Method and apparatus for determining the location of a reflective object within a video field
AssigneeAndrew Welch
InventorsAndrew Welch, Stephan Schaem
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for detecting the precise location of a reflective element in a video field wherein the determined location is subsequently utilized to generate a graphic to be added to a foreground video scene utilizing compositing techniques. A signal is generated specifying a precise point in the foreground video scene identifying a position of a reflective element. The signal is derived by comparing objects within the video field with a user specified size, shape and color. Graphics can be repositioned or lines or other graphic elements can be generated which track the movement of the reflective element.
Claims8
A system for creating a composite video signal having a background portion and a foreground portion, said foreground portion representing a foreground scene containing a moving reflective object having a predetermined color and size, said foreground portion defined by a field of video information provided by a video source having red, blue and green components, said red, blue and green components having been converted to a digital representation, said system comprising:
- a) color comparison means for comparing the component of said red, blue, and green video signal, corresponding to the color of said reflective object, to predefined minimum and maximum red, green and blue values, and generating a first signal representing the results of said comparison;
- b) means for computing the size and shape of an object within a video field, by scanning in left, right, top, and bottom directions for pixels having a predefined color;
- c) size and shape comparison means for comparing the size and shape of said pixels having said predefined color to a predefined size and shape and generating a second signal representing the results of the comparison;
- d) means for specifying the relative position of said reflective object within said video field when said first and second signals indicate that the pixels match the predefined color, size and shape;
- e) means for supplying the specified relative position to a graphics computer which uses the supplied position to generate a computer generated graphical image represented by signals which are added to said background portion in real time for displaying the graphical image at the specified relative position on a display device such that the graphical image tracks the movement of said reflective object as it moves in said video field.
A method for creating a composite video signal having a background portion and a foreground portion, said foreground portion representing a foreground scene containing a moving reflective object having a predetermined color and size, said foreground portion defined by a field of video information provided by a video source having red, blue and green components, said red, blue and green components, having been converted to a digital representation, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) comparing the component of a said video signal corresponding to the color of said reflective object to a predefined color generating a first signal representing the results of said comparison;
- b) computing the size and shape of an object within a video field, by scanning in left, right, top, and bottom directions for pixels having a predefined color;
- c) comparing the size and shape of said pixels having said predefined color within said video field to a predefined size and shape and generating a second signal representing the results of the comparison;
- d) specifying the relative position of said reflective object within said video field when said first and second signals indicate that the pixels match the predefined color, size and shape;
- and
- e) supplying the specified relative position to a graphics computer which generates an image signal to be added to said background portion in real time for displaying a graphical image at the specified relative position on a display device such that the graphical image tracks the movement of said reflective object as it moves in said video field.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.