Television displays having selected inserted indicia

Patent 5264933 Issued on November 23, 1993. Estimated Expiration Date:

January 28, 2012. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

Patent References

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Inventors

Assignee

Princeton Electronic Billboard, Inc.

Application

No. 826754 filed on 01/28/1992

US Classes:

348/578, Special effects345/419, Three-dimension348/61, SPECIAL APPLICATIONS348/722STUDIO EQUIPMENT

Examiners

Primary: Powell, Mark R.
Assistant: Lee, Michael G.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Plevy; Arthur l.

International Classes

H04N 005/262
H04N 005/272

Abstract

An apparatus and method of altering video images to enable the addition of images, message, slogans or indicia in such a manner that they appear to be part of the original image as displayed. The application of the apparatus and method is particularly adapted to be used as advertising during sporting events or other events whereby an operator selects a portion of the video image display (16) such as a portion of a tennis court (12), recognizes the selected portion (17) and inserts a logo or advertising message (27) into that selected portion. The message is inserted into the selected portion of the court independent of how the scene is being panned or viewed by the television camera. The apparatus employs a pattern recognition algorithm such as the Burt Pyramid Algorithm to recognize the specific selected image portion and by means of the image processor (17, 20, 27) substitute the logo into the first image (16) to provide a display which appears as if the inserted image was actually painted on or otherwise permanently positioned on the court. Thus the inserted images are seamlessly and realistically incorporated into the original even as the original scene is moved, panned, magnified, zoomed or otherwise altered in size or perspective. The resulting composite image appears to the television viewer to be absolutely real and present at the scene.

Other References

Burt, Peter J.; Pyramid-Based Extraction of Local Image Features with Applications to Motion and Texture Analysis
Burt, Peter J.; Fast Algorithms for Estimating Local Image Propertie