Controlling cameras in sports events

An apparatus for controlling cameras in a sport event, the apparatus comprising:

• a computer;
• an image receiver, implemented on the computer as software, as hardware, or as a combination of software and hardware, and configured to receive images of a sport event taking place in an environment, during the sport event, the images being captured by a fixed set of at least two cameras with a first pixels to time ratio;
• a motion tracker, implemented on the computer as software, as hardware, or as a combination of software and hardware, in communication with said image receiver, configured to track a motion of a first object in three dimensions, using the images captured by the fixed set of cameras with the first pixels to time ratio;
• a positional relation detector, implemented on the computer as software, as hardware, or as a combination of software and hardware, in communication with said motion tracker, configured to detect an arrival of the first object into a predefined positional relation to a second object, during the tracked motion of the first object in three dimensions;
• and
• a camera controller, implemented on the computer as software, as hardware, or as a combination of software and hardware, in communication with said positional relation detector, configured to initiate a streaming of images being captured with a pixels to time ratio higher than the first pixels to time ratio by at least one selected camera and a tracking of the motion of the first object in three dimensions, using the images captured with the pixels to time ratio higher than the first pixels to time ratio, upon the detected arrival, the motion of the first object being tracked by said motion tracker in three dimensions even before the detected arrival.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for performing steps of controlling cameras in a sport event, the steps comprising:

• during a sport event taking place in an environment, receiving images of the sport event, the images being captured by a fixed set of at least two cameras with a first pixels to time ratio;
• tracking a motion of a first object in three dimensions, using the images captured by the fixed set of cameras with the first pixels to time ratio;
• detecting an arrival of the first object into a predefined positional relation to a second object during the tracked motion of the first object in three dimensions;
• and
• upon the detected arrival, initiating a streaming of images being captured with a pixels to time ratio higher than the first pixels to time ratio by at least one selected camera and a tracking of the motion of the first object in three dimensions, using the images captured with the pixels to time ratio higher than the first pixels to time ratio, the motion of the first object being tracked in three dimensions even before the detected arrival.