Automatic replay generation for soccer video broadcasting

Abstract

While most current approaches for sports video analysis are based on broadcast video, in this paper, we present a novel approach for highlight detection and automatic replay generation for soccer videos taken by the main camera. This research is important as current soccer highlight detection and replay generation from a live game is a labor-intensive process. A robust multi-level, multi-model event detection framework is proposed to detect the event and event boundaries from the video taken by the main camera. This framework explores the possible analysis cues, using a mid-level representation to bridge the gap between low-level features and high-level events. The event detection results and mid-level representation are used to generate replays which are automatically inserted into the video. Experimental results are promising and found to be comparable with those generated by broadcast professionals.