Automatic determination and monitoring of vehicles on a racetrack with corresponding imagery data for broadcast

Abstract

Methods and systems for automatically tracking and analyzing imagery data of at least one vehicle on a racetrack comprising. A video event management system with a plurality of video cameras positioned around a racetrack determines the presence of the at least one vehicle and based on a weighted event score corresponding to dynamics for the at least one vehicle and other objects captures video imagery and stills and generates at least one subframe. Excess video imagery data and excess stills data are discarded based on metadata of linked subframes.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for automatically tracking and analyzing imagery data of at least one vehicle on a racetrack comprising:
 a video event management system including a processor, a memory, and a database receiving video imagery from a plurality of video cameras positioned around the racetrack;   selecting the at least one vehicle based on a celebrity status of at least one vehicle driver;   selecting imagery data of the at least one vehicle from the video imagery;   based on the imagery data, determining vehicle dynamics;   generating at least one floating subframe within a full frame of a first video camera of the plurality of video cameras encompassing the at least one vehicle and/or a vehicle path;   determining an imminent vehicle entry into a field of view of a second video camera of the plurality of video cameras;   generating at least one second floating subframe based on the imminent vehicle entry;   retrieving camera image velocity data and camera image position data of the at least one floating subframe and transforming the camera image velocity data and the camera image position data based on an angle and a position of the second video camera of the plurality of video cameras such that the at least one floating subframe is operable to continuously and smoothly track the at least one vehicle from the at least one floating subframe and the at least one second floating subframe; and   adjusting subframe coordinates of the at least one floating subframe based on the vehicle dynamics.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining a direction and a point of entry of the at least one vehicle into the field of view of the second video camera of the plurality of video cameras. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the imagery data of at least one vehicle is selected based on telemetry data of the at least one vehicle. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle dynamics include real-world positions, real-world velocities, camera image positions, and/or camera image velocities for the at least one vehicle. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of video cameras are unmanned and are fixed with stationary fields of view. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising constructing the subframe coordinates with the camera image positions of the at least one vehicle centered within the subframe coordinates. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein adjusting the subframe coordinates comprises setting a tracking velocity for the subframe coordinates to match a direction of the at least one vehicle based on the camera image positions and the camera image velocities of the at least one vehicle. 
     
     
         8 . A system for automatically tracking and analyzing imagery data of at least one vehicle on a racetrack comprising:
 a video event management system including a processor, a memory, and a database;   wherein the video event management system is operable to:
 receive video imagery from a plurality of video cameras around the racetrack with a combined field of view of the racetrack; 
 select imagery data of the at least one vehicle from the video imagery; 
 based on the imagery data, determine vehicle dynamics, 
 generate at least one floating subframe within a full frame of a video camera encompassing the at least one vehicle or vehicle path, wherein the video camera is selected from the plurality of video cameras; and 
   adjust subframe coordinates based on the vehicle dynamics.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the adjusting the subframe coordinates comprises setting a tracking velocity for the subframe coordinates to match a velocity and a direction of the at least one vehicle based on the camera image positions and the camera image velocities of the at least one vehicle. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one floating subframe includes metadata including subframe metadata and vehicle metadata. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , further comprising at least one data acquisition and positioning system including a Global Positioning System (GPS) antenna and a telemetry antenna attached to the at least one vehicle, wherein the video event management system provides telemetry data of the at least one vehicle. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the vehicle dynamics include real-world positions, real-world velocities, camera image positions, and/or camera image velocities for the at least one vehicle. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the imagery data of the at least one vehicle is selected based on a celebrity status of at least one vehicle driver. 
     
     
         14 . A method for automatically tracking and analyzing imagery data and telemetry data of at least one vehicle on a racetrack comprising:
 a video event management system including a processor, a memory, and a database:
 receiving video imagery from a plurality of video cameras positioned around the racetrack; 
 storing the video imagery; 
 selecting imagery data of the at least one vehicle from the video imagery; 
 based on the imagery data, determining vehicle dynamics; 
 deriving an event score for the at least one vehicle by application of rules to the imagery data, wherein the rules include determining a celebrity status of at least one vehicle driver; 
 generating at least one floating subframe within a full frame of a video camera encompassing the at least one vehicle or vehicle path, wherein the video camera is selected from the plurality of video cameras; 
 adjusting subframe coordinates based on the vehicle dynamics; 
 linking the at least one floating subframe to the video imagery and the stills of the video imagery; and 
 storing video imagery data for a specific subframe based on the event score. 
   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the vehicle dynamics include real-world positions, real-world velocities, camera image positions, and/or camera image velocities for the at least one vehicle. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the plurality of video cameras are fixed with stationary fields of view. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the imagery data of at least one vehicle is selected based on telemetry data of the at least one vehicle. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the adjusting the subframe coordinates further comprises setting a tracking velocity for the subframe coordinates to match a direction of the at least one vehicle based on the camera image positions and the camera image velocities of the at least one vehicle. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising discarding excess video imagery data and excess stills data of the linked video imagery and the linked stills of the video imagery based on the event score. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one floating subframe includes metadata including subframe metadata and vehicle metadata including the event score.