System for judging or determining position on a crossing line of a sporting competition, and method for activating same
AssigneeSwiss Timing Ltd
InventorsFabien Blondeau, Christophe Grasso, Benoit Cosandier, Stéphane Pointet
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for judging or determining position or posture, and/or a time on a line crossed by at least one competitor or racer in a sporting competition, includes at least an apparatus for taking a photograph when an intermediate line or a finishing line of the competition is crossed, the image of the photofinish type taken defining an input of the system, and a processing unit connected to the photographic apparatus to combine the photofinish image received with a processing of an algorithm using artificial intelligence for automatically placing one or more cursors on the photofinish image.
Claims12
A system for judging or determining position or posture and/or a time on a crossing line of a plurality of competitors or racers in a sporting competition, the system comprising:
- at least two photographic apparatuses when an intermediate line or a finishing line of the competition is crossed, at least one image of the photofinish type taken defining an input of the system, the at least two photographic apparatuses being disposed on each side of the finishing line and being synchronized with respect to time, and
- processing circuitry connected to the photographic apparatuses that is configured to utilize artificial intelligence based on images supplied by photographic apparatuses to recognize each competitor or racer crossing the finishing line, and configured to implement a model for automatically placing a plurality of cursors on the photofinish image received, each of the cursors being placed on a crossing line corresponding to a front most portion of a torso of the respective competitor or racer on the photofinish image such that the plurality of cursors simultaneously show a rank of each competitor or racer at a finish of the competition,
- wherein the processing circuitry includes an image processor that comprises an image buffer memory for receiving a sequence of images from the photographic apparatuses via an input, and the photofinish image is a reconstruction image based on the sequence of images that shows all the competitors crossing the finishing line at separate respective points in time along with the plurality of cursors corresponding respectively to each competitor within a single image according to the rank,
- wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine in real time a position or posture of at least one competitor when crossing a crossing line so as to identify in particular the point on the body or on a vehicle in or on which the competitor is located, in order to be able to place the cursor automatically by artificial intelligence by determining in real time a position or posture of each competitor when crossing the finishing line by automatically identifying or recognising each competitor following reinforcement learning by an artificial intelligence model having a neural network that is trained based on annotated images of movement of the head, shoulders, feet or knees of each competitor.
A method, implemented by a system for judging or determining position of posture and/or a time on a crossing line of at least one competitor or racer, the method comprising the steps of:
- taking images of the photofinish type by at least two photographic apparatuses when an intermediate line or a finishing line of the competition is crossed, and
- receiving by processing circuitry the images taken by the photographic apparatuses and utilizing artificial intelligence based on the images supplied by photographic apparatuses to recognize each competitor or racer crossing the finishing line,
- implementation by the processing circuitry of a model for automatically placing a plurality of cursors on the photofinish image received, each of the cursors being placed on a crossing line corresponding to a front most portion of a torso of the respective competitor or racer on the photofinish image such that the plurality of cursors simultaneously show a rank of each competitor or racer at a finish of the competition,
- wherein the processing circuitry includes an image processor that comprises an image buffer memory for receiving a sequence of images from the photographic apparatuses via an input, and the photofinish image is a reconstruction image based on the sequence of images that shows all the competitors crossing the finishing line at separate respective points in time along with the plurality of cursors corresponding respectively to each competitor within a single image according to the rank,
- wherein a position or posture of at least one competitor is determined in real time when a crossing line is crossed so as to identify in particular the point on the body or on a vehicle in or on which the competitor is located, in order to be able to place the cursor automatically by artificial intelligence by determining in real time a position or posture of each competitor when crossing the finishing line by automatically identifying or recognising each competitor following reinforcement learning by an artificial intelligence model having a neural network that is trained based on annotated images of movement of the head, shoulders, feet or knees of each competitor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.