Real-time camera field-view tracking in soccer video

Soccer video content-based analysis remains a challenging problem due to the lack of structure in a soccer game. To automate game and tactic analysis, we need to detect and track important activities such as ball possession in a soccer video that is highly correlated to the camera´s field-view. In this paper, we present a system that tracks the camera´s field-view in a soccer video in real-time. It utilizes a host of content-based visual cues that are obtained by independent threads running in parallel. The result is visualized as an active rectangular bounding box that approximates the camera´s field of view superimposed on a virtual soccer field. Experimental results show that the system can reliably track the camera field-view as the game progresses.