Sports scene analysis and visualization from multiple-view video

We introduce methods for sports scene analysis and visualization from multiple videos captured with multiple cameras. As the scene analysis, we present a method for tracking multiple soccer players. Tracking is done by integrating the tracking data from all cameras, using the geometrical relationship between cameras called homography. Integrating information from all cameras enables stable tracking on the scene, where the tracking by a single camera often fails in the case of occlusion. We also present a method for free-viewpoint visualization of a soccer game as a technique for visualizing the soccer scene. The free-viewpoint image is synthesized by view interpolation between actual cameras near the virtual viewpoint at each frame. Such free-viewpoint video can also be presented in a system of augmented reality (AR) for immersive visualization of soccer matches