining such a television relay with a database and two-way communication.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a television broadcast,
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system in which a viewer can freely select and view the entire race, details of a competitor or a racehorse to be watched, and the like, in a live broadcast of a digital broadcasting stadium. Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a relay system having comprehensive contents, which not only provides a viewer with a desired relay image, but also has a database for a relayed game and a system capable of predicting a game result. Is to do.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides one or more wide-field imaging devices for simultaneously picking up a wide-field image, and numerically converting the images obtained by the wide-field imaging device. A relay system for a stadium, comprising: an image conversion device for converting a strip-shaped image by processing; an image synthesis device for synthesizing the strip-shaped image; and an image transmission device for transmitting data of the synthesized image. I will provide a. A tracking target receiving device for receiving a signal specifying a tracking target target from a viewer, and a tracking image generating device for generating an image for tracking the target in accordance with the signal received by the tracking target receiving device, are preferably further included. A driving characteristic measuring device that measures a driving characteristic of an object from an image obtained by the image synthesizing device, and a driving characteristic recording device that records a measurement result output by the driving characteristic measuring device. Preferably, a competition result is predicted on the basis of data obtained from a plurality of databases including an estimating device setting parameter receiving device for receiving data of the running characteristics recording device and a value of an adjustment parameter for a competition object input by a viewer. It is preferable that the game device further includes a game result prediction device.
Further, it is preferable that the wide-field imaging device is installed inside a track of a stadium, and when the competition is a horse race, the system further includes an online ticketing system for winning voting tickets.

[0006] The present invention also includes a step of numerically processing an image taken by one or more wide-field imaging devices to provide a composite image in which the entire circumference is displayed on a single screen.
Generating an image for automatically tracking a competition target specified by a viewer. It is preferable that the method further includes a step of measuring a running state amount of the competition object from the composite image, displaying a result of the measurement, and a step of storing the result of the measurement. It is preferable that the method further includes a step of predicting a game result of the imaging target from a plurality of databases including the accumulated measurement results and a condition setting by a viewer.

[0007] The present invention further provides a computer which numerically processes an image captured by one or more wide-field imaging devices,
Providing a composite image; generating an image on the composite image for automatically tracking a competition target specified by a viewer; measuring a running state amount of the competition target from the composite image; Providing software for executing the step of accumulating the result of the above, and the step of predicting the competition result of the imaging target from a plurality of databases including the accumulated measurement result, existing data, and condition setting by the viewer. .

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail. Note that the embodiments described below do not limit the present invention. The same devices will be described with the same reference numerals.

In the present invention, the term "competition object" refers to a skater or a long-distance runner, a racehorse and a jockey in a horse race, a boat and a race in a boat race, a cycling or an auto race, a vehicle and a player in a car race, etc. This is a concept that includes widely. In addition, the present invention is applicable not only to the track competition but also to the relay of soccer, baseball, and rugby. In the present invention, the “imaging target” refers to a game that is imaged by a wide-field imaging device.

According to the present invention, since the image obtained by the wide-field imaging device is imaged in all directions around the imaging device, it is possible to capture the entire game at the same time, especially in a track game, and the like. We focused on the fact that digital images obtained by cameras and the like can be processed as desired by numerical processing.

FIG. 2 shows an apparatus for imaging such a wide field of view. Such an apparatus is described in detail in JP-A-6-812905 and JP-A-10-54939. This device has a convex primary mirror 102 having a hole in the center, and a substantially hemispherical dome 103 covering the primary mirror and transmitting light from outside.
A convex sub-mirror 104 supported by the dome, and a tip supported by the primary mirror and directed to the sub-mirror through the through-hole of the primary mirror, passing through the dome and reflected by the primary mirror, Further, after being reflected by the secondary mirror, the imaging unit 106 outputs image information based on light incident from the tip as a video signal, and a housing 101 installed at a lower part of the dome to house the imaging unit.
Is a wide-field imaging device comprising:

[0012] For example, a CC
Use a D camera. The image directly obtained by the CCD camera is a ring-shaped distorted digital image, and is not in a viewable state. However, this distortion is predicted in advance from angles of reflection of the primary mirror and the secondary mirror, and can be represented by a specific mathematical formula. Since a digital image can be subjected to a specific conversion by performing numerical processing, a distorted image can be converted into a single strip-shaped image that a viewer normally views on a television broadcast. The present invention can be carried out using a conventional wide-angle lens.
As described in -54939, the obtained image is converted based on mathematical formulas, and by using a camera that can obtain an image similar to a normal human visual field, the position can be more precisely determined. This is advantageous because an image that can be captured is obtained.

The wide-field imaging device mentioned here includes, for example, a device capable of capturing an image in a range from 100 degrees or more to a position close to the entire circumference, from a device capturing an entire circumference of 360 degrees. If the viewing angle per unit is too small, the number of imaging devices increases, and more time is required for image processing for converting distortion and obtaining an image on a strip.

If a single strip image capturing the entire game obtained in this manner can be further processed, a large number of television cameras are used as in the case of conventional television broadcasting, and these cameras are used. You no longer need to turn, move, or zoom to broadcast a single race. Conventionally, all images obtained by such a camera operation can be realized by performing a numerical calculation conversion on a strip image in the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows the entire system of the present invention. The system of the present invention includes a system that digitally processes a captured image and provides zoom and display methods in a format desired by the viewer, a system that automatically tracks a competition target specified by the viewer, and a digitally processed system. A system that measures the state quantity of the competition target from the captured image, a system that predicts the competition result of the imaging target from a plurality of databases including the measurement result, the parameter setting result by the viewer, and existing data, and optionally, An online ticket voting ticket issuing system is provided. Hereinafter, these will be described.

Images taken by the wide-field imaging device 1 are as follows:
The image is captured by the frame grabber 2 and converted by the image conversion device 3 by numerical processing, and is displayed on a single strip-shaped screen. The converted image is synthesized by the image synthesis device 4 with the image captured and converted by the other wide-field imaging device 1. The synthesized image covers the imaging target all around the stadium. The combined image is transmitted by the image transmitting device 6 to the receiving device 15 of each viewer. Based on this image, it is possible, for example, to zoom in and view, or track and view a specific target as desired by the viewer.

The present invention further comprises a system capable of selecting a competition object from images obtained by the image synthesizing device 4 and automatically tracking the object. The viewer is the receiving device 1
For example, when the image received in step 5 includes a competition object to be displayed in an enlarged manner, an identification mark such as a bib number attached to the object is connected to a specific input device capable of two-way communication, for example, the reception device 15. Input to the controller.
A signal transmitted from the input device through, for example, a communication line is received by the tracking target receiving device 7 and is output from the tracking image generating device 5.
Tracks the input identification marker. Tracking is performed by numerical processing on an imaging target on an image obtained by the image synthesis device 4. Therefore, unlike the tracking by the conventional television camera, each viewer can operate independently and can perform tracking as desired. The obtained tracking image is similarly transmitted to the receiving device 15 by the image transmitting device 6.
Sent to.

The transmission is carried out by radio such as terrestrial television waves or satellite waves, or by cable such as a cable television, or through a communication line, but is not limited thereto.

A running characteristic measuring device 8 for measuring state quantities such as speed, acceleration, running characteristics, and the like of a competition object from an image synthesized by the image synthesizing device 4 is further provided. The image obtained by the image synthesizing device 4 captures all the competition objects, and since the distance between the imaging device and the imaging object is known in advance, it is possible to measure the state quantities of a plurality of competition objects. is there. It is preferable that the measurement result obtained by the running characteristic measurement device 8 can be viewed by a viewer in real time during the competition. Therefore, the image is transmitted to the receiving device 15 by the image transmitting device 6 so that the image can be displayed on the screen in an arbitrary format. The measurement result is recorded in the running characteristic recording device 9.

In particular, when the competition is a wager such as a horse race, a bicycle race, and a boat race, the viewer's interest is in predicting the result of the competition. Therefore, the present invention further includes a game result prediction device 10 for predicting a game result from a plurality of databases.

The plurality of databases included in the competition result prediction device 10 include a running characteristic recording device 9 and a general database 11 that records the competition history, weight, physical condition, state of the stadium, etc. of the competition object so far. , A prediction device setting parameter receiving device 12 set by a viewer. The prediction device setting parameter receiving device 12 sets parameters that the individual viewer considers necessary for predicting the competition result,
It is a device for inputting.

Using the data obtained from these databases, the game result prediction device 10 predicts the game result using a specific algorithm. The prediction result is transmitted to the viewer similarly to the image.

By using the above-described system, a relay system having multi-functions in addition to a normal relay can be realized. Next, the technical features and available modes of the individual components of the system will be described.

An example of an imaging device that can be used in the present invention is a wide-field imaging device 1 that can acquire images in all directions with one fixed camera. The specifications required for such a wide-field imaging device 1 include a viewing angle (for example, 360 degrees in the horizontal direction and ± 20 degrees in the vertical direction), an image resolution (including optical aberration and image distortion), an image update rate, an imageable wavelength band (spectral spectrum). Sensitivity characteristics), projection method (equidistant projection, orthographic projection, etc.)
And so on.

Techniques for making wide-field imaging devices for use in the system of the present invention are known. Such known techniques are:
For example, it is disclosed in JP-A-10-54939. Also,
Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-812905 discloses a reflection-type angle-of-view conversion optical device. Alternatively, for example, a commercially available camera such as a reflection 360. RWV-D type manufactured by Inarishi Technica Co., Ltd. can be used, but is not limited thereto.

An image obtained by such an imaging device is taken into a frame grabber. A commercially available frame grabber can be used. As for the specifications, it is preferable that the input signal is an NTSC composite signal or a non-interlace signal, the gradation is 256 gradations, the frame memory is 2048 × 2048 × 8 bits per side, and a high-speed shutter compatible one is used. It is not limited to.

The image converter 3 corrects the distortion by numerically processing and converting the ring-shaped distorted original image taken into the frame grabber 2 and expands and displays the image horizontally from the start to the goal. .

FIG. 3A shows a donut-shaped original image 30 obtained by the wide-field imaging device, and FIG. 3B shows a converted image 31 expanded horizontally by the image conversion device. In the image conversion device 3, one pixel of the donut-shaped original image 30 and one pixel of the converted image 31 do not correspond one-to-one. Therefore, for pixels that do not correspond, it is necessary to interpolate the luminance from the luminance data of the surrounding pixels by a bilinear interpolation method.

At this time, it is preferable to use an interpolation luminance determination method in consideration of human appearance. In general, considering that the difference in resolution is greatly felt by humans, the continuity and reproducibility of high-frequency components such as edges are taken into account, and an interpolation method of luminance using edge continuity and edge part inclination information is adopted. It is also possible.

This conversion process requires a calculation for all pixels, so that there is a problem that a calculation time is required. Currently N
Using a dedicated image processor at TSC level resolution
The sampling time is Hz. In consideration of providing an image processing function and an image tracking function for higher resolution, it is preferable to further include a dedicated parallel operation device.

Next, the image conversion used in the present invention will be described in detail. [High-resolution full-circle development image generation algorithm] The wide-field imaging device is used to develop a donut-shaped image into a strip shape.
Since the resolution is different between the vicinity of the center of the circle and the vicinity of the outer periphery of the circle, there is a problem that accuracy is reduced at the time of development. Due to this restriction, the resolution of the converted image is about 4.5% of the original image. Therefore, a new image expansion method was developed, and this problem was devised at the software level to improve the resolution in a pseudo manner.

When converting a full-circle donut-type input image into a flat rectangular output image, a method generally used is as follows.
There is a luminance interpolation method. This is a method of performing image interpolation by applying pixels in an output image space from a neighborhood of an input to a bilinear function or a polynomial function. Although this method is relatively easy, it is like weighted averaging, so it is not enough to reproduce the frequency components higher than the input image, but the edges are smoothed out by interpolation, and the whole image looks blurred. Image. In addition, as a method for improving the apparent resolution, an inverse frequency filtering method such as a Wiener filter can be considered, but this is not an effective solution because it causes other problems such as aliasing. Further, an input image obtained by the wide-field imaging device has a lower spatial resolution toward the center of the image, and further has a different positional relationship between pixels. For this reason, there is a problem that the influence of blurring due to interpolation differs depending on the location, and a filter cannot be uniquely determined.

Accordingly, the inventor has developed an image development based on equidistant projection and an interpolation luminance determination algorithm based on edge strength and inclination information. In this method, it is possible to prevent the rounding of the edge and improve the resolution by selectively performing the interpolation based on the feature of the edge.

[Image Expansion Algorithm] Hereinafter, an image obtained by the wide-field imaging device is referred to as an original image, and an image obtained by plane conversion is referred to as a developed image. [Projection method] Generally, a method of mapping a spherical surface to a plane includes:
There are three-dimensional projection, equidistant projection, and orthographic projection. In this system, equidistant projection is adopted as a projection method. The equidistant projection means that the length 44 from the center to the image point on the image plane shown in FIG. 4A is proportional to the incident angle 43 of the optical axis direction 41 and the object direction 42 shown in FIG. It refers to the projection method that is related.

[Original Image Structure] In the original image,
The ratio of the outer diameter to the inner diameter was determined so that the lengths of AB and CD were the same. At this time, the length of AB and CD

(Equation 1) And each is equal, so

(Equation 2) Holds. Also, since it is an equidistant projection, R is

(Equation 3) Becomes From equations (2) and (3)

(Equation 4) That is, the ratio of the outer diameter to the inner diameter is

(Equation 5) Becomes

[Aspect ratio of developed image]
First, 360 [deg] is divided into upper and lower rows and displayed, and finally combined. FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the image sizes. The aspect ratio of the developed image is the same as the ratio of “half the circumference of the radius R” to “Ro-Ri”.

(Equation 6) Therefore, when w is determined, h is determined from the relationship of Expression (6).

(Equation 7)

[Conversion Table] The coordinate systems of the developed image and the original image are shown in FIGS. The coordinates of a point P ′ on the original image corresponding to an arbitrary point P on the developed image are obtained.

The image conversion is performed by projecting an annular original image on the side surface of a cylinder having a radius R and a height h as shown in FIG. FIG. 9 can be obtained by the following equation.

(Equation 8)

(Equation 9) However,

(Equation 10) The distance L and the angle from the center of P ′ in the original image are obtained by the following equations.

[Equation 11] Therefore, when the developed image is on the ring,

(Equation 12) When below the annulus,

(Equation 13) To obtain the positions (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) of P ′. In this way, for all pixels of the developed image, the coordinates on the corresponding original image are obtained, and a conversion table is created.
An expansion process is performed based on the conversion table.

[Interpolation Brightness Determination Algorithm] When developing based on the conversion table, since the coordinates in the original image obtained by the equations (12) and (13) are not integer values, the brightness value of the point to be obtained is obtained. Needs to be obtained by interpolation using luminance values of peripheral pixels. In this system, we have developed an interpolation luminance determination algorithm that considers human appearance.

In general, what greatly perceives the difference in resolution is the continuity and reproducibility of high-frequency components such as edges.
Since the reproduction of the high-frequency component is physically impossible beyond the image taken by the imaging device, the present method considers the preservation of the continuity of the edge and the inclination of the edge portion.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the algorithm.
Shown in First, a Gaussian-Laplacian filter is applied to the input image 53 to determine an edge position to be stored. Thereafter, a B-spline function is used 54 to interpolate information while maintaining the smoothness of the edge.

The B-spline can obtain a single smooth curve by defining several control points. To obtain the coordinates of the two-dimensional plane, the control point is Pj and the parameter is t
And when

[Equation 14]

(Equation 15) Can be represented by However, in order to always pass through the control points P0 and Pn, P-2 = P0, P-1 = P0, Pn + 1 = Pn, and Pn + 2 = Pn are defined.

Here, N3 (t) is called a weighting function, and in the cubic B-spline,

(Equation 16) Becomes Expanded using the above formula, and 3x3 Median
Create high-resolution edge images by applying filters.

Next, based on the obtained edge image, if no edge exists in the vicinity, interpolation is performed using the bilinear interpolation method 58. If there is an edge in the vicinity, the interpolation point luminance is determined 59 including the interpolation point and the peripheral edge luminance information 57 59. As shown in FIG. 11, the bilinear interpolation method is a method of determining a distance coefficient with respect to four surrounding points, weighting the distance coefficient, and determining an interpolation luminance. The coordinates of the interpolation point are (xi, yj), and the surrounding coordinates of the interpolation point are (x1, y1) to (x4, y4).
Then, the distance coefficient fn to each coordinate is

[Equation 17] Becomes However,

(Equation 18) Therefore, when the luminance of (x1, y1) to (x4, y4) is i1 to i4, the interpolation point luminance Iij is

[Equation 19] Can be represented by

If the periphery is an edge, the luminance at the interpolation point is determined by adding a luminance coefficient to the bilinear interpolation method. That is, the interpolation point luminance is determined using the edge image obtained by applying the Gaussian-Laplacian filter to the original image and the two images of the original image. An outline is shown in FIG. The coordinates of the interpolation point are (xi, yj), the surrounding coordinates of the interpolation point are (x1, y1) to (x4, y4),
When the luminance on the edge image is ien, the luminance coefficient fien
Is

(Equation 20) Becomes The distance coefficient fn is the same as in the bilinear interpolation method. Therefore, the interpolation point luminance is

(Equation 21) Determined by

[Demonstration Test / Consideration] According to this method, an all-round donut-type input image is converted into an intermediate file as a Gaussian-L
The image is converted to an edge image to which an aplacian filter has been applied, and then converted to a strip-type output image. The strip-shaped output image developed using this method retains the slope of the edge and maintains the continuity as a line of the edge, compared to the developed image obtained only by the bilinear interpolation method without considering the edge information. And a sharp image as a whole.

As described above, in the image obtained from one wide-field imaging device 1 and represented as a two-dimensional image by the image conversion device 3, in some cases, a blind spot may be formed or the distance may be increased, and the competition object The problem of not being able to capture is possible. For example, there is a case where the object is shaded by a pole existing in the stadium or two game objects overlap. In order to avoid such a problem, for example, when a game such as a horse race is to be relayed, the wide-field imaging device 1 is used.
Is preferably installed at least two. FIG. 13 shows an example of the arrangement of the wide-field imaging device. For example, in the case of a horse race relay, two wide-field imaging devices 1 are installed inside the track 40 and two wide-field imaging devices 1 outside the track 40, so that images can be reliably obtained in real time for each of the competition objects. I do. Since the number of the wide-field imaging devices 1 varies depending on the object to be imaged, the number is not limited to the above example, and the required number can be appropriately set.

An image is taken by a plurality of wide-field imaging devices 1 and
The converted images are cut out so as to have the same video size, and are synthesized by the image synthesizing device 4 so as to be overlapped seamlessly. Since the distance between the imaging device and the imaging target is known in advance, it is possible to cut out and synthesize the same video size.

In the image synthesizing device 4, a plurality of developed images can be fetched into the memory, and the images can be connected from the overlapping angles of the visual fields according to the positional relationship between the imaging devices which has been measured in advance. At this time, in a normal refraction type wide-angle optical system, the image is distorted at the edge of the image due to aberration, and it is difficult to obtain an accurate corresponding point or to connect the images accurately. However, in the optical system of the present invention, the aberrations can be canceled out by devising the curved surface shapes of the two reflecting mirrors, and the aberrations at the periphery of the screen can be reduced. Also, if the same imaging device is installed at the same height and the distance between the imaging devices and the distance to the imaging target are measured, the size of each pixel on the screen is inversely proportional to the distance to the target. It is easy to find the corresponding points, to match the size, and to connect them.

Further, in the apparatus of the present invention, since the combined position of a plurality of images can be freely changed, an image having no blind spot can be created by using the image of another camera for the blind spot of one camera. it can. For example, in a racetrack, a group of horses may be temporarily invisible due to implantation or the like, but the group of horses can be constantly tracked by the image synthesizing device 4 of the present invention.

The image synthesized by the image synthesizing device 4 has a strip shape, and all the objects are caught without missing. On the other hand, the viewer can operate a controller connected to the receiving device 15 at hand to perform operations such as zooming. These operations are performed by numerical processing on the screen. For this purpose, it is preferable to further include a device for performing such numerical processing.

The processing for the screen can be performed, for example, as follows. First, a rectangular gate indicating a specific area on the screen is displayed on the image, and the position is moved left, right, up and down on the image by the user's controller to determine an area to be enlarged. Next, the image memory area surrounded by the gate at the time when the determination is pressed is copied to another memory area. Furthermore, each of the luminance information for each pixel is copied to an adjacent memory in two dimensions to increase the size of the pixel, and this memory area is copied and overwritten again at an arbitrary position in the display memory area. Thus, the area surrounded by the gate can be zoomed up on the image.

Note that, depending on the size and inclination of the region surrounded by the gate, the coordinates of the pixel surrounded by the gate may not be an integer value in a simple copy to the adjacent memory. Therefore, the correspondence between the pixels is shifted, the resolution of the zoomed-up image is reduced, or the image is distorted. In such a case, a high-resolution zoom image can be obtained by interpolating the luminance of adjacent pixels by an affine transformation method or a bilinear interpolation method described later.

Such processing can be performed by the receiving device, and the processed image can be received by the receiving device. In a system that displays a wide range of images on the entire circumference on one screen as in the present invention, the display area of a specific portion is reduced, and thus the function of enlarging the specific region is important.

The tracking target receiving device 7 transmits a relay image transmitted from the image transmitting device 6 to a signal received by each of the receiving devices 15 by a viewer specifying a target to be tracked,
Alternatively, a signal for enlarging or reducing a desired object is received.

The tracking by the tracking target receiving device 7 can be performed, for example, as follows. The previous tracking target is the “tracking target selection screen” displayed in advance in the screen mode.
Select As a result, a plurality of tracking gates appear on the screen, and a selection is made by designating an arbitrary number from among them. When a desired target is designated, the tracking gate is clicked with a mouse, a joystick or the like. By clicking the tracking gate position, the coordinates and size of the area on the image are transmitted as a signal from the user to the sender, and the sender can know the user setting.

The present apparatus has an advantage in that the entire view of the stadium can be displayed at a time, so that a trackable target can be displayed at a time, so that the user can easily designate a target.

The tracking image generation device 5 generates an image in which a specified competition object is tracked from the image obtained by the image synthesizing device 4 in accordance with a signal transmitted from the tracking target receiving device 7. However, when used in a stadium, the bib number may become invisible due to the intersection of the competition objects. Therefore, a highly robust image tracking algorithm that integrates the viewpoints of a plurality of cameras is required.

As an automatic tracking algorithm, for example, there is a method of estimating a target azimuth angle of a tracking target by using a Kalman filter or the like, focusing on the fact that an object moves at a constant linear velocity. According to this, even if the target overlaps with the others for a while and disappears, if the image processing area is quickly moved on the screen in accordance with the tracking filter output, the lost object is immediately captured in the image processing area, and the tracking is performed. Can be resumed. In the device of the present invention, since the vertical and horizontal angles on the image can be directly imaged in the X and Y directions on the strip-shaped video memory, respectively, compared with the case where tracking is performed by a conventional camera, There is no need to perform a process of correcting the lateral tracking angle of the camera with the elevation angle. Therefore, there is a feature that tracking calculation is easy. However, the present invention is not limited to such a tracking method.

Tracking is performed on a digital image obtained by synthesis. Therefore, tracking is specified by the number of viewers, and the corresponding images are transmitted to the respective viewers. To realize such a system, it is preferable to further include a high-speed arithmetic processing circuit. By speeding up the processing, it is possible to transmit almost in synchronization with the original image.

The image obtained by the image synthesizing device 4 can continuously capture an object moving at high speed.
The continuous speed of the competition object can be measured. With the sensing system of the present invention, it is possible to uniformly and quantitatively measure the state amount (translation / rotation speed, acceleration) of a horse at a place where there is undulation in a track by image tracking of each horse. Therefore, it is possible to unify the appropriate distance (1200m to 3200m) and the running characteristics (leading, following, pointing) of the competition object, and to calculate quantitatively and statistically.

Specifically, it is possible to know the state quantity based on the data such as the distance of the competition course which has been input to the running characteristic measuring device 8 in advance and the result of measuring the moving distance by the sensing system of the present invention. it can. Furthermore, various data are represented as numerical values by performing calculation processing using a device incorporated in the traveling characteristic measurement device 8.

The wide-field imaging apparatus according to the present invention can acquire an image of the entire circumference at a time, and has little aberration and image distortion inherent to the ultra-wide-angle refraction optical system. For this reason, by connecting the images of one or a plurality of imaging devices, it is possible to capture the entire part from the start of the track event to the goal without blind spots. Thereby, the blind spot of the imaging device can be eliminated. Further, since the continuous tracking of the competition target is possible, the physical quantity of the tracking target can be measured, and the characteristic data of the statistically highly reliable target can be obtained.

The data thus measured can be viewed by the viewer in real time. For example, the speed and acceleration of a specific target can be displayed on a screen in a window. The result measured by the running characteristic measuring device 8 is written into the running characteristic recording device 9 and can be taken out and viewed by the viewer when desired. The viewer can also take out the measurement result in the form of, for example, a graph showing the relationship between the traveling distance and the speed. Alternatively, it is also possible to read out a plurality of measurement results and create a database in a format desired by the viewer.

It is preferable that connection from the viewer to the driving characteristic recording device 9 can be made at any time regardless of the relay. Therefore, such a system can be realized, for example, by allowing the viewer to connect the running characteristic recording device 9 to the Internet through a communication line, but is not limited to this.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, a prediction device capable of viewer tuning is provided by linking a GA (genetic algorithm) known as an optimization technique to a database. Specifically, for example, in the case of horse race result prediction, horse distance appropriateness, running characteristics, pedigree, and horse information
The viewer independently defines parameters such as (turf, dirt, etc.) and weather, and inputs the parameters to the prediction device setting parameter receiving device 12. This viewer-defined characteristic provides a database that provides a device for predicting the outcome of the game from this and, optionally, other databases.

The database used is preferably a predicting device setting parameter receiving device 12 having the above-described parameters defined by the viewer, a running characteristic recording device 9 measured by the running characteristic measuring device 8, and other general uses. And a database 11 that can perform the operations.

A genetic algorithm for predicting a game result by optimization from these databases is a method for finding an optimal solution to a certain problem. Originally, it was created by imitating the laws of genetics in the world of living things, expressing solutions in the form of genes, describing them according to certain rules, and changing them to seek better solutions. Genetic algorithms are suitable for finding correlations from data with different properties and dimensions.

Such an algorithm can be used for optimizing a game result prediction according to the present invention, for example, as follows. Taking horse racing as an example, the racehorse is appropriate for distance, running characteristics (leading, trailing, approaching), the riding conditions (turf, dirt, race distance, running course, etc.), the weather, the date and time, and the pedigree related to the running performance of the racing horse. The past battle history (previous run result, time), jockey's battle history, jockey's characteristics, etc. and arrival order are expressed as parameters in the form of "gene", and the combination of parameters that minimizes a certain evaluation function is changed As a result, an inference result is obtained with a gene indicating the order of arrival when the convergence to a certain reference value is achieved.

Since the present algorithm can set parameters and evaluation functions that the viewer considers necessary individually, the range of play can be expanded like a video game.

The algorithm for providing the game result prediction device 10 of the present invention is not limited to the genetic algorithm, and an appropriate method such as a Bayesian method or a neural network can be used.

[0072]

Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples. Note that the present embodiment does not limit the present invention.

A case where the system of the present invention is used for a horse race relay system will be described. First, the wide-field imaging device 1 of the present invention is installed at a racetrack. At this time, two wide-field imaging devices 1 are installed inside the track at the racetrack, and two wide-field imaging devices 1 are also installed outside the track, for example, so that horses may overlap or become obstacles. Even if there is an image interruption by an object, it is necessary to be able to catch the horse from any point. The images obtained by such a wide-field imaging device 1 are converted, combined as necessary, and the state from the start to the goal is displayed on one horizontally long screen. This image is transmitted to the receiving device 15 by the image transmitting device 6.
Sent to. The viewer who receives this image can view the whole part of the race continuously on one screen, and easily see the track position, remaining distance, race tactics, etc. of the first horse that could not be confirmed conventionally. become able to.

Further, a feature of the present invention is that a viewer can perform an operation such as zooming up an image as desired by a controller connected to the receiving device 15. For example, if the viewer wants to enlarge and view only the leading horse, which is a part of the screen, from a continuous image of the whole race, the controller operates the controller to display it in a desired size. Can be done. The display can be switched from the full-screen image, or only the enlarged portion can be displayed as another window. It is also possible to simultaneously display zoomed-up images of a plurality of horses of interest.

One of the images obtained as desired by the viewer is a tracking image. The viewer inputs the bib number of the desired horse, for example, the betting horse, to the controller. By doing so, the tracking image generation device 5
By automatically tracking only the horse with the input bib number, an image in which the movement of one horse is continuously captured to the end is generated, transmitted by the image transmitting device 6, and the viewer It is possible to obtain an image following only the image.

The above-described enlargement operation and tracking operation are performed on the synthesized image obtained by the image synthesis device 4. Therefore, unlike a conventional relay, tracking does not involve movement of an imaging device such as a camera. Also, even if many viewers perform desired operations on one obtained composite image, the processing devices included in the tracking device operate independently to provide the desired images to individual viewers. There is an advantage that it can be done.

The viewer can know the current speed of the racehorse while watching the broadcast, and can display on the screen the results of statistically calculating the appropriate distance and running characteristics of the racehorse. . Such data can always be displayed on the screen by operating the controller,
It can be displayed only when necessary. The measurement results obtained by this device are stored in the running characteristic recording device 9 as data. The stored data can be used as a kind of database.

Further, the viewer can use the device of the present invention to predict the order of arrival of racehorses. The competition result prediction device 10 is used for the arrival order prediction. The existing database 11, the measurement result of the state quantity of the racehorse recorded in the running characteristic recording device 9, and the prediction device setting parameter receiving device 12 are connected to the competition result prediction device 10.

For example, when making a prediction on a race performed by 14 racehorses, the viewer first specifies a racehorse to run on the screen of the receiving device. Further, data from the existing database 11 and the running characteristic recording device 9 are called. In addition to this, the viewer inputs the prediction device setting parameter receiving device 12 to the prediction device setting parameter receiving device 12, for example, data on the pedigree of the horse, data on the state of the riding ground, and data on the weather. I do. Here, the order of arrival prediction is started on the receiving device 15. The prediction device is an appropriate combination that minimizes a certain evaluation function by using “genes”, which are parameters for distance appropriateness, running characteristics, dressing conditions, pedigree, weather, and arrival order of 14 horses registered in advance. Start evolving with the aim of. For example, a horse that started early at the start started first, but it came in the second half, the horse that beat stamina became advantageous, and when the ranks were aligned, the horse that had the advantage of the jockey's battle history was advantageous and the horse that came back again was overtaken. Many parameters correlate with each other, and the ranking gradually becomes stable, and the arrival order prediction calculation converges.

Further, it is possible to add an online ticketing system in which a viewer can purchase a winning voting ticket online, in addition to these systems. In this case, for example, it can be purchased in conjunction with a computer at the winning horse betting ticket counter, and payment can be made with electronic money or a card.

As described above, by using the system of the present invention, it is possible to obtain an image desired by a viewer as well as to go to a stadium while staying at home. Furthermore, since a database and a game result prediction device are provided in the system, a large amount of data can be obtained and the data can be analyzed in more detail.

Here, the case where the present invention is mainly used for horse race relay has been described in detail. However, the purpose of the present invention is not limited to horse race relay, and a method of predicting the order of arrival of bicycle races and boat races in the same manner is desired. It can be used in competitions. In addition, tracking devices and running characteristics measurement devices are used not only for sports with the above-mentioned purposes, but also for many sports such as athletics and skating, not only for relaying, but also for purposes such as data storage of athletes. can do.

[0083]

By using the system of the present invention, it is possible to view from the beginning to the end of the game on a single screen in the live broadcasting of the stadium, and to enlarge or reduce a specific target as desired by the viewer's operation. It is possible to display the selected image or an image in which a specific target selected by the viewer is tracked. In this manner, a relay mode that cannot be obtained by relaying with a conventional television camera is made possible, and a viewer can obtain a relay broadcast more suited to the individual's desire.
In addition to this, by providing a system that measures and records the running state of the target, a system that predicts the arrival order, and a ticketing system such as a winning voting ticket, it is not just a relay broadcast, but two-way communication Can be provided. With such a system, it is considered that a large demand can be obtained by adding a form of participating or analyzing from a form of unilaterally watching a broadcast broadcast to a form of participating or analyzing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the structure of the entire relay system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a conventional wide-field imaging device.

FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating a donut-shaped original image obtained by a wide-field imaging device, and FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a converted image expanded horizontally in an image conversion device; It is.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an equidistant projection that is preferably used in the present invention, among methods of projecting a spherical surface onto a plane.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an original image.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between image sizes of an original image and a developed image.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a coordinate system diagram of a developed image.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a coordinate system of an original image.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating image conversion.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an interpolation luminance determination algorithm.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a bilinear interpolation method.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an interpolation method at an edge portion;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an arrangement of a wide-field imaging device in a stadium for realizing the system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wide-field imaging device 2 Frame grabber 3 Image conversion device 4 Image synthesis device 5 Tracking image generation device 6 Image transmission device 7 Tracking target receiving device 8 Running characteristic measuring device 9 Running characteristic recording device 10 Competition result prediction device 11 Database 12 Prediction device Setting parameter receiving device 15 Receiving device 30 Original image 31 Converted image 40 Track 41 Optical axis direction 42 Object direction 43 Incident angle 44 Length from center on image plane to image point 50 Start 51 Full-round donut type input image acquisition 52 yuan Image storage 53 Gaussian-Laplacian filter processing 54 Luminance information interpolation by B-spline function 55 High-resolution edge image generation 56 Interpolation points are edges 57 Interpolation points considering edge information 58 Conventional bilinear interpolation method 59 Determination of interpolation point luminance 60 Decision 61 End 101 Housing 102 Primary mirror 103 Dome 104 Secondary mirror 105 Lens 106 Imaging unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Junichi Takiguchi 2-3-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Inside Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (72) Inventor Akihito Takeya 2-3-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F term in Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (reference) EA33 EA35 FA67 GA55 HA05 MA03

Claims (10)

[Claims] An image conversion device for converting an image obtained by the wide-field imaging device into a strip-shaped image by numerical processing; A relay system for a stadium, comprising: an image synthesizing device for synthesizing a shaped image; and an image transmitting device for transmitting data of the synthesized image. 2. A tracking target receiving apparatus for receiving a signal specifying a tracking target from a viewer, and a tracking image generating apparatus for generating an image for tracking the target in accordance with the signal received by the tracking target receiving apparatus. 2. The stadium relay system according to claim 1, wherein the relay system comprises: 3. An image obtained by the image synthesizing device,
The competition according to claim 1, further comprising: a traveling characteristic measuring device that measures a traveling characteristic of the target; and a traveling characteristic recording device that records a measurement result output by the traveling characteristic measuring device. Relay system for the site. 4. Based on data obtained from a plurality of databases including data of the running characteristic recording device and a competition result prediction device setting parameter receiving device for receiving a value of an adjustment parameter for a competition object input by a viewer. 4. The athletic field relay system according to claim 1, further comprising a competition result prediction device that predicts a competition result by using the competition result prediction device. 5. The relay system for a stadium according to claim 1, wherein the wide-field imaging device is installed inside a track of the stadium. 6. The stadium relay system according to claim 1, further comprising an online ticketing system for winning voting tickets when the competition is horse racing. 7. A step of numerically processing an image picked up by one or more wide-field imaging devices to provide a composite image representing the entire circumference on one screen, and specifying a composite image designated by a viewer on the composite image. Generating an image for automatically tracking an athletic object that has been set. 8. The relay for an athletic field according to claim 7, including a step of measuring a running state quantity of a competition object from the composite image, displaying a result of the measurement, and accumulating the result of the measurement. Method. 9. The relay method for a stadium according to claim 8, further comprising a step of predicting a competition result of a competition target from a plurality of databases including the accumulated measurement result and a condition setting by a viewer. 10. A computer which numerically processes an image captured by one or more wide-field imaging devices to provide a composite image in which the entire circumference is displayed on a single screen. Generating an image for automatically tracking the competition object specified by the following; measuring the running state amount of the competition object from the composite image; and accumulating the measurement result; and Estimating a game result of an imaging target from a plurality of databases including data of the above and conditions set by a viewer.