Prototyping of Live Sports Graphics System Equipped with Object Tracking Function －Real-time 3D Ball Tracking utilizing Multiple PTZ Cameras－

Abstract

In order to enrich the sports TV programs, there are various requests to obtain the useful information during the game for on-air graphics. Especially, for any ball game, time series 3D positional data of the ball is the one of the most important information. We developed a new on-air 3D graphics system for live sports broadcasting, it is equipped with object tracking function, to track a volleyball. The positional data of the ball is calculated in real-time, both from video analysis of PTZ cameras for broadcasting, and from PTZ sensor data. Our experiment shows that the system can produce accurate 3D ball compositing in real-time for on-air graphics.