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.