JP7612182B2 - Information presentation system for visually impaired people - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information presentation system for visually impaired people that presents spatial information to enable them to enjoy sports events and the like.

When visually impaired people try to watch sports events such as soccer or baseball, they cannot enjoy them visually on the visual monitors (such as televisions) that people with normal vision (hereafter referred to as sighted people) use to watch sports. As a result, visually impaired people are forced to use their remaining hearing ability to listen to live sports broadcasts on the radio and follow the flow of the game from the commentary. However, because the commentary by announcers and others does not always accurately convey the progress of the sporting event, there are cases where visually impaired people are not satisfied with watching sports.

In this way, when appropriate information presentation differs from that of able-bodied people, such as visually or hearing impaired people, an invention has been proposed that presents content such as live sports broadcasts in an easy-to-understand manner by selecting from a wide variety of pre-prepared presentation methods according to the individual's physical ability (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The invention described in Patent Document 1 replaces part of the original content, such as the commentary, with alternative presentation content, such as the sound of the ball hitting the ground, which is easier to understand audibly, to assist visually impaired people in watching sports, etc., and present the content as more enjoyable.

JP 2007-184740 A

However, the invention described in Patent Document 1 merely adds auditory information to supplement the live commentary of sports and the like, or partially replaces the live commentary, and does not directly present spatial information about the sport being played to visually impaired people. For example, when watching soccer, you can get a sense of the action of the game by following the movements of the players and the soccer ball, but it is difficult to convey the movements of key players or the path of the soccer ball to visually impaired people using real-time audio information alone.

The present invention aims to provide an information presentation system for visually impaired people that can present information in a way that allows them to enjoy sports competitions with a sense of realism.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an imaging means capable of acquiring spatial information of a sports competition in which athletes move around on a competition field that can be considered as a plane, as an image including at least the competition field; fixed object information acquisition means for extracting the positions and shapes of at least fixed objects necessary for the progress of the competition from the image acquired by the imaging means; athlete position information acquisition means for acquiring position information of athletes competing within the competition field; information presentation map generation means for setting an information presentation field in a similar shape to the competition field at an arbitrary ratio and generating an information presentation map in which the fixed objects and athletes are respectively mapped to corresponding positions on the information presentation field; and the information presentation map generated by the information presentation map generation means is reproduced on a spatial information presentation device that can be experienced by visually impaired persons, allowing visually impaired persons to recognize the position information of athletes within the competition field on the spatial information presentation device.

In the above configuration, the imaging means captures images including the competition field as moving images at a predetermined time interval, and the spatial information presentation device presents information on the movement of the athletes as the competition progresses to the visually impaired person.

The system is characterized by having a movement history recording means for recording the position information of the athlete in chronological order each time an information presentation map is generated based on the moving image acquired by the imaging means.

The above configuration is characterized by comprising a condition management support means for generating support information useful for managing the athlete's condition based on the athlete's movement history information recorded in the movement history recording means.

In the above configuration, the spatial information presentation device is characterized in that it uses a pin display in which tactile elements that can be converted between an OFF state in which no tactile pins protrude from the reference plane and an ON state in which the tactile pins protrude from the reference plane are arranged at equal intervals on a two-dimensional surface, and the position of the athlete is indicated by the tactile pins in the ON state.

In the above configuration, when there is a dynamic object that moves within the competition field during a sports competition, a dynamic object position information acquisition means is provided for acquiring position information of the dynamic object, and the information presentation map generation means generates an information presentation map that includes the dynamic object in the mapping.

In the above configuration, the imaging means captures images including the competition field as moving images at a predetermined time interval, and the spatial information presentation device presents information on the movement of athletes and dynamic objects as the competition progresses to the visually impaired person.

The above configuration is characterized by the provision of a movement history recording means for recording the position information of the athlete and the dynamic object in chronological order each time an information presentation map is generated based on the moving image acquired by the imaging means.

The above configuration is characterized by comprising a condition management support means for generating support information useful for managing the condition of an athlete based on the movement history information of the athlete or dynamic object recorded in the movement history recording means.

In the above configuration, the spatial information presentation device is characterized in that it uses a pin display in which tactile elements that can be converted between an OFF state in which no tactile pins protrude from the reference plane and an ON state in which the tactile pins protrude from the reference plane are arranged at equal intervals on a two-dimensional surface, and the positions of the athlete and the dynamic object are notified by the tactile pins in the ON state.

In the above configuration, when multiple athletes are present on the field during a sporting event, the vibration state of the tactile pins is made different so that each athlete can be identified.

In the above configuration, when multiple teams consisting of multiple athletes are present on the field during a sports competition, the vibration state of the tactile pins is made different so that each team can be identified.

According to the present invention, sports competitions that take place on a competition field that can be considered flat and involve the movement of athletes are simplified with an information presentation map that maps athletes within the information presentation field, and visually impaired people can experience the information presentation map via a spatial information presentation device. This allows visually impaired people to know the positions and movements of athletes within the competition field as spatial information, enabling them to enjoy sports competitions with a sense of realism.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an information presentation system for visually impaired people. 1A is an explanatory diagram of an example of a camera arrangement for photographing a competition field F. FIG. 1B is an external view of a photographed image P including the competition field F of interest. 1A is an image diagram of extracting only a portion of the competition field F from a photographed image P. 1B is an image diagram of correcting the competition field Pf extracted from the photographed image P to a competition field shape without distortion to create an information presentation field. 1C is an image diagram of an information presentation map in which fixed objects such as the field edge and center line, players of the first team and the second team, and a soccer ball as a dynamic object are mapped at appropriate positions on the information presentation field. FIG. 2 is a structural explanatory diagram of a pin display. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a display method of the pin display.

Next, an embodiment of an information presentation system for visually impaired people according to the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. Note that the information presentation system for visually impaired people of this embodiment presents information suitable for visually impaired people to enjoy sports competitions, but its target is not limited to presenting information about sports competitions. The information presentation system of this configuration can be applied to any field where it is desired to present spatial information such as the positions and movement paths of people and objects within a space that can be considered as a plane. It can also be used as an information presentation system for simplifying spatial information to convey it to sighted people in an easy-to-understand manner.

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of an information presentation system 1 for visually impaired persons. For example, it consists of a video camera 2 that captures images of the competition field F, a processing device 3 that processes the images to generate simplified spatial information, and a pin display 4 that allows the visually impaired person to experience the spatial information generated by the processing device 3 as a tactile sensation of the fingers. The positions of athletes within the competition field F can be identified by the processing device 3 equipped with image recognition technology, but an athlete position information acquisition means 5 (described in detail later) that does not require image processing technology may also be provided separately. The information processed by the processing device 3 can also be output and displayed on a visual display device 6 for sighted persons (such as a television display or a smartphone screen).

The video camera 2 is an imaging means capable of acquiring spatial information of a sports competition in which athletes move around on a competition field F that can be considered to be flat, as an image including at least the competition field F. If the image including the competition field F is acquired as a moving image at a predetermined time interval (e.g., 30 fps or more), the moving image can be acquired with the same level of smoothness as a television broadcast, but since the information is presented to visually impaired people, it is considered that about 1 fps is sufficient for practical purposes. For example, the image acquisition by the video camera 2 is performed at a standard 30 fps or 60 fps, and the processing device 3 records this moving image as a competition video, and an information presentation map is generated every 30 frames or every 60 frames.

Here, FIG. 2(a) shows an example of a case where a soccer court (short side x long side: 45-90m x 90-120m) is taken as the playing field F and is filmed by a video camera 2. Since soccer is a sport in which players and a ball move around within a rectangular court that can be considered as a plane, the progress of the soccer game can be understood by converting the positions of the players and the ball on the court into simplified two-dimensional spatial information. To do this, it is necessary to obtain the soccer court as a distortion-free two-dimensional surface and to accurately reproduce the positions of the players and the ball on the court. In a stadium with a canopy such as a dome stadium, it may be possible to film the soccer court from directly above, but in a normal stadium, filming a soccer court from directly above requires large-scale equipment, which is not realistic.

In this embodiment, therefore, the camera support 7 is erected at a position approximately 15 m away from the center of one of the short sides, and the video camera 2 is placed on the top of the camera support 7 (at a height of approximately 7 m). This installation position of the video camera 2 is one example. As long as it can capture an image P (see FIG. 2(b)) that includes the entire range of the competition field F, the detailed installation position of the video camera 2 is not particularly limited. When taking moving images with the video camera 2, it is desirable that the shooting position of the video camera 2 is stably fixed and does not easily move due to the influence of wind, etc., so that the structure of the camera support 7 is preferably a tripod structure that is resistant to external forces and twisting in the lateral direction, rather than a simple pole structure.

The image P captured by the video camera 2 is supplied to the image processing unit 31 of the processing device 3, and simplified two-dimensional information of the playing field F is obtained using known image recognition technology, etc. First, as shown in FIG. 3(a), only the portion of the image P that corresponds to the playing field F is extracted as a playing field image Pf. To extract this playing field image Pf, the image processing unit 31 identifies four lines that form the outer edge of the soccer court (the left and right sidelines, the front goal line connecting both ends of the sidelines, and the back goal line). Note that since the image P captured by the video camera 2 is likely to contain distortion due to the lens, it is desirable to perform distortion correction, etc. on the image P before performing the extraction process of the playing field image Pf.

The trapezoidal image range (see FIG. 3(b)) extracted as the competition field image Pf contains information on fixed objects (such as the outer edge lines of the soccer court, the center line, and the center mark), players (players on both teams), and dynamic objects (the soccer ball). Therefore, the image processing unit 31 is provided with fixed object information acquisition means 31a, player position information acquisition means 31b, and dynamic object position information acquisition means 31d. These pieces of information (fixed object information, player position information, dynamic object position information) are supplied to the information presentation map generation means 32.

This information presentation map generating means 32 generates an information presentation map 8 (see FIG. 3(c)) that simplifies various information within the competition field F, and the information presentation map is reproduced by the projections and recesses of pins on the pin display 4 controlled via the pin display control means 33. This allows visually impaired people to quickly grasp two-dimensional spatial information such as the positions of players and the ball on the competition field F by touching the information presentation map on the pin display 4. Furthermore, if the information presentation map on the pin display 4 is updated in a short time of about one second, visually impaired people can grasp the movement of players and the ball using only tactile information from their fingers, enabling them to watch soccer with a sense of realism.

The information group acquired by the image processing unit 31 (fixed object information, player position information, dynamic object position information) can also be supplied to the competition database 34 and stored as a competition history. For example, the movement history of each player and the movement history of dynamic objects during the match are recorded in the movement history recording means 34a, and fixed object information on the competition field F where the competition was held is recorded in the competition field information storage means 34b. Then, by linking the movement history recorded in the movement history recording means 34a with the competition field information recorded in the competition field information storage means 34b and supplying them to the information presentation map generating means 32, the information presentation map can be reproduced in chronological order. In other words, according to the information presentation system 1 for visually impaired persons of this embodiment, past competition contents can be played back on the pin display 4 like a video image.

Here, an example of image processing by the image processing unit 31 will be described. First, the fixed object information acquisition means 31a is a function for extracting the position and shape of fixed objects necessary for the progress of the game. The competition field image Pf cut out from the image P can be analyzed by a perspective projection method based on a vanishing point determined by the position and orientation of the video camera 2. Therefore, by transforming the competition field image Pf and matching it with a virtual field frame Fr that has the same aspect ratio as the soccer court, a reproduced field image can be obtained that reproduces the positions and shapes of the sidelines, center lines, etc. drawn on the field surface.

As shown in FIG. 3(c), in the case of a soccer court, the positions and shapes of the outer edge line L1 surrounded by a pair of sidelines and a pair of goal lines, the center line L2 that divides the court in two in the middle, the center circle L3, and the goal area dividing line L4 can be extracted. In an actual soccer court, many more lines and marks are drawn inside the court, so it is possible to extract all of them as fixed objects. However, if all of the fixed objects that can be extracted are included in the information presentation map 8, there is a concern that the amount of information provided will be excessive and may hinder visually impaired people from understanding the information, so it is preferable to narrow down the fixed objects appropriately.

However, in order to recognize the entire soccer court, the outer edge line L1 is an essential fixed object. For example, if the display area of the pin display 4 is approximately the same as the aspect ratio of the soccer court, the outer edge of the display area of the pin display 4 can be set to the outer edge line L1, which has the advantage that it is not necessary to represent the outer edge line L1 with the unevenness of the pins. In addition, since the goal G, which is an important fixed object in soccer, is placed outside the soccer court, if the goal G is included as one of the fixed objects in the information presentation map 8, the soccer court displayed on the pin display 4 will become slightly smaller. This is fine if the display area of the pin display 4 is large enough, but if you want to display the entire soccer court in the display area of the pin display 4, you can represent only two points indicating the opening positions of the goal G with pins.

The player position information acquisition means 31b is a function for acquiring position information of players competing in the competition field F. When recognizing players from an image P, an image P with sufficient resolution is required to extract players at the back of the soccer court. However, if the image P is acquired with a high-resolution video camera such as 4K or 8K and pre-processed with noise removal, players can be extracted with high accuracy. In addition, when soccer is set as the sport for which information is provided, it is necessary to identify not only the position of each player on the competition field but also the team to which each player belongs. If each team wears a distinguishable uniform, the team to which the player belongs can be identified by image recognition. Note that if the uniforms worn by both teams are similar in color or pattern and misrecognition is likely to occur, the recognition rate can be increased by using identification markings such as sashes and armbands.

When obtaining position information of players in the competition field F from image P, if the image is first cut out to the competition field image Pf, some of the players may be cut off from the image and not be recognized as players. Therefore, image recognition of the players is performed in image P, and the points on the field where each player stands are pointed out as the player's position, and the image is cut out to the competition field image Pf and matched with the virtual field frame Fr. In this way, the position information of each player can be specified as points on the information presentation map 8. For example, as shown in FIG. 3(c), the positions of players T1a to T1f belonging to the first team and players T2a to T2f belonging to the second team on the soccer court can be specified and mapped to appropriate locations on the field.

When identifying the position of the athlete from the image P acquired by the video camera 2, there is a possibility that the athlete at the back cannot be recognized because he/she is hidden by the player at the front, or the athlete may fall or crouch down, making it difficult to recognize the athlete. Therefore, the athlete position information acquisition means 31b may cache the past athlete position information such as the previous one or the time before, estimate the movement direction and speed from the past athlete position information, predict the behavior, and point to the provisional athlete position. Also, in order to identify each player on the competition field by image recognition of the bib number and uniform number, it is necessary to be able to acquire an image P that can identify the bib number of all the players every time. However, it is practically impossible to acquire an image P that can identify each player as an individual player every time. Therefore, before the start of the game, the bib number of each player on the field may be image recognized to identify each player, and during the game, the position of each player in the next image P may be matched with the individual player based on the behavior prediction of each player to identify the athlete position information.

In addition, all the players may be provided with a GPS position sensor 51, and the player position information acquisition means 5 may be used, which receives the position information from each position sensor 51 with the sensor receiver 52 (shown by the dashed line in FIG. 1). For example, when the video camera 2 acquires an image for generating the information presentation map, the sensor receiver 52 is instructed to acquire the player position information, and the player position information at that time is provided to the information presentation map generation means 32 and the competition database 34. In this way, if all the players have a position sensor 51, the position information of each player can be reliably grasped during the competition, and by previously linking the ID of each position sensor 51 with each individual player, it is possible to accurately record who was on each team, when, and where. Note that the position information obtained by the position sensor 51 is in a geographic coordinate system (latitude and longitude), so it is necessary to store in advance in the processing device 3 the geographic coordinate system of the reference position of the competition field F (for example, the center mark in the center of the court, the corner areas at the four corners, etc.) as known information.

When using the above-mentioned athlete position information acquisition means 5, a considerable number of expensive position sensors 51 must be prepared, which raises concerns about a significant increase in costs, whereas using athlete information acquisition means 31b using image recognition has the advantage of being able to reduce costs. Furthermore, when using athlete position information acquisition means 5, there is a possibility that the position sensor 51 may be damaged during a match, causing the athlete to disappear from the data record. Therefore, if athlete information acquisition means 31b that identifies the position of the athlete from the image P acquired by the video camera 2 is also provided, it will be possible to respond to the unlikely event of the loss of player data, and the reliability of the system as a whole can be improved.

The dynamic object position information acquisition means 31c is a function that acquires the position information of dynamic objects when there are dynamic objects moving within the competition field during a sporting event. If soccer is set as the sporting event for which information is provided, the only dynamic object that moves within the competition field is the soccer ball. When acquiring the position information of the soccer ball, image recognition processing is performed on the image P, and a point on the field where the spherical soccer ball is located is pointed out as the position of the dynamic object, which is then cut out into the competition field image Pf and matched with the virtual field frame Fr. In this way, the position information of the soccer ball B can be identified as a point on the information presentation map 8, and it can be mapped to the appropriate location within the field.

Since the soccer ball is even smaller than the players, it is desirable to obtain an image P with sufficient resolution to identify the position of the soccer ball by image recognition. In addition, if the soccer ball is behind the players and does not appear in the image P, if it is not visible enough to be recognized as a sphere, or if the soccer ball is kicked up and in the air, it is difficult to continue image recognition of the soccer ball throughout the game. Therefore, the dynamic object position information acquisition means 31c may cache past ball position information such as the previous or previous previous, and point to a tentative ball position from the past ball position information. In addition, since the movement of the soccer ball is closely related to the movement of the players, the cache of player position information may be used to predict ball position information taking into account the actions of the players. For example, if there are no players around the soccer ball based on past player position information, it can be predicted that the soccer ball is moving in the previous moving direction and speed. On the other hand, if the soccer ball was recognized near a player last time, but only that player can be seen this time, it is highly likely that the soccer ball is under the control of that player, so the ball's movement should not be predicted based on the previous ball movement direction and speed, and the ball's provisional position should be set behind that player.

It is also possible to obtain the position information of the soccer ball using a method other than image recognition. For example, a beacon oscillator is built into the soccer ball, and the beacon from the soccer ball is received by three or more beacon receivers. The source of the beacon is geometrically determined from the delay in the reception time of each receiver, and the position of the soccer ball is identified. This soccer ball position detection method has the advantage that the soccer ball will never go undetected, and even if the soccer ball has been kicked up and is in the air, the planar coordinates on the playing field can be accurately identified.

As described above, the information presentation map generating means 32, which receives the group of information acquired by the image processing unit 31, sets an information presentation field in which the competition field is similar in shape to an arbitrary ratio. A fixed object (outer edge line L1), players (first team players T1a-T1f and second team players T2a-T2f), and a dynamic object (soccer ball B) are each mapped to corresponding positions in this information presentation field to generate an information presentation map 8 as shown in FIG. 3(c). The pin display control means 33, which receives the information presentation map 8 from the information presentation map generating means 34, identifies the pin positions for reproducing the information presentation map 8 and outputs a control signal to the pin display 4.

The pin display 4 is one of the spatial presentation devices that presents spatial information to visually impaired people through the sense of touch of the fingers. The pin display 4 has a display area 42 formed on one surface (the top surface in FIG. 4) of an arbitrary housing 41. The display area 42 has a structure in which tactile elements 423 that can be converted between an OFF state in which the tactile pins 422 do not protrude from a reference surface 421a that is the outside of a substantially flat tactile panel 421, and an ON state in which the tactile pins protrude from the reference surface 421a are arranged at equal intervals on a two-dimensional surface. The pin insertion holes 421b provided in the tactile panel 421 have a point-to-point pitch of about 2 mm to correspond to the resolution of skin sensation.

In the pin display 4, there are various methods for driving the tactile pins 422. For example, the properties of a piezoelectric element that expands by controlling the flow of electricity can be used to make the tactile pins 422 protrude from the reference surface 421a or pull them back so that they are flush with the reference surface 421a. Since the piezoelectric element has good response to expansion, the tactile pins 422 can be turned on and off at, for example, 50 Hz. Therefore, if the information presentation map 8 is generated in real time based on the moving images captured by the video camera 2 at 30 fps, spatial information can be presented in real time on the pin display 4. However, even if the display of the pin display 4 is updated at 30 fps, it is difficult to recognize all of the changes while feeling them with your fingers, so in reality, information updates at about 1 fps to 2 fps are considered sufficient.

In addition, by changing the on/off change period of the tactile pins 422, it is possible to create a state in which the tactile pins 422 vibrate at different frequencies. In other words, if the on/off period of the tactile pins 422 is shorter than the update period of the information presentation map 8, it can be used as one of the pieces of information that can be identified in the information presentation map 8. Therefore, by changing the vibration frequency of the athletes and dynamic objects mapped on the information presentation map 8 generated by the information presentation map generating means 32, the visually impaired person can distinguish between them from the vibration state of the tactile pins 422. In addition, by making the athletes of the first team the first group and the athletes of the second team the second group, and changing the vibration frequency of the first group and the second group, it is possible for the visually impaired person to distinguish between the two teams. For example, if the ball B is set to 0 Hz, the first team players T1a-T1f to 5 Hz, and the second team players T2a-T2f to 10 Hz, and the information presentation map 8 is reproduced on the pin display 4, visually impaired people can grasp the movement of the players and the ball by team using only the tactile information from their fingers, and can watch soccer with a sense of realism.

In addition, since the pin display 4 is provided with an operation unit 43 that can be operated by the user, it is also possible to make a request such as enlarging/reducing the display content by operating the operation unit 43. For example, if a pressure sensor or the like is configured to detect whether the tactile pin 422 is intentionally pressed, the user can press any point in the display area 42 of the pin display 4, and the pressed point can be recognized as the user's selected point. Therefore, when the user presses any point in the display area 42 to select a point and operates the enlargement button or reduction button from the operation unit 43, it is possible to make an operation request for enlarging/reducing the selected point to the processing device 3. The operation request from the pin display 4 is input to the pin display control means 33, which outputs a control signal converted into a pin arrangement that enlarges/reduces the selected point part of the information presentation map 8 to the pin display 4. As a result, the display area 42 of the pin display 4 is updated to information according to the user's request. When the information presentation map 8 is enlarged or reduced, the pin display control means 33 may request the information presentation map generation means 32 to create an information presentation map according to the resolution, and the information presentation map may be regenerated with objects and athletes of a size according to the resolution.

Furthermore, when turning on and off the tactile pins 422 on the pin display 4, it is possible to express the ball or pins by raising multiple tactile pins 422 at the same time. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to express the ball position as a cross, and further to give a distinctive feature to a player by raising one or multiple tactile pins 422 at the same time, and to encourage recognition of the type of pin by skin sensation in combination with the above-mentioned electrification control.

There is also a method of displaying a rectangle by connecting tactile pins 422 representing players together, allowing the positional relationship of the tactile pins 422 representing players to be confirmed. Even for visually impaired people who use Braille on a daily basis, it is difficult to recognize the positions of scattered tactile pins 422 such as players and balls by touching them. By displaying a rectangle, even if the user roughly scans the pin display with their fingertip, the finger will come into contact with a line, and by following that line, the player's position as a vertex of the rectangle will be reached. Furthermore, since the shape of the rectangle represents the soccer formation, it is a presentation method that allows visually impaired spectators to learn the formation. In addition, it can be used as a tool to enable visually impaired soccer players to confirm the formation.

As a method for creating the above-mentioned rectangle, as shown in FIG. 5, a good way is to enclose the tactile pin 422 representing the player with a circumscribing circle, and then form a polygon with the vertices at the points where the tactile pin 422 comes into contact when the circumscribing circle is shrunk.

In addition, if the pin display 4 allows the user to select points, it is also possible to provide information on fixed objects, athletes, and dynamic objects in the displayed information presentation map 8 by voice. For example, when the user selects and specifies a fixed object, athlete, or dynamic object in the information presentation map 8 and operates a voice request button, the name associated with the selected object, the name of the selected athlete, etc., are read out by a synthetic voice. In this way, the user can learn information that cannot be obtained from the spatial information presented on the pin display 4 by operating the display himself, which is highly convenient.

As described above, the information presentation system 1 for visually impaired people can simplify the spatial information of sports competitions held on a competition field that can be considered flat, and present it as spatial information that can be experienced by visually impaired people, making it possible for them to enjoy sports competitions with a sense of realism.

In the present embodiment, the information presentation system 1 for visually impaired people applies soccer as the sport for which spatial information is presented, but it can also be applied to watching ball games such as baseball, rugby, ice hockey, water polo, and badminton, as well as athletics and swimming (sports without moving objects) in general, where athletes move around on a field that can be considered flat. Furthermore, the information presentation system 1 for visually impaired people can also be applied to watching sports such as horse racing, bicycle racing, boat racing, and auto racing.

In addition, in the information presentation system 1 for visually impaired persons of this embodiment, the pin display 4 is used as a spatial presentation device for visually impaired persons, but any device that allows visually impaired persons to experience spatial information can be used instead. For example, instead of pins, the information presentation map can be reproduced using a tactile display that provides a sense of touch through the protruding pressure of air. Alternatively, the information presentation map can be reproduced using a VR device that is worn on the body and provides the sensation of touching virtual objects in a virtual space.

Furthermore, the information presentation system 1 for visually impaired people in this embodiment not only presents spatial information about sports and various competitions to visually impaired people, but also provides useful information to sighted people as well as visually impaired people by utilizing various information acquired to present the spatial information. For example, the movement history recording means 34a of the competition database 34 records the movement history of each athlete, and by processing this information appropriately, it can be used to manage the condition of the athletes. To achieve this, the processing device 3 in this embodiment is provided with a condition management support means 35 (shown by a dashed line in Figure 1) that can receive and process history information from the competition database 34.

From the history information (information of a certain athlete during a certain match) recorded in the movement history recording means 34a, the distance traveled in one second can be determined from the position at a certain time and the position one second before that. By dividing this distance traveled by the time (one second), the movement speed at that time [m/s] can be determined. If this movement speed is high, the athlete moved fast. In other words, a high value for the movement speed can be interpreted as a sprint, and a low value as a jog. By counting the number of times the athlete moved at a high movement speed, the number of sprints performed during one match can be determined. Furthermore, by summing up the duration of the athlete's high movement speeds, the sprint time during one match can be determined. Therefore, the condition management support means 35 determines the number of sprints and sprint time, and displays them to the sighted person on the visual display device 6. It is considered that an athlete who sprints many times and for a long time is more fatigued than an athlete who does not. Since fatigue can lead to injury, for athletes who make a significant number of dashes and whose dash durations are long, appropriate measures (condition management) such as "resting the athlete from the next match" or "asking about their physical condition" can be taken based on the history information. The number of dashes and dash time calculated by the condition management support means 35 may be output to the pin display 4 via the pin display control means 33. This is because condition management is also effective for athletes with visual impairments.

In addition, the sum of all the athlete's trajectories, which are a series of all movement positions, can be interpreted as the total movement distance during one game based on the history information recorded in the movement history recording means 34a (information on a certain athlete during a certain game). Athletes who have traveled a long total distance are considered to be more fatigued than athletes who have not. Therefore, the condition management support means 35 calculates the total movement distance during one game and displays it on the visual display device 6 to the sighted person. Since fatigue can lead to injury, for athletes who have traveled a significantly long total distance, appropriate measures (condition management) such as "resting the athlete from the next game" or "interviewing the athlete about his/her physical condition" can be taken based on the history information. The total movement distance calculated by the condition management support means 35 may be output to the pin display 4 via the pin display control means 33. This is because condition management is also effective for athletes with visual impairments.

Furthermore, the information presentation system 1 for visually impaired players according to this embodiment can be used as a play feedback tool and a self-learning tool for visually impaired players. While a normal player (sighted player) can learn and improve himself by watching a video of his own play and a reference play, a visually impaired player cannot learn by watching a video. Therefore, he has a problem that he does not know whether his play is good or bad, cannot correct a problem because he cannot check the success or failure of a shot, and cannot learn by watching a model play, and does not have an opportunity to efficiently improve his skills. However, the information presentation system 1 for visually impaired players according to this embodiment records the history information of the match in the competition database 34, so that an information presentation map can be generated based on the history information and reproduced on the pin display 4. In other words, visually impaired players can also grasp the spatial information of their own play and reference plays, so the information presentation system 1 for visually impaired players can be a play feedback tool and a self-learning tool for visually impaired players.

The above describes the information presentation system for visually impaired people according to the present invention based on an embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and the scope of the invention encompasses all information presentation systems for visually impaired people that can be realized as long as the configuration described in the claims is not changed.

Reference Signs List 1 Information provision system for disabled persons 2 Video camera 3 Processing device 31 Image processing unit 31a Fixed object information acquisition means 31b Athlete position information acquisition means 31c Dynamic object position information acquisition means 32 Information presentation map generation means 33 Pin display control means 4 Pin display F Competition field

Claims (12)

An imaging device capable of photographing spatial information of a sporting event taking place on a field that can be considered as a plane, with athletes moving about, from a fixed position overlooking the field at an angle, and acquiring a real-time image of the sporting event that includes at least the entire area of the field;
fixed object information acquisition means for extracting fixed object information by extracting positions and shapes of fixed objects necessary for the progress of the competition, at least by extracting a competition field image which is a portion corresponding to the competition field from the image acquired by the imaging means and transforming it to fit the competition field into a virtual field frame having the same aspect ratio as the competition field ;
athlete position information acquisition means for acquiring the positions of the athletes in the images when the imaging means acquires an image, and then extracting and transforming the competition field image from the images and matching it with the field frame to acquire position information of the athletes competing within the competition field;
an information presentation map generating means for setting an information presentation field in a similar shape to the competition field at an arbitrary ratio based on the fixed object information acquired by the fixed object information acquiring means and the position information of the athlete acquired by the athlete position information acquiring means, and generating an information presentation map in which the fixed objects and the athlete are respectively mapped to corresponding positions in the information presentation field,
An information presentation system for visually impaired people, characterized in that the information presentation map generated by the information presentation map generation means is reproduced in real time on a spatial information presentation device that can be experienced by visually impaired people, allowing the visually impaired people to recognize the position information of the athletes within the competition field on the spatial information presentation device. the imaging means captures real-time images of the sport event including the entire field of the sport event as moving images at a predetermined time interval;
2. The information presentation system for visually impaired people according to claim 1, characterized in that the spatial information presentation device presents information about the movement of the athletes as the competition progresses to the visually impaired people. The information presentation system for visually impaired people described in claim 2 is characterized in that it is provided with a movement history recording means for recording the position information of the athlete in chronological order each time the information presentation map is generated based on the moving image acquired by the imaging means. The information presentation system for visually impaired people as described in claim 3, characterized in that it further comprises a condition management support means for generating support information useful for managing the condition of the athlete based on the athlete 's movement history information recorded in the movement history recording means. The spatial information presentation device uses a pin display in which tactile elements that can be converted between an OFF state in which tactile pins do not protrude from a reference surface and an ON state in which the tactile pins protrude from the reference surface are arranged at equal intervals on a two-dimensional surface,
An information presentation system for visually impaired people as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the tactile pins in the on state indicate the position of the athlete, or the position of the athlete and a line representing the formation connecting the athletes. a dynamic object position information acquisition means for acquiring the position of the dynamic object in the image when there is a dynamic object moving within the competition field during a sports competition, and then extracting and transforming the competition field image from the image and matching it with the field frame to acquire position information of the dynamic object, and when the position of the dynamic object cannot be specified and the position information of the dynamic object cannot be acquired in the image, acquiring the position information of the dynamic object predicted from the past position information of the dynamic object or the past position information of the player ,
2. The information presentation system for visually impaired people according to claim 1, wherein the information presentation map generating means generates the information presentation map in which the dynamic object is also mapped. the imaging means captures real-time images of the sport event including the entire field of the sport event as moving images at a predetermined time interval;
7. The information presentation system for visually impaired people according to claim 6, characterized in that the spatial information presentation device presents information on the movement of the athletes and the dynamic objects as the competition progresses to the visually impaired people. The information presentation system for visually impaired people described in claim 7 is characterized in that it is provided with a movement history recording means for recording the position information of the athlete and the dynamic object in chronological order each time the information presentation map is generated based on the moving image acquired by the imaging means. The information presentation system for visually impaired people described in claim 8 is characterized in that it is equipped with a condition management support means for generating support information useful for managing the condition of the athlete based on the movement history information of the athlete or the dynamic object recorded in the movement history recording means. The spatial information presentation device uses a pin display in which tactile elements that can be converted between an OFF state in which tactile pins do not protrude from a reference surface and an ON state in which the tactile pins protrude from the reference surface are arranged at equal intervals on a two-dimensional surface,
An information presentation system for visually impaired people as described in any one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the tactile pins in the on state indicate the position of the athlete, or the position of the athlete and the line representing the formation connecting the athletes, and the position of the dynamic object. An information presentation system for visually impaired persons as described in claim 5 or claim 10, characterized in that when there are multiple athletes on the competition field during a sports competition, the vibration state of the tactile pins is made different so that each athlete can be identified. An information presentation system for visually impaired people as described in claim 5 or claim 10, characterized in that when there are multiple teams consisting of multiple athletes on the competition field during a sports competition, the vibration state of the tactile pins is made different so that each team can be identified.

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