Competition viewing system, spectator terminal, video collection and provision device, program for spectator terminal, and program for video collection and provision device

Abstract

To allow a spectator to watch the performance of a player who cannot be seen directly.SOLUTION: A spectator terminal transmits, to a video collection and provision device, the name of an athlete selected from among multiple athletes participating in a competition and / or imaging location selected from the multiple imaging locations for imaging the competition of a predetermined athlete, and the terminal identification information of its own terminal to perform request registration. The video collection and provision device includes detection means that detects a recommended scene of an athlete's competition on the basis of video information collected from a plurality of cameras, registration means that receives a registration request from the spectator terminal and registers the athlete name and / or imaging location in association with the terminal identification information, and notification means that notifies the spectator terminals when the detection means detects a recommended scene of the athlete with the registered player name and / or a recommended scene at the registered imaging location.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a sports spectating system suitable for use by spectators who want to watch live sports events such as golf, gymnastics, Olympic games, etc. The present invention also relates to a spectator terminal and a video collection and provision device that constitute the sports spectating system, as well as a program for the spectator terminal and a program for the video collection and provision device. [Background technology]

[0002] When watching live sports events such as golf or gymnastics, it is difficult for spectators to simultaneously watch the plays and performances of multiple athletes who are in different positions. Even when multiple events, such as gymnastics or the Olympic Games, are held simultaneously in the same stadium, it is difficult to simultaneously watch the performances of athletes in those multiple events.

[0003] As an example of a live sports competition viewing system, for example, Patent Document 1 (see JP 2003-18583 A) discloses a system in which multiple television cameras are arranged, for example, in a stadium, and stream data captured by the multiple television cameras are synthesized to generate one synthetic stream data, and the synthetic stream data is distributed to a viewer terminal. Therefore, a viewer can select one of the synthetic stream data on the viewer terminal and view the data on the viewer terminal, thereby viewing live images as if he or she were moving around and watching the performances of athletes at other positions without leaving the comfort of his or her own home. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2003-18583 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, in sports competitions such as those described above, athletes are not always performing, but are sometimes moving or preparing for their next performance. Therefore, even if stream data shot by a specific television camera is selectively received from among stream data shot by multiple television cameras and displayed on a viewer terminal, it often does not show a scene in which an athlete is performing. On the other hand, during the selection, an athlete may be performing on another television camera.

[0006] For this reason, there is a risk that spectators will miss the performance of an athlete that they themselves wanted to see, or the performance of an event that they themselves wanted to see.

[0007] In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a sports viewing system that enables spectators of a sports competition in which multiple athletes perform simultaneously at different positions to watch the performances of their desired athletes or events without missing anything. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problem, the invention of claim 1 is as follows: A spectator terminal for watching the athletes compete; One or more cameras for photographing the athletes' performance; a video collection and provision device for collecting video streams of the video images captured by the camera and providing the video streams to the spectator terminal; A sports viewing system comprising: The spectator terminal includes: a registration request means for transmitting a player of a predetermined ranking selected from a plurality of players participating in the competition and terminal identification information of the player's own terminal to the image collecting and providing device, and making a registration request; Equipped with The image collection and provision device includes: a registration means for receiving the registration request from the spectator terminal and registering the selected player of the predetermined ranking in association with the terminal identification information; A detection means for detecting a recommended scene of the competition of the selected athlete having a predetermined ranking based on the collected image information from the one or more cameras; a notification means for notifying the spectator terminal when the detection means detects the recommended scene of the selected player of the predetermined ranking; The present invention provides a sports watching system comprising:

[0009] In the invention of claim 1 having the above-mentioned configuration, a spectator terminal is used to select a player from among a plurality of players participating in the competition. of a given rank player and, The terminal identification information of the terminal itself is transmitted to the image collecting and providing device, and a registration request is made.

[0010] The video collection and provision device receives the registration request from the spectator terminal and of a given rank The athlete and the terminal identification information are registered in association with each other. The video collection and provision device then detects recommended scenes of the athlete's athletic performance based on the collected video information from the multiple cameras. The detection means then of a given rank Players' recommended venues Face If detected, a notification is sent to the spectator terminal.

[0011] Therefore, the spectator terminal receives a notification from the video collecting and providing device and is notified of the registration request made in advance. of a given rank Players' recommended venues Face You can find out. Effect of the Invention

[0012] According to this invention, the spectator terminal is of a given rank Players' recommended venues Face The presence can be detected before the start of the recommended scene by receiving a notification from the video collection and provision device. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram for explaining an overview of an embodiment of a competition watching system including an embodiment of a spectator terminal according to the present invention; [Diagram 2] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a camera constituting an embodiment of a competition watching system equipped with an embodiment of a spectator terminal according to the present invention; [Diagram 3] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a video collecting and providing device that constitutes an embodiment of a competition watching system equipped with an embodiment of a spectator terminal according to the present invention. [Figure 4] 1 is a diagram used to explain an example of the configuration of a video collecting and providing device that constitutes an embodiment of a competition watching system equipped with an embodiment of a spectator terminal according to the present invention. FIG. [Diagram 5] 1 is a diagram used to explain an example of the configuration of a video collecting and providing device that constitutes an embodiment of a competition watching system equipped with an embodiment of a spectator terminal according to the present invention. FIG. [Figure 6] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an embodiment of a spectator terminal of a competition viewing system according to the present invention; [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of a registration process in an embodiment of the spectator terminal of the competition viewing system according to the present invention. [Figure 8] 11 is a diagram used to explain an example of a registration processing operation in an embodiment of a spectator terminal of a sports competition viewing system according to the present invention. FIG. [Figure 9] FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of a registration process in a video collecting and providing device constituting an embodiment of a competition watching system equipped with an embodiment of a spectator terminal according to the present invention. [Figure 10] FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of a recommended scene advance notification process operation in a video collection and provision device constituting an embodiment of a competition viewing system equipped with an embodiment of the spectator terminal according to the present invention. [Figure 11] FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of a recommended scene advance notification process in an embodiment of the spectator terminal of the competition viewing system according to the present invention. [Figure 12] 11 is a diagram used to explain the advance notification processing operation of a recommended scene in an embodiment of a spectator terminal of the competition viewing system according to the present invention. FIG. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment of a competition viewing system including an embodiment of a spectator terminal according to the present invention. [Figure 14] FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment of a competition viewing system including an embodiment of a spectator terminal according to the present invention. [Figure 15] FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment of a competition viewing system including an embodiment of a spectator terminal according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a spectator terminal of a sports competition viewing system according to the present invention will be described together with an embodiment of the sports competition viewing system with reference to the drawings. The system described below is an example in which the present invention is applied to a system for viewing a golf competition.

[0015] Fig. 1 is a diagram for explaining an overview of the competition viewing system of this embodiment. Shown in the center of Fig. 1 is an example of an entire golf course of a golf venue where a golf competition is held, which in this example consists of 18 holes. The numbers given to each hole indicate the hole number.

[0016] As for spectators, some follow a player whose performance (in the case of a golf competition in this example, golf play; hereafter referred to as play) to each hole, while others stay on a particular hole and watch multiple players play on that hole. In the former case, if there are multiple players that spectators want to watch, spectators have traditionally been unable to watch the play of those multiple players live unless they play together with those multiple players in the same group. In the latter case, spectators have traditionally only been able to watch the play of a player on a specific hole, and have had to give up on watching live the play of players on other holes.

[0017] Also, for example, in the case of a professional golf competition, as shown in Fig. 1, spectator seats ST are usually provided at appropriate positions around the green of the 18th hole (the final hole), where spectators can sit and watch the game, as shown in the enlarged view of the spectator seats ST in Fig. 1. Spectators seated in the spectator seats ST do not follow the players around each hole, but wait for the players to arrive at the green of the final hole and start playing. Therefore, in the past, spectators seated in the spectator seats ST could enjoy the play of the final hole, but often gave up on watching the players play on the other holes up to the final hole.

[0018] Also, many spectators of golf competitions do not want to watch all the players play, but rather want to watch mainly the play of their favorite players, players they are fans of, or players they are interested in. However, spectators do not have a particular demand for watching the players while they are moving, and in many cases it is enough to watch the players' tee shots, second shots, approach shots, bunker shots, putting, etc. Also, spectators may want to watch the play of all or many players on specific holes other than the one they are currently in, rather than only their favorite player, fan, or target player. A specific hole can be, for example, the first hole (the starting hole) where the names and profiles of the players are introduced, or a famous hole or difficult hole on the golf course they are watching.

[0019] The embodiment described below is designed to satisfy the above-mentioned demands. That is, this embodiment makes it possible to accurately watch live the plays of players, which was previously impossible or could only be given up on.

[0020] The sports watching system of this embodiment comprises a plurality of cameras 10, an image collecting and providing device 20, and a plurality of spectator terminals 30.

[0021] In this embodiment, a plurality of cameras 10 are arranged at appropriate positions on each hole from the 1st hole to the 18th hole to capture a video of the player's play. For example, the cameras 10 are arranged at three positions on each hole: the tee ground, the second shot point, and near the green. In FIG. 1, as indicated by the dotted circles, only the cameras 10 arranged near the green of the 4th hole, near the green of the 8th hole, and the tee ground of the 14th hole are shown, and the other cameras 10 are omitted. The cameras 10 may be installed in a fixed position, or a photographer may hold the camera 10 and take pictures while moving around the positions where the cameras are arranged.

[0022] The locations and number of cameras 10 are not limited to those described above, and cameras 10 may be placed around a bunker, for example. Even when cameras are placed on the same teeing ground, cameras may be placed in multiple locations, such as directly facing the player or behind the player along the ball's hitting line. Filming from a direction directly facing the player gives a good view of the player's swing, making it ideal for observing the player's swing and facial expression. Filming from behind the player has the advantage that it is easy to see not only the player's swing, but also the ball's trajectory and landing point, allowing for careful observation.

[0023] The cameras 10 may be of the same type or different types. For example, the camera 10 placed on the tee ground may be a camera with excellent telephoto capabilities to track long-distance shots, and the camera 10 placed near the green may be a camera with a full zoom function to capture the moment the ball goes in. Also, a camera with a wide-angle lens that can capture a wide view of the tee ground and the surroundings of the green may be placed so that the viewer can enjoy the atmosphere including the spectators around the tee ground and the green.

[0024] Each of the cameras 10 has a function of capturing a player's play as a video and wirelessly transmitting a video stream of the captured video to the video collecting and providing device 20. The wirelessly transmitted video stream includes identification information of the camera 10 and information for identifying the shooting position of each camera (hereinafter, shooting position information).

[0025] The video collecting and providing device 20 collects video streams sent from multiple cameras 10 installed in each hole and provides them to the spectator terminal 30. In this embodiment, the video collecting and providing device 20 is a single device having both a video stream collecting function and a video stream providing function, but it may of course be configured with the collecting function unit and the providing function unit separated.

[0026] In this embodiment, the video collecting and providing device 20 is installed in or near a golf course where a golf competition is held. However, the video collecting and providing device 20 does not need to be installed in or near a golf course, and may be installed anywhere as long as it can collect the video stream from the camera 10 via a wireless network and provide the video stream to the spectator terminal 30 via the wireless network. In addition, the network is not limited to a wireless network, and may be a wired network such as an optical fiber line.

[0027] The video collecting and providing device 20 buffers the collected video streams in association with the shooting position information and camera identification information added to each of the collected video streams.

[0028] In this embodiment, the video collecting and providing device 20 performs image recognition on each collected video stream to recognize the player filmed at the relevant time in the video stream. The video collecting and providing device 20 then buffers information for identifying the recognized player (player identification information) in association with the recognition section of the player in the video stream.

[0029] Furthermore, the video collecting and providing device 20 predicts and detects recommended scenes that are recommended for viewing by the spectator based on the image content of each of the collected video streams, and notifies the spectator of the recommended scenes in advance via the spectator terminal 30 before the start of the event. In this embodiment, the advance notification is performed by email. As will be described later, in this embodiment, the advance notification also includes information for acquiring the video stream containing the recommended scenes. Here, the scenes that are recommended for viewing by the spectator, in the case of the golf competition in this example, are scenes in which the players perform plays such as hitting a tee shot, hitting a second shot, and putting.

[0030] In this embodiment, the video collecting and providing device 20 prepares a Web page associated with the identification information of the camera 10, and is capable of providing the video stream of each camera 10 to the spectator terminal 30 through the corresponding Web page. That is, when the spectator terminal 30 accesses the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the Web page providing the video stream of each camera 10, the spectator terminal 30 is configured to obtain and display the video stream of the camera 10 associated with the Web page from the Web page.

[0031] As described below, the video stream obtained from the Web page is supplemented with information on the playing location based on the associated shooting position information and information on the player's name based on the player identification information, so that the shooting position (playing location) of the displayed video stream and the player's name are also displayed on the display screen of the spectator terminal 30.

[0032] Note that instead of preparing a Web page associated with the identification information of the camera 10, a Web page associated with the shooting position (playing location) of the camera 10 may be prepared so that a video stream can be provided for each playing location. Also, a Web page associated with each player may be prepared so that a video stream can be provided for each player.

[0033] In this embodiment, the spectator terminal 30 is a dedicated terminal that is provided to a spectator who has a ticket to watch the golf competition, either for a fee or free of charge. The dedicated terminal in this embodiment is a terminal that has a display unit with a display screen, an e-mail receiving function, a function to access web pages via the Internet, and a browser function, and may be a tablet terminal or a foldable terminal. Note that an application software program that realizes the functions of the spectator terminal 30 can be downloaded in advance, for a fee or free of charge, via the Internet or the like, to a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or tablet of a spectator who has a ticket to watch the golf competition, so that the mobile terminal such as a smartphone or tablet owned by the spectator himself can be used as the spectator terminal 30. The spectator terminal 30 may be a notebook terminal, a head-mounted terminal, a glasses terminal, a watch terminal, or the like.

[0034] In the following description, when it is necessary to distinguish between spectators who possess a spectator terminal 30 and general spectators who do not, spectators who possess a spectator terminal 30 will be referred to as user spectators.

[0035] When the spectator terminal 30 receives an email notifying the user of the spectator terminal 30 of the arrival of the email from the video collecting and providing device 20, the spectator terminal 30 goes into silent mode using a vibration function or the like in this example. The reason for notifying the user of the spectator terminal 30 of the arrival of the email is to avoid disturbing the players' play by emitting a ringtone. In this example, the notification of the arrival of the email is made by the vibration function, but instead of or in addition to this, the notification may be made by a flashing lamp or LED, etc.

[0036] In this embodiment, when the spectator terminal 30 receives an e-mail, a mailer (e-mail application) is immediately started, and the message content of the received e-mail is displayed on the display screen. Although it is possible to wait for the activation of the mailer by the spectator in use, in this embodiment, in order to ensure that the advance notice of the recommended screen can be transmitted to the spectator in use, the mailer is automatically started in response to the arrival of an e-mail.

[0037] In this example, the message of the email advance notice of the recommended scene displayed on the display screen includes, for the recommended scene, the shooting position of the camera 10 and the name of the player who will play, as well as the URL of a web page that provides a video stream including the recommended scene, as information for acquiring the video stream including the recommended scene. When the spectator touches the URL in the message in response to this advance notice email message, the spectator terminal 30 accesses the web page of the URL, thereby acquiring the video stream including the recommended scene, and displays the video on the display screen of the spectator terminal 30.

[0038] In this way, the spectator can watch the recommended scene on the spectator terminal 30 without missing the recommended scene by performing an operation according to the email of advance notice of the recommended scene.

[0039] As mentioned above, most spectators of golf competitions do not want to watch all the players play, but rather want to watch mainly the play of their favorite player, the player they are a fan of, or the player they are looking for. Also, there are cases where spectators want to watch the play of all or many players on a specific hole other than the one they are currently in, rather than only the play of their favorite player, the player they are a fan of, or the player they are looking for.

[0040] In view of this, in this embodiment, the spectator terminal 30 is provided with a function of accepting input of the names of players about which the spectator wishes to receive advance notice of recommended scenes and input of shooting positions such as holes about which the spectator wishes to receive advance notice of recommended scenes, and making a registration request to the video collecting and providing device 20. The video collecting and providing device 20 is configured to accept a request to register a player name and a request to register a shooting position from the spectator terminal 30, and to provide an advance notice of the start of recommended scenes limited to the plays of the players registered by the spectator, and to provide an advance notice of the start of recommended scenes for the plays of all players for the registered shooting positions. Of course, the advance notice may be limited to the plays of some players, such as top-ranked players, rather than the plays of all players.

[0041] Next, a more detailed configuration example of the camera 10, the image collecting and providing device 20, and the spectator terminal 30 will be described.

[0042] [Example of camera 10 configuration] Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of camera 10 in this embodiment. That is, as shown in Fig. 2, camera 10 is configured by connecting an image capturing unit 102, a transmission signal generating unit 103, a transmitting unit 104, an image capturing position information generating unit 105, and an operation unit 106 to a control unit 101 via a system bus 100.

[0043] The control unit 101 is configured to include a microcomputer (not shown), and controls the overall operation of the camera 10 according to a program stored in an internal memory.

[0044] The image capturing unit 102 captures the players' play as video, and is equipped with a telephoto function, a zoom function, a wide-angle function, etc. The operation unit 106 issues operation instructions to start and end video capture by the image capturing unit 102, telephoto instructions, zoom instructions, wide-angle instructions, etc., in response to operation input by the cameraman. The control unit 101 controls the image capturing unit 102 in response to operation instructions from the cameraman at the operation unit 106. Note that it is also possible to have the camera recognize the players, caddies, golf balls, etc., and issue various operation instructions fully automatically, rather than the cameraman. Information on the video captured by the image capturing unit 102 is supplied to a transmission signal generation unit 103.

[0045] In this example, the photographing position information generating unit 105 detects the current position using, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning means, and supplies the detected current position information to the transmission signal generating unit 103 .

[0046] The transmission signal generation unit 103 generates transmission information by adding current position information from the shooting position information generation unit 105 and the camera identification information of the camera 10 to the video stream of the moving image from the shooting unit 102. In this example, the camera identification information is stored in a memory (not shown) built into the control unit 101, and is supplied from the control unit 101 to the transmission unit 104. The transmission signal generation unit 103 supplies the generated transmission information to the transmission unit 104.

[0047] In this example, the transmitting unit 104 is configured as a wireless LAN wireless communication device using Wi-Fi (registered trademark), and wirelessly transmits transmission information to the video collecting and providing device 20 as the destination. Note that the wireless transmission from the camera 10 to the video collecting and providing device 20 is not limited to the wireless LAN configuration as in this example, and any wireless communication method may be adopted as long as it allows the transmission information to be wirelessly transmitted from the camera 10 to the video collecting and providing device 20. Of course, the transmission information from the camera 10 to the video collecting and providing device 20 can be transmitted not only wirelessly, but also by wire using optical fiber or the like.

[0048] In addition, the transmission signal generating unit 103 and the transmitting unit 104 may be configured as a dedicated device unit and be connected by wire or wirelessly to a camera body unit equipped with the photographing unit 102, the photographing position information generating unit 105, and the operation unit 106.

[0049] Furthermore, the transmission signal generating unit 103 may be configured as a functional means that the control unit 101 executes as its software function.

[0050] [Example of configuration of video collection and provision device 20] 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the video collecting and providing device 20. That is, in this example, the video collecting and providing device 20 is configured by connecting a reception and collection unit 202, a received video buffer memory 203, a shooting position discrimination unit 204, a player recognition unit 205, a recommended scene determination unit 206, a recommended scene advance notification unit 207, a camera video providing unit 208, a network interface 209, a setting registration menu information storage unit 210, a correspondence table information storage unit 211, and a registration information storage unit 212 to a control unit 201 through a system bus 200. A player face image storage unit 213 is connected to the player recognition unit 205.

[0051] The control unit 201 is configured with a microcomputer (not shown), and controls the overall operation of the image collecting and providing device 20 according to a program stored in an internal memory.

[0052] In this example, the receiving and collecting unit 202 is configured as a wireless LAN wireless communication device using Wi-Fi (registered trademark), and receives the video stream from each of the multiple cameras 10 and the current location information and camera identification information (hereinafter referred to as camera ID) attached thereto, and temporarily stores the received video in a received video buffer memory 203 that is divided according to the camera ID.

[0053] The received video buffer memory 203 is configured with a memory capacity that takes into consideration the processing times of the shooting position determination unit 204, the player recognition unit 205, and the recommended scene determination unit 206. The received video buffer memory 203 stores each collected video stream in association with the current position information and camera ID added thereto.

[0054] The shooting position determination unit 204 determines which hole and which position the video stream is located from the current position information added to the video stream temporarily stored in the received video buffer memory 203. For this determination, the shooting position determination unit 204 is provided with a correspondence table (not shown) between shooting positions such as the tee ground, second shot, and green of each hole and the corresponding position information ranges, and the shooting position determination unit 204 determines which hole and which position the shooting position is located by determining which position information range the current position of the camera 10 indicated by the current position information added to the video stream is within. The shooting position determination unit 204 then assigns shooting position identification information (hereinafter referred to as shooting position ID) to the determined shooting position, and stores the shooting position ID in the received video buffer memory 203 in association with the camera ID of the video stream whose shooting position has been determined.

[0055] As shown in FIG. 4(A), the correspondence table information storage unit 211 stores correspondence table information between each photographing position ID and the name of the photographing position.

[0056] In this example, since camera 10 is placed at a fixed position, the shooting position information generating unit 105 of camera 10 may register information indicating which hole and which position it is at in advance, and add the registration information to the video stream shot by the shooting unit 102. In this case, the shooting position determining unit 204 can detect the registration information and determine which hole and which position the video stream is from camera 10. Alternatively, instead of the shooting position determining unit 204, a means may be provided that replaces the information added to the video stream indicating which hole and which position camera 10 is at with a shooting position ID.

[0057] In this example, the player recognition unit 205 has a face image recognition (face recognition) function. In the player face image storage unit 213, face images of players participating in the golf competition and identification information (hereinafter, player ID) given to the players are registered and stored in advance in association with each other. In this case, the player face image storage unit 213 may register face images of all players participating in the golf competition and their player IDs, or may register face images of multiple players selected from all players and their player IDs.

[0058] The player recognition unit 205 performs face image recognition using the face images of the players stored in the player face image storage unit 213 for the video information of the video stream temporarily stored in the received video buffer memory 203, recognizes the players appearing in the video stream, and obtains a player ID as the recognition result from the player face image storage unit 213. The player recognition unit 205 then stores the player ID obtained as a result of the discrimination in the received video buffer memory 203 in association with the camera ID of the video stream in which the player was recognized. Note that in a golf tournament, multiple players play in the same group, so the player recognition unit 205 may recognize multiple players at the same time.

[0059] As shown in FIG. 4(B), the correspondence table information storage unit 211 stores correspondence table information between each player ID and the player name.

[0060] In this example, the recommended scene determination unit 206 has an image recognition function, and predicts and detects scenes that are recommended for viewing by spectators (in this specification, these scenes are referred to as recommended scenes) by performing image recognition on the image content of the video stream temporarily stored in the received video buffer memory 203. Examples of recommended scenes include scenes from when a player prepares to play through play to the end of play, such as a tee shot, second shot, approach shot, bunker shot, and putting, and the recommended scene determination unit 206 predicts and detects the recommended scenes prior to their start.

[0061] In this embodiment, the recommended scene determination unit 206 predicts and detects the recommended scene as follows: The player appears on the tee A player walking on the fairway or rough stops for a specified period of time. The player appears on the putting green. The player is about to enter the bunker. - Placing the golf bag carried by the caddie next to the player The caddie handed the golf club to the player. This is done by automatically recognizing the behavior and situations of players and caddies using image recognition.

[0062] In this embodiment, the recommended scene determination unit 206 constantly performs a determination process of a recommended scene for each video stream, and generates a recommended flag as the determination result. For example, when the recommended scene determination unit 206 recognizes the behavior or situation of the player, it sets the recommended flag to, for example, "1" from the time of recognition, and keeps the recommended flag at "1" until the player's play ends. The recommended scene determination unit 206 keeps the recommended flag at "0" during other periods. The recommended scene determination unit 206 stores the generated recommended flag in the received video buffer memory 203 in association with the camera ID of the video stream for which the recommended scene determination was performed.

[0063] Furthermore, the recommended scene determination unit 206 notifies the recommended scene preview notification unit 207 that the recommended flag for the video stream for which the recommended scene determination was performed has been set to "1" along with the camera ID of the video stream. This notification that the recommended flag has been set to "1" may be performed by the recommended scene determination unit 206 generating a predetermined signal such as a pulse signal at the time the recommended flag is set to "1" and sending it to the recommended scene preview notification unit 207, or may be performed by the recommended scene preview notification unit 207 receiving the recommended flag from the recommended scene determination unit 206 and detecting that the recommended flag has been set to "1".

[0064] When a recommendation flag is set to "1", the recommended scene advance notification unit 207 notifies the using spectator of the existence of a recommended scene in the video stream for which the recommendation flag is set to "1" by e-mail in this example. As shown in Fig. 12(A) described below, the message of this advance notification e-mail includes the name of the player who will play in the recommended scene and the name of the shooting location of the recommended scene, as well as information for the spectator terminal 30 to acquire a video stream including the recommended scene. In this embodiment, the information for the spectator terminal 30 to acquire a video stream including the recommended scene is the URL of a web page that provides the corresponding video stream, as also shown in Fig. 12(A).

[0065] The recommended scene advance notification unit 207 acquires the name of the player who will play in the recommended scene and the name of the shooting position of the recommended scene from the storage information of the received video buffer memory 203 and the storage information of the correspondence table information storage unit 211 based on the camera ID of the video stream in which the recommended scene is determined. That is, the recommended scene advance notification unit 207 acquires the shooting position ID and the player ID stored in the received video buffer memory 203 in association with the camera ID of the video stream in which the recommended scene is determined. Then, the recommended scene advance notification unit 207 acquires the corresponding shooting position name and the player name by referring to the correspondence table information storage unit 211 using the acquired shooting signal ID and the player ID. Then, the recommended scene advance notification unit 207 uses the acquired shooting position name and the player name to generate an e-mail message as shown in FIG. 12(A). Note that, regarding the shooting position name and the player name, only one of them may be used, or only the recommended scene advance notification may be performed without using both of them.

[0066] Furthermore, the recommended scene advance notice unit 207 acquires the URL of a web page associated with the camera ID of the video stream in which the recommended scene has been determined from the camera video providing unit 208. Note that the URL of the web page associated with the camera ID of the video stream in which the recommended scene has been determined may not be acquired from the camera video providing unit 208, but may be acquired from the correspondence table information provided in advance by the recommended scene advance notice unit 207, based on the camera ID of the video stream in which the recommended scene has been determined, based on the camera ID of the video stream in which the recommended scene has been determined.

[0067] Incidentally, the recommended scene advance notification unit 207 may be configured to provide advance notification of all recommended scenes to all spectator terminals 30, but as described above, in this embodiment, it is configured to provide advance notification of recommended scenes only for players and shooting positions that each spectator has registered in advance in the video collection and provision device 20.

[0068] The registration information storage unit 212 stores registration information on players and shooting positions from each spectator terminal 30, as described below. FIG. 5 shows an example of registration information stored in the registration information storage unit 212. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, based on the process of accepting registration access and registration items from each spectator terminal 30, the video image collecting and providing device 20 stores, in the registration information storage unit 212, terminal identification information (hereinafter referred to as terminal ID), an email address, the player ID of the player to be registered, and the shooting position ID of the shooting position to be registered for each spectator terminal 30 in association with each other. In this case, the number of players and shooting positions to be registered for each spectator terminal 30 is not limited to one, but may be multiple, as shown in FIG. 5.

[0069] When the recommended scene advance notification unit 207 is about to give an advance notification based on the recommendation flag being set to "1", it compares the player ID and the shooting position ID acquired based on the camera ID of the video stream in which the recommended scene was determined with the player ID and the shooting position ID stored in the registration information storage unit 212 to determine whether there is a match. When the recommended scene advance notification unit 207 determines that there is a match in any of the player ID and the shooting position ID, it acquires an email address associated with the matched player ID or shooting position ID from the registration information storage unit 212. Then, it transmits an email of an advance notification of the recommended scene as described above to the acquired email address. When a plurality of spectator terminals 30 that match in terms of the player ID or the shooting position ID are detected, it goes without saying that an email of an advance notification of the recommended scene is transmitted to all of the plurality of spectator terminals 30.

[0070] As described above, in this embodiment, the camera video providing unit 208 has a plurality of Web pages corresponding to the respective camera IDs. Each of the plurality of Web pages is intended to transmit a video stream of the corresponding camera ID to a client (spectator terminal 30) that has accessed the Web page. Under the control of the control unit 201, the video stream of each camera ID from the received video buffer memory 203 is provided to the spectator terminal 30 that has accessed the Web page through the Web page of the corresponding camera ID.

[0071] In this embodiment, the information sent from the received video buffer memory 203 to the camera video providing unit 208 includes not only the video stream but also the player names and the shooting position names obtained from the correspondence table information storage unit 211 based on the player IDs and shooting position IDs. The video stream provided from the camera video providing unit 208 to the spectator terminal 30 includes the player names and the shooting position names, and the spectator terminal 30 displays which player and which shooting position the video is from. By providing the spectator terminal 30 with a correspondence table information storage unit the same as the correspondence table information storage unit 211, the information provided together with the video stream to the spectator terminal 30 may be the player IDs and shooting position IDs, and the spectator terminal 30 may display the player names and shooting position names by referring to the stored contents of the correspondence table information storage unit for the received player IDs and shooting position IDs.

[0072] The network interface 209 is for connecting to the spectator terminal 30 via the Internet 40, and in this embodiment, the connection to the Internet 40 is via a wireless network (not shown) such as a mobile phone network. Of course, the connection may be via a wired network such as an optical fiber line instead of a wireless network.

[0073] In this embodiment, the video collection and provision device 20 uses this network interface 209 to communicate with the spectator terminal 30 to accept registrations of players and shooting locations, send e-mails notifying the spectator terminal 30 of recommended scenes, receive access from the spectator terminal 30 requesting the acquisition of a video stream, and send the video stream to the spectator terminal 30 in response to access from that spectator terminal 30.

[0074] The setting and registration menu information storage unit 210 stores menu information for accepting registration of players and photography positions by the spectator terminal 30. When a request to register players and photography positions is received from the spectator terminal 30, the menu information stored in the setting and registration menu information storage unit 210 is read out as appropriate under the control of the control unit 201 and sent to the spectator terminal 30 that made the registration request.

[0075] As described above, the correspondence table information storage unit 211 stores information on the correspondence table between the shooting position ID and the shooting position name, and information on the correspondence table between the player ID and the player name, as shown in Figures 4(A) and (B).

[0076] As described above, the registration information storage unit 212 stores the registration information on the players and the shooting positions from the spectator terminals 30 shown in FIG.

[0077] In the above description, the recommended scene determination unit 206 automatically detects and predicts recommended scenes through image recognition, but the recommended scene may also be determined and the recommended flag set to "1" based on a specified operation such as a cue (marking) operation performed by the photographer or operator at the point in the video stream where a recommended scene is predicted.

[0078] That is, for example, the photographer of the camera 10 performs a start cue operation when the start of a recommended scene is predicted during shooting, and performs an end cue operation when the recommended scene ends, so that start cue information based on the start cue operation and end cue information based on the end cue operation are added to the video stream and transmitted to the video collecting and providing device 20. In this case, the recommended scene determining unit 206 of the video collecting and providing device 20 sets the recommended flag to "1" from the start cue information added to the video stream, and sets the recommended flag to "0" at the end cue information.

[0079] Also, the video collecting and providing device 20 may monitor the monitor image of the video stream collected by the operator, and perform start cue operation and end cue operation when a recommended scene is predicted. In this case, the recommended scene determining unit 206 sets the recommended flag to "1" when it detects that a start cue operation has been received from the operator, and resets the recommended flag to "0" when it detects that an end cue operation has been received.

[0080] As described above, when the camera 10 is placed in multiple locations on the same shooting position, for example on the same teeing ground, such as facing the player directly and behind the player, that information may also be added. In that case, the video stream provided will be multiple video streams, such as a video stream from a camera facing the player on the teeing ground, a video stream from a camera shooting from behind the player, and information for identifying the multiple positions (facing the player, behind the player, etc.) is added as a shooting position ID (identification information).

[0081] The above-mentioned processing operations of the photographing position determination unit 204, the player recognition unit 205, and the recommended scene determination unit 206 may be executed by the control unit 201 as its software functions as functional processing means.

[0082] [Example of configuration of spectator terminal 30] 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the spectator terminal 30. In this example, the spectator terminal 30 is configured by connecting a network interface 302, a received video playback unit 303, a display control unit 304, a display unit 305, an operation unit 306, a mail transmission / reception processing unit 307, an incoming mail notification unit 308, a request transmission unit 309, and a registration processing unit 310 to a control unit 301 via a system bus 300. A vibration drive unit 311 is connected to the incoming mail notification unit 308.

[0083] The control unit 301 is configured with a microcomputer (not shown), and controls the overall operation of the spectator terminal 30 according to a program stored in an internal memory.

[0084] The network interface 302 is for connecting to the Internet 40, and in this embodiment, the connection to the Internet 40 is configured to be via a wireless network (not shown) such as a mobile phone network. Of course, the connection may be via a wired network such as an optical fiber line instead of a wireless network.

[0085] The received video playback unit 303 restores the moving image information of the video stream received through the network interface 302, and passes it to the display control unit 304. The display control unit 304 controls the display unit 305 to display a display image. In this example, the display unit 305 is made up of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel, and displays the display image on its display screen based on the display control of the display control unit 304.

[0086] In this example, the operation unit 306 is configured as a touch panel that is superimposed on the LCD panel that constitutes the display unit 305. Of course, the operation unit 306 is not limited to the configuration of a touch panel, and may be configured as, for example, a button (not shown) attached near the LCD panel, or a separate remote control (not shown). The operation unit 306 can also be realized by attaching a microphone (not shown) near the LCD panel to pick up the voice of the spectator and performing voice recognition on the picked up voice. The operation unit 306 can also be realized by attaching a camera (not shown) near the LCD panel to capture the gestures of the spectator and perform image recognition (gesture recognition) on the captured image.

[0087] The mail transmission / reception processing unit 307 is a processing unit for receiving and sending e-mails via the network interface 302. This mail transmission / reception processing unit 307 can be configured as a so-called mailer application program, and the control unit 301 can be configured as a software processing function.

[0088] When an email is received via the network interface 302, the email arrival notification unit 308 drives a vibration drive unit 311 to notify the spectator of the arrival of the email by vibration.

[0089] When the request sending unit 309 receives a preview notification of a recommended scene as an e-mail, it generates a video acquisition request including information for the spectator terminal 30 to acquire a video stream including the recommended scene contained in the received preview notification message of the recommended scene, in this example, the URL of a web page, in response to a request operation by the spectator using the operation unit 306, and transmits the video acquisition request to the video collection and provision device 20 via the network interface 302.

[0090] The registration processing unit 310 has a processing function for registering, with the image collecting and providing device 20, players and shooting positions for which advance notice of recommended scenes is desired.

[0091] In addition, the above-mentioned processing operations of the received video playback unit 303, display control unit 304, email sending / receiving processing unit 307, email arrival notification unit 308, request sending unit 309, and registration processing unit 310 may be functional processing means executed by the control unit 301 as its software functions.

[0092] [Registering players and shooting positions for which you want to receive advance notification of recommended scenes] Fig. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the flow of the registration process of players and shooting positions for which advance notice of recommended scenes is desired, in the spectator terminal 30. Fig. 8 is an example of the display screen 305D of the display unit 305 of the spectator terminal 30 during the registration process. Note that the following explanation will be given on the assumption that the processing function of the registration processing unit 310 of the spectator terminal 30 is realized by the control unit 301 as a software function by a program.

[0093] When a spectator issues a command via the operation unit 306 of the spectator terminal 30 to start registering players and shooting positions for which he or she wishes to receive advance notification of recommended scenes, the control unit 301 of the spectator terminal 30 launches a registration application (step S1 in FIG. 7).

[0094] Next, the control unit 301 sends a registration request for players and shooting positions for which advance notice of recommended scenes is desired to the video collection and provision device 20 (step S2). The video collection and provision device 20 then sends a list of all the player names participating in the golf competition that can be registered and a list of all the shooting position names in the golf competition that can be registered. The list of player names consists of player names and player IDs as shown in Fig. 4(B), and the list of shooting position names consists of shooting position names and shooting position IDs as shown in Fig. 4(A).

[0095] The control unit 301 of the spectator terminal 30 receives the list of player names and the list of shooting position names from the video collecting and providing device 20 (step S3), generates a screen for registering players and shooting positions, and displays it as shown in Figures 8(A) and (B) (step S4). The spectator can register the players and shooting positions he or she wants to watch by following the guide messages for player registration displayed on this display screen 305D.

[0096] The control unit 301 accepts the player registration input by the using spectator (step S5), and also accepts the registration input of the photography position (step S6). Next, the control unit 301 determines whether or not the using spectator has issued a registration instruction based on the completion of the registration input (step S7), and if it determines that the registration instruction has not been issued, returns the process to step S5, and repeats the processes from step S5 onwards.

[0097] Then, when it is determined in step S7 that the spectator has issued a registration instruction based on the completion of the registration input, the control unit 301 transmits registration information to the video collection and provision device 20, including the player ID of the player name to be registered and the shooting location ID of the name of the shooting location to be registered, the email address of the spectator's terminal 30, and the terminal ID of the spectator's own terminal (step S8).

[0098] In the example of Fig. 8(A), the check boxes for the player names "Matsuxx Itsuki", "Adam XX", and "Fujita XX" are checked, so the registration input for those players is accepted, and the player IDs corresponding to the player names "Matsuxx Itsuki", "Adam XX", and "Fujita XX" are included in the registration information and sent to the video collecting and providing device 20. Also, in the example of Fig. 8(B), the check box for "the green of the 18th hole" is checked, so the registration input is accepted, and the shooting position ID corresponding to the shooting position name "the green of the 18th hole" is included in the registration information and sent to the video collecting and providing device 20.

[0099] Next, the control unit 301 waits for a notification of registration OK from the image collecting and providing device 20 (step S9), and when the notification of registration OK is received, ends this registration processing routine.

[0100] Next, FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an example of the flow of processing in the image collecting and providing device 20 during this registration processing, which will be described below.

[0101] The control unit 201 of the video collecting and providing device 20 determines whether or not a request for registration of players and shooting positions for which advance notice of recommended scenes is desired has been received from the spectator terminal 30 (step S101), and if it is determined that the request has not been received, executes other processing (step S102), and then returns to step S101.

[0102] When it is determined in step S101 that a registration request for players and photography positions for which advance notice of recommended scenes is desired has been received, the control unit 201 sends a list of player names and a list of photography position names to the spectator terminal 30 that made the registration request (step S103).Then, the control unit 201 waits to receive registration information from the spectator terminal 30 that made the registration request (step S104).

[0103] Then, when it is determined in step S104 that the registration information has been received from the spectator terminal 30, the control unit 201 stores the received registration information in the registration information storage unit 212 in association with the terminal ID of the spectator terminal 30 as shown in Fig. 5 (step S105). After that, the control unit 201 transmits a registration OK to the spectator terminal 30 that made the registration request (step S106), and ends this registration processing routine.

[0104] In the case of a golf tournament, the qualifying round and the final round are held over three or four days. The registration may be performed on a daily basis, or may be performed separately for the qualifying round and the final round. Also, it may be performed over three or four days in a row. In the case of performing the registration over a row, in the final round, the spectator terminal 30 obtains the names of the players who have advanced to the final round from a server device prepared by the tournament secretariat, such as the video collection and provision device 20, and deletes the player names and player IDs of the players who have been eliminated in the qualifying round. Also, it may be possible to perform registration over a row, and for each day, the spectator terminal 30 may access a server device prepared by the tournament secretariat, such as the video collection and provision device 20, to perform additional registration or deletion. In a golf tournament, the pairings of players (combinations in which two or three players are grouped together) are announced according to the starting table for the day, and depending on the pairings, users may want to change the registered contents, and this is convenient in such cases. Of course, it is also possible to make it possible to change the registered contents even on the same day. In addition, if real-time information such as notable players, active players, and notable holes on the day is provided to a server device prepared by the tournament secretariat, spectators can conveniently change the details of their registration by referring to the real-time information.

[0105] Furthermore, the registered information can be used continuously for subsequent golf tournaments.

[0106] [Processing of sending advance notification emails for recommended situations] Fig. 10 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the flow of processing for transmitting advance notice of recommended scenes in the video collecting and providing device 20. The flowchart in Fig. 10 relates to processing of a video stream from one camera 10, and the processing in Fig. 10 is executed in parallel for each of the multiple cameras 10. In the following explanation of the processing of each step in this flowchart, the processing of the shooting position determining unit 204, the player recognizing unit 205, the recommended scene determining unit 206, and the recommended scene advance notice unit 207 will be explained as being executed by the control unit 201 as software functions.

[0107] The control unit 201 executes the recommended scene determination process (step S111) as described above for the image content of the video stream received from the camera 10, and determines whether or not a recommended scene has been detected (step S112). Note that in step S111, the control unit 201 also performs a process of recognizing players from the image content of the video stream received from the camera 10 and a process of determining the shooting position of the video stream. Then, when it is determined in step S112 that a recommended scene has not been detected, the control unit 201 returns the process to step S111, and repeats the processes from step S111 onwards.

[0108] When it is determined in step S112 that a recommended scene has been detected, the control unit 201 refers to the contents stored in the received video buffer memory 203 and identifies the camera ID of the camera 10 that transmitted the video stream in which the recommended scene was detected, its shooting position ID, and the player ID (step S113).

[0109] Then, the control unit 201 refers to the contents stored in the registration information storage unit 212, certifies the spectator terminals 30 in which either the shooting position ID or the player ID certified in step S113, or both, are registered, and transmits a preview notification email of the recommended scene to the certified spectator terminals 30 (step S114). In this case, if there are multiple certified spectator terminals 30, it goes without saying that the preview notification email of the recommended scene is sent to each of the multiple spectator terminals 30.

[0110] [Recommended situation notification email reception processing behavior] Fig. 11 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the flow of a process for receiving a preliminary notification of a recommended scene in the spectator terminal 30. In explaining the process of each step in the flowchart of Fig. 11, the process of the received video playback unit 303, the display control unit 304, the mail transmission / reception processing unit 307, the mail arrival notification unit 308, and the request receiving unit 309 will be explained as a case where the control unit 301 executes the processes as software functions.

[0111] The control unit 301 determines whether or not a preliminary notification email of a recommended scene has been received from the video collecting and providing device 20 (step S11), and if it determines that the email has not been received, executes other processing and then returns the processing to step S11.

[0112] When it is determined in step S11 that a preview notification email of a recommended scene has been received from the video collecting and providing device 20, the control unit 301 activates a vibration to notify the user spectator of the arrival of the preview notification email (step S13). Then, in this embodiment, the message content of the received email is displayed on the display screen 305D of the display unit 305 without waiting for an operation by the user spectator (step S14).

[0113] FIG. 12(A) shows an example of the message content of the e-mail displayed on the display screen 305D at this time. As shown in FIG. 12(A), the message content of the e-mail includes the name of the player who will play in the recommended scene, the name of the shooting location of the recommended scene, and a URL as an example of information for acquiring a video stream including the recommended scene, as described above. When the URL field 321 displayed on the display screen 305D is touched, the touch operation becomes an operation of requesting access to the Web page of the URL. In this embodiment, assuming a case where the user spectator selects not to watch the recommended scene notified in advance, in this example, an "End" icon 322 is displayed on the display screen 305D as shown in FIG. 12(A). Instead of the "End" icon, icons such as "Not this time" and "Cancel" may be displayed. Also, a "Watch later" icon may be displayed in case the user does not want to watch it right away, but wants to watch it after a while. When the "Watch later" icon is touched, an operation of requesting access to the Web page of the URL may be automatically performed after a predetermined time (for example, after one minute).

[0114] As with normal e-mail reception, the message contents of the advance notice e-mail may be displayed after waiting for the spectator to open the e-mail; however, in this embodiment, the message contents of the advance notice e-mail are automatically opened so that the contents of the advance notice e-mail can be conveyed as quickly as possible and without bothering the spectator.

[0115] 12(A), the entire display screen 305D is used for displaying the message of the advance notice e-mail, but only a part of the display screen 305D, such as half of the display screen 305D, may be used for displaying the message of the advance notice e-mail. In this way, when a scene that was being viewed before the advance notice is a scene that the viewer really wants to see, the advance notice e-mail will not be interrupted from viewing that scene.

[0116] Next, control unit 301 determines whether or not a URL as an example of information for obtaining a video stream including the recommended scene has been touched, guided by the message content of the email displayed on display screen 305D, and a request has been made to access the web page of that URL (step S15).

[0117] If it is determined in step S15 that the URL has not been touched, control unit 301 determines whether or not "End" icon 322 has been touched (step S16). If it is determined in step S16 that "End" icon 322 has not been touched, control unit 301 returns the process to step S15. If it is determined in step S16 that "End" icon 322 has been touched, control unit 301 erases the display screen showing the email message contents and returns to the previous original display screen state (step S17). Control unit 301 then returns the process to step S11 and repeats the processes from step S11 onward.

[0118] If it is determined in step S15 that a URL has been touched, control unit 301 accesses the Web page of that URL, receives a video stream including the previously notified recommended scene, and displays it on display screen 305D (step S18). An example of the display image on display screen 305D at this time is shown in FIG. 12(B). As shown in FIG. 12(B), on the screen of this video stream, the name of the shooting location and the name of the player are displayed in display field 323. As described above, when cameras 10 are placed in multiple locations on the same teeing ground, such as directly facing the player and behind the player, the names of the shooting locations are set to "Facing No. 1 Tee (player)" or "Behind No. 1 Tee (player)".

[0119] Next, the control unit 301 determines whether or not the video display end instruction operation has been performed by the using spectator (step S19). If it is determined in step S19 that the video display end instruction operation has not been performed, the control unit 301 determines whether or not a preview notification email of a recommended scene has been received (step S20), and if it is determined that a preview notification email of a recommended scene has not been received, the control unit 301 returns the process to step S13, and repeats the processes from step S13 onward.

[0120] Furthermore, when it is determined in step S19 that an instruction to end the video display has been performed, control unit 301 cuts off access to the web page providing the video stream being displayed on display screen 305D, stops the display of the video stream on display screen 305D (step S21), and then returns the process to step S11, and repeats the processes from step S11 onwards.

[0121] [Effects of the embodiment] As described above, according to the embodiment, a user spectator who has a spectator terminal 30 can reliably watch a player's play from a position that cannot be actually seen. According to the embodiment, the video collecting and providing device 20 notifies the spectator terminal of a recommended scene in advance before the player starts playing, and the spectator terminal notifies the user spectator of the recommended scene in advance, so that the user spectator can reliably watch the scene that he or she wants to watch without missing it.

[0122] The advance notice of the recommended scene includes information for acquiring a video stream including the recommended scene, which in the above embodiment includes a URL of a web page, and the web page providing the video stream can be accessed using the URL from the spectator terminal 30. This has the effect of simplifying the equipment for providing the video stream, and also of simply requiring the configuration of the spectator terminal 30 to have a function for accessing a web page via the normal internet.

[0123] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, spectators can register players they particularly want to watch and shooting positions they particularly want to watch on the spectator terminal 30, and the users are notified of recommended scenes based on advance notice corresponding to the registered players and shooting positions, making it possible for them to watch the plays of players they particularly want to watch and shooting positions they particularly want to watch without missing them.

[0124] [Modifications of the above embodiment] In the above embodiment, advance notice of the recommended scene is given by email, but the method of advance notice is not limited to email. For example, advance notice of the recommended scene may be given by using an instant messenger such as LINE. In addition, in a social networking service (SNS), as shown in FIG. 14, a bot of the video collecting and providing device 20A and bots of all spectator terminals 30A may be set as friends, and advance notice of the recommended scene may be given by a direct message from the video collecting and providing device 20A. In addition, if the spectator terminal 30A is a dedicated terminal, a dedicated function for advance notice of the recommended scene may be built.

[0125] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the method of providing a video stream to the spectator terminal 30 or 30A is a method using a Web page, and the information for acquiring the video stream is the URL of the Web page, but the method of providing a video stream to the spectator terminal 30 or 30A is not limited to this.

[0126] For example, video streams from each of the multiple cameras 10, video streams for each player, or video streams for each shooting position may be broadcast as multi-channel area broadcast to the golf course where the competition is taking place. Fig. 13 is a diagram for explaining the broadcast signals of each channel in the case of area broadcast, and it is desirable that the broadcast signal includes the names of the players and the names of the shooting positions along with the video streams for each channel (first video stream, second video stream, ...). The information for acquiring the video stream in this case is information for selecting a channel that provides a video stream including the recommended scene from the broadcast signal.

[0127] Here, the method of broadcasting the video stream from the video collecting and providing device 20 or 20A to the spectator terminal 30 or 30A is, for example, Wi-Fi (registered trademark) broadcasting by multicast using Wi-Fi (registered trademark) (see http: / / www.isid.co.jp / news / 2012 / 0216.html). The spectator terminal 30 or 30A can select a desired video stream from among multiple video streams based on identification information (video stream ID) corresponding to shooting position information contained in the header of the packet of each video stream. It is recommended that multiple access points are provided for each hole. The information for acquiring the video stream in this case is the video stream ID of the video stream containing the recommended scene from the broadcast signal.

[0128] The video stream broadcasting technique from the video collecting and providing device 20 or 20A to the spectator terminal 30 or 30A is not limited to the above example, and may be video stream distribution by IP multicast. In that case, the video collecting and providing device 20 or 20A may receive and store registration information on holes and players from each spectator terminal 30 or 30A, generate a video stream for each hole or player, and distribute the corresponding video stream by multicast to the spectator terminal 30 or 30A in which the corresponding hole or player is registered.

[0129] In addition, the video stream distribution by broadcast from the video collecting and providing device 20 or 20A to the spectator terminal 30 or 30A can be performed using an area-limited broadcasting service for terrestrial digital television broadcast receivers such as one-segment mobile phones, which utilizes the white space in the UHF band allocated for terrestrial digital broadcasting. In that case, the spectator terminal can be a mobile terminal such as a smartphone equipped with the function of a terrestrial digital television broadcast receiver such as a one-segment mobile phone.

[0130] Furthermore, WiMAX technology may be used as a technology for distributing video streams from the video collecting and providing device 20 or 20A to the spectator terminal 30 or 30A.

[0131] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the video stream of the camera 10 is always distributed as a video stream, but it is also possible to distribute only the part of the video stream in which a recommended scene that should be notified by advance notification of the recommended scene occurs (the part in which the recommended flag is set to "1").

[0132] In addition, in the above-mentioned SNS, when the video collecting and providing device 20A and all the spectator terminals 30A are in a friend relationship as shown in Fig. 14, the video collecting and providing device 20A can provide video streams by storing video streams from multiple cameras 10 as different posting pages. In this case, the video collecting and providing device 20A sends a preview of recommended scenes to the spectator terminal 30A by email or an instant messenger as one of the functions of the SNS. The preview may include identification information of the posting page of the video stream from the camera 10, so that the posting page can be accessed by the operation of the spectator using the video collecting and providing device 20A.

[0133] In the above explanation, the acquisition and display of the video stream including the recommended scene on the spectator terminal 30 or 30A is performed based on the operation of the spectator using the spectator. However, by installing a dedicated application on the spectator terminal 30 or 30A, when an advance notification of the recommended scene is received, the information for acquiring the video stream may be automatically used to execute a processing operation for acquiring the video stream, and the video stream may be displayed on the display screen.

[0134] In the above embodiment, the spectator using the spectator terminal 30 or 30A acquires a video stream and displays it on the display screen based on receiving advance notice of a recommended scene from the video collecting and providing device 20 or 20A. However, this is not the only case. The spectator using the spectator terminal 20 or 20A can also acquire a video stream of the corresponding player or shooting position by specifying a player name or a shooting position name at any time.

[0135] For example, a user spectator sends a request to acquire a video stream by a player's name to the video collection and provision device 20 or 20A through the spectator terminal 30 or 30A. The video collection and provision device 20 or 20A then sends a list of the player's names to the spectator terminal 30 or 30A, and the user spectator selects a player he or she wants to watch immediately from the list and sends a request to acquire the corresponding video stream to the video collection and provision device 20 or 20A. At this time, the request to acquire the video stream includes the player ID of the selected player, so the video collection and provision device 20 or 20A refers to the contents stored in the received video buffer memory 203, detects the camera ID of the video stream associated with the player ID, and detects the URL of the web page of the video stream of the camera 10 with that camera ID.

[0136] The video collecting and providing device 20 or 20A then returns the detected URL to the spectator terminal 30 or 30A as response information to the acquisition request. The spectator terminal 30 or 30A that receives this can access a Web page using the received URL to acquire the video stream of the player selected by the spectator and display it on the display screen 305D. It goes without saying that each of the video collecting and providing device 20 or 20A and the spectator terminal 30 or 30A is provided with an application program for executing the above processes.

[0137] When specifying a shooting position name and acquiring a video stream from the corresponding shooting position, the video stream at any selected shooting position name can be acquired and viewed at any time, in the same manner as when specifying a player name and acquiring a video stream of the corresponding player as described above.

[0138] In the above embodiment, the spectator terminal 30 or 30A allows the spectator to register the player he or she particularly wants to watch and the shooting position he or she particularly wants to watch, but the registration method is of course not limited to this. Spectators have a variety of ways of enjoying the game, and for example, even if they are not a favorite or a fan, they may not want to miss the putting of a particular player, such as a putting master. To accommodate this, the system is configured to register the photographer and the shooting position as a pair.

[0139] Also, there are many cases where people really want to watch the play of players who are competing for the lead, or for the top spot, or for the championship. In this case, ranking information for the golf tournament is obtained separately from a server prepared by the tournament office, or by taking a picture of the ranking list (leaderboard) on the golf course's electronic scoreboard with a camera and performing character recognition. From the obtained ranking information, the player names and player IDs of the players who are in the lead or top spots (for example, the top five or up to third place) can be obtained, and by registering those players, it is possible to enjoy the play of the players who are competing for the lead, or for the top spot, or for the championship.

[0140] Also, for example, if the spectator terminal 30 or 30A is a loaned dedicated terminal, ranking information may be sent to the dedicated spectator terminal 30 or 30A from the video image collecting and providing device 20 or 20A, allowing the spectator to identify the players in each ranking at that time. Also, in the case of the spectator terminal 30 or 30A configured by downloading a dedicated application to a mobile terminal, the ranking information may be constantly updated and available by periodically accessing the server of the tournament office of the golf competition.

[0141] Furthermore, if momentary player ranking information is registered in the video collecting and providing device 20 or 20A, when a spectator using the spectator terminal 30 or 30A registers the ranking he or she wishes to watch, the video collecting and providing device 20 or 20A can identify the player of the registered ranking and store it as registration information in the registration information storage unit 212.

[0142] Furthermore, since a group of paired players (two or three people) plays a round together, a group ID is created to group the paired players together, and by registering the group ID, all the players in the group can be viewed together. In this case, too, the players in each group on the day are registered in the video collection and provision device 20 or 20A, and information about the groups is provided to the spectator terminal 30 or 30A, allowing spectators using the spectator terminal 30 or 30A to register the group they wish to view.

[0143] In the above embodiment, the registered players and shooting positions are not prioritized (priority setting), but they may be prioritized. This allows the player and shooting position that the user most wants to watch to be selected at that time, even when the plays of multiple players that the user wants to watch overlap, or when the plays of multiple shooting positions that the user wants to watch overlap. When there are many players and shooting positions that the user wants to watch, advance notices of recommended scenes are frequently issued, so prioritization is also useful for selecting the notifications that the user wants to receive.

[0144] Furthermore, it may be possible to register challenging or adventurous scenes regardless of the players or the shooting position. Challenging or adventurous scenes can be registered by automatic recognition by the camera or by the photographer manually inputting a start cue operation. These scenes are high-risk, such as a shot over a pond, aiming for a two-on shot on a par-5 hole, or a recovery shot from the woods toward the green, and many spectators are interested in these scenes.

[0145] In the above embodiment, the prediction and detection of the recommended scene is performed as follows: The player appears on the tee A player walking on the fairway or rough stops for a specified period of time. The player appears on the putting green. The player is about to enter the bunker. - Placing the golf bag carried by the caddie next to the player The caddie handed the golf club to the player. The above player behaviors and situations were automatically recognized by image recognition, but the prediction detection is not limited to this. For example, after the player has assumed the above behaviors and situations, it may be predicted and detected that he / she grips a golf club such as a driver, iron, or putter, faces the golf ball, and addresses it. This case is just before the play begins, and is particularly useful for spectators who want to watch only the moment of the play or for spectators who want to watch many players play in a short period of time.

[0146] Also, the start of the recommended scene can be inferred by detecting the entry of a player into the teeing ground, green, or bunker. In this case, by arranging a large number of sensors (e.g., acceleration sensors, light sensors, and human sensors) around the teeing ground, green, or bunker, the intrusion of a person into the teeing ground, green, or bunker can be detected, and the start of the recommended scene can be inferred.

[0147] In the above embodiment, the recommendation flag has two values, "1" and "0", but it can have multiple values. For example, it can have four values, "3", "2", "1", and "0", and the recommendation level can be expressed by the magnitude of the numerical value, such as "3: high recommendation level", "2: medium recommendation level", "1: low recommendation level", and "0: not recommended". As described above, the priority order for players and shooting positions to be watched can also be set by setting this recommendation flag. In this case, the recommendation level is increased for players and shooting positions with high priority to be watched, that is, the recommendation flag is set to a large numerical value. In addition, even for players with the same priority and shooting positions, the recommendation level (the numerical value of the recommendation flag) can be changed depending on the length of the predicted time until the start of play. In this case, for example, the recommendation level is set to be the highest immediately before the play, and the recommendation level is set to be lower as the predicted time until the start of play increases.

[0148] Specifically, when a user wants to watch a player putting on the green of a specific hole, the recommendation level increases in the order of "the player appears on the putting green," "the caddie places the golf bag next to the player," "the caddie hands the putter to the player," and "the player holds the putter, faces the golf ball, and addresses it," i.e., the recommendation flag is set to a larger value. For example, the recommendation flag can have five values, with "the player appears on the putting green" being a recommendation flag of "1," "the caddie places the golf bag next to the player," "the caddie hands the putter to the player" being a recommendation flag of "2," "the caddie hands the putter to the player" being a recommendation flag of "3," and "the player holds the putter, faces the golf ball, and addresses it" being a recommendation flag of "4." In this case, the value of the recommendation flag can be selected to notify the user of a recommended scene in advance for all recommendation flags of "1" or higher, or to notify the user of a recommended scene only for recommendation flags of "3" or higher. The user can adjust the length of the viewing time before the start of play to his or her preference by selecting the value of the recommendation flag. Of course, since the priorities may differ depending on the spectator, it is preferable to make the recommendation level (the value of the recommendation flag) changeable.

[0149] Furthermore, it is also possible to provide membership types (special members, general members, non-members, etc.) and categorize the recommendation flag into two values ​​or multiple values ​​greater than two (e.g., three values, four values) depending on the type. For example, the recommendation flag may be four values ​​for special members, three values ​​for general members, and two values ​​for non-members. It is also possible to provide a usage method in which the recommendation flag has four values, with special members receiving advance notices of all recommended scenes with recommendation flags "3," "2," and "1," while general members only receive advance notices of recommendation flags "3" and "2," and non-members only receive advance notices of recommendation flag "3." This is not limited to membership types, but can also be used in cases where the service fee setting is set to special fees and normal fees, etc., and can be handled according to the fee type.

[0150] In addition, when setting up membership types and usage fee types, it is not limited to the above, but it is also possible to change the number of athletes that can be registered and the number of shooting positions that can be registered according to the type. Of course, it is also possible to set classifications of image quality such as 4K image, high-definition image, standard image, etc. according to the type.

[0151] In the above embodiment, the recognition of the player to be watched is performed using the face image of the player, but the recognition is not limited to the face image of the player.

[0152] For example, players may be recognized by recognizing their gait. For example, "Panasonic Technical Journal Vol. 54 Jan. 2009" provides a detailed explanation of this gait recognition. Since it is based on the difference in the way players walk, it is possible to recognize players from a distance where their faces cannot be seen, and it is an effective method for recognizing players on a large golf course.

[0153] When gait recognition is used, the player recognition unit 205 has a gait recognition function and uses a player gait information storage unit (not shown) instead of the player face image storage unit 213. In the player gait information storage unit, gait information of a player participating in the golf competition, which has as features the stride length, swing of arms and legs, posture, walking cycle, etc., and a player ID given to the player are registered and stored in advance in association with each other. In this case, the player gait information storage unit may register the gait information of all players participating in the golf competition and their player IDs, or may register the gait information of a plurality of players selected from all players and their player IDs.

[0154] The player recognition unit 205 performs gait recognition on the video information of the video stream temporarily stored in the received video buffer memory 203 using the player's gait information stored in the player gait information storage unit, recognizes the players appearing in the video stream, and can obtain the player ID as the recognition result from the player gait information storage unit.

[0155] In addition, in the case of golf players, players may be recognized by recognizing the way the player addresses the ball, their form, their stance, their posture when reading the lines on the green, etc. In other sports, players may also be recognized similarly based on the characteristics of their posture and movements.

[0156] In addition, players can be recognized using their hats, clothing, height, body type, etc., making it possible to recognize them from a distance where their faces cannot be seen.

[0157] In golf competitions, players are accompanied by caddies, who may wear bibs with the player's name printed on them. Thus, players can be identified by character recognition of the player's name on the bib worn by the caddy. It is also possible to have the caddies wear transmitters that transmit a different ID for each player, and to identify players by receiving the signal transmitted from the transmitter and determining the ID.

[0158] The above player recognition technology can be used alone or, of course, can be used in combination with other recognition technologies such as face image recognition.

[0159] Alternatively, the camera operator may visually identify the players and input the player ID based on the identification, so that the input player ID is sent from the camera 10 as additional information for the video stream. In this case, the camera 10 is provided with an operation unit that enables the camera operator to input the player ID. The camera operator may then carry, for example, a memo or the like that describes the correspondence between the player names and the player IDs, and input the player ID via the operation unit while looking at the memo.

[0160] In the above embodiment, the camera 10 is fixedly placed on each hole, but a camera 10 may be placed for each participating player, and a photographer may move with the camera 10 to follow the player as he moves. In this case, the players to be photographed may not be all the players participating in the golf tournament, but only specific players.

[0161] In this case, the video stream is not a video stream for each shooting position of each hole as in the above embodiment, but a video stream for each player, so that the player can be identified from the camera identification information. However, in this case, playing position information indicating the position of the camera's shooting position on which hole is generated from the camera's current position information, and is added to the video stream for each player, so that the shooting position can be identified.

[0162] In the above embodiment, the spectator terminal is described as a tablet terminal, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a foldable terminal may be used as a dual-screen display, with one screen used as a main image for displaying a video stream and the other as a sub-screen for displaying an e-mail message for advance notice of a recommended scene.

[0163] In the above embodiment, advance notice of recommended scenes on the spectator terminal is given by vibration using a vibrator, but instead of or in addition to this, notice may be given by flashing a lamp or LED, for example.

[0164] Also, a layout diagram of each hole may be displayed on the display screen, and the location of the recommended scene may be notified by flashing a lamp or LED at that location.

[0165] In addition, when there are differences in priority or recommendation level as described above, the notification method may be changed. When the priority or recommendation level is high, the vibration by the vibrator may be made stronger, the lamp may be made brighter, or the LED may be made to blink more rapidly. In addition, depending on the priority or recommendation level, the size, thickness, or color of the text in the email message notifying the advance notice of the recommended scene or the URL of the web page providing the video stream including the recommended scene may be changed.

[0166] In the case of a golf tournament, a playoff may take place between two or more players. In this case, when a playoff is detected, the previous registration information is deleted, and the camera tracks the players participating in the playoff and notifies them in advance as a recommended scene.

[0167] Furthermore, because the moment when the winner is declared is very important, the video stream of the winner should be notified to users in advance as a recommended scene. After the winner is declared, it is desirable to have a camera follow the winner and other top prize winners, and to notify users in advance of video streams of their expressions, interviews, and the award ceremony as recommended scenes.

[0168] [Other embodiments] In the above embodiment, the sports competition is golf, but it goes without saying that the sports competition to which the present invention can be applied is not limited to golf. For example, FIG. 15 shows the case of gymnastics competition (FIG. 15 shows the case of men's gymnastics) held in the same space in a sports facility such as a gymnasium. As shown in FIG. 15, although men's gymnastics competition is held in the same space in a sports facility such as a gymnasium, performances (performances in gymnastics; hereafter referred to as performances) of six events, namely "floor exercise", "horse bar", "parallel bars", "vault", "hanging rings" and "pommel horse", are performed simultaneously in parallel. Spectators watch the athletes' performances from the grandstand in the sports facility such as a gymnasium.

[0169] Therefore, spectators can look around the entire event while watching the start of their favorite athlete or event, but they may miss the start of the athlete's performance. Also, depending on the seating position, the performance of the event they want to watch may be far away and difficult to see, or the angle or obstacles may prevent them from seeing the performance of a particular event. For example, in the example of Figure 15, seats that provide a good view of the "parallel bars" tend to provide a poor view of the "pommel horse," and seats that provide a good view of the "rings" and "pommel horse" tend to provide a poor view of the "parallel bars" and "horizontal bar."

[0170] Therefore, as shown in the example of Figure 15, by placing cameras 10 for each event, providing a video collection and provision device, and having spectators carry spectator terminals, a competition viewing system with a configuration similar to that of the above-mentioned embodiment can be constructed, which makes it possible to reliably watch the performances of athletes and events that spectators want to watch.

[0171] In this case, the shooting position ID can correspond to the event ID. As in the above embodiment, the spectator terminal can register athletes or events that the spectator particularly wants to watch, and can provide advance notice of recommended scenes for the registered athletes or events.

[0172] The above is for men's gymnastics, but the present invention can be applied to women's gymnastics as well, which consists of four events: floor exercise, vault, uneven bars, and balance beam.

[0173] In gymnastics, performances are held in the team all-around, individual all-around, and individual events. In the team all-around, because competitions are held by country or university, the ID of the country or university to which the athlete belongs may be added to the video stream of each camera 10 that is distributed in addition to the athlete ID. That is, a country ID or university ID for identifying a country or university that one wants to watch or support may be added. In addition, in the case of individual events, because athletes compete in one event, a shooting position ID is not necessary as an event ID. However, the performance of that event can be shot from multiple positions, and the positions can be used as the shooting position ID instead of the event.

[0174] In gymnastics, as in golf, ranking IDs and group IDs can of course be applied. In the team all-around and individual all-around in gymnastics, groups of about 4 to 6 athletes are formed and rotate through the same events, so a group ID is applied to the group.

[0175] Furthermore, in track and field events at the Olympic Games, multiple events take place simultaneously and in parallel on the track or field of the stadium, and the present invention can be similarly applied in such cases as well.

[0176] Furthermore, even when the competition viewing system of this invention is applied to a marathon race, by installing cameras at key positions such as the 10km pass, the 20km pass, and the finish line, and registering the main runners in the spectator terminal, it becomes possible to reliably view the performance of the registered runners at the 10km pass, the 20km pass, the finish line, and other recommended scenes. The competition viewing system of this invention can also be applied to relay races and the like.

[0177] The present invention can also be applied to sports such as tennis, badminton, and volleyball, which are played simultaneously on multiple courts in large venues, bowling and curling, which are played on multiple lanes, and table tennis, which is played on multiple tables. [Explanation of symbols]

[0178] 10: camera, 20: video collection and provision device, 30: spectator terminal, 204: shooting position determination unit, 205: player recognition unit, 206: recommended scene determination unit, 207: recommended scene advance notification unit

Claims

1. A spectator terminal for watching the athletes compete; One or more cameras for photographing the athletes' performance; a video collection and provision device for collecting video streams of the video images captured by the camera and providing the video streams to the spectator terminal; A sports viewing system comprising: The spectator terminal includes: a registration request means for transmitting a player of a predetermined ranking selected from a plurality of players participating in the competition and terminal identification information of the player's own terminal to the video collection and provision device, and making a registration request; Equipped with The image collection and provision device includes: a registration means for receiving the registration request from the spectator terminal and registering the selected player of the predetermined ranking in association with the terminal identification information; a detection means for detecting a recommended scene of the competition of the selected athlete of a predetermined ranking based on the collected image information from the one or more cameras; a notification means for notifying the spectator terminal when the detection means detects the recommended scene of the selected player of the predetermined ranking; A sports watching system comprising:

2. The spectator terminal includes a means for acquiring ranking information from a server, The registration request means selects the player of the predetermined rank from the ranking information.

2. The sports watching system according to claim 1 .

3. The spectator terminal includes a means for photographing the ranking list with a camera and performing character recognition, The registration request means selects the player of the predetermined rank from the ranking list subjected to the character recognition.

3. The competition watching system according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The spectator terminal includes a means for receiving ranking information sent from the video image collecting and providing device, The registration request means selects the player of the predetermined rank from the received ranking information.

4. A sports watching system according to claim 1, wherein the sports watching system is a system for watching a sports event.

5. The spectator terminal includes: a notification means for notifying the notification of the recommended scene when the notification is received from the video collecting and providing device; a video stream acquisition means for acquiring a video stream including the recommended scene sent from the video collection and provision device; 5. The competition watching system according to claim 1, further comprising:

6. The detection means of the video collection and provision device recognizes the behavior and / or situation of the player by image recognition on the collected video information of the video stream from the one or more cameras, and detects recommended scenes of the player's competition.

6. A sports watching system according to claim 1, wherein the sports watching system is a system for watching a sports event.

7. a sensor for detecting when the athlete enters a predetermined area in the competition is provided around the predetermined area; The detection means of the video collection and provision device detects the recommended scene based on the detection output from the sensor.

7. A sports watching system according to claim 1, wherein the sports watching system is a system for watching a sports event.

8. The video collection and provision device includes a face image storage unit that stores face images of athletes participating in the competition, and detects the recommended scenes of the registered athletes based on face image recognition using the face images of the athletes stored in the face image storage unit for the collected video information from the one or more cameras.

8. A sports watching system according to claim 1, wherein the sports watching system is a system for watching a sports event.

9. The sport is a golf sport, The video collection and provision device detects the recommended scenes of the registered players based on receiving a transmission signal from a transmitter that transmits identification information different for each player and that is carried by a caddie and determining the identification information.

9. A sports watching system according to claim 1, wherein the sports watching system is a system for watching a sports event.

10. The spectator terminal includes a video stream acquisition means for acquiring a video stream including the recommended scene sent from the video collection and provision device, the video collection and provision device transmits the notification including information for the spectator terminal to acquire a video stream including the recommended scene; The video stream acquisition means of the spectator terminal presents information for acquiring a video stream including the recommended scene, and when an acquisition instruction is received from the spectator, acquires the video stream including the recommended scene using the information for acquisition.

10. A sports watching system according to claim 1, wherein the sports watching system is a system for watching a sports event.

11. The video collection and provision device broadcasts the video stream as an area broadcast covering the entire area where the event is held. A sports watching system according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. The sport is a golf sport, The video collection and provision device collects, for each of the video information of the video streams collected from the plurality of cameras, The players appeared on the tee, A player walking on the fairway or rough stops for a prescribed period of time, The player appears on the putting green, The player is about to enter the bunker, The behavior and situation of the player including at least one of the above is recognized by image recognition, and the detection of the recommended scene is performed. A sports watching system according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. The sport is a golf sport, The video collection and provision device collects, for each of the video information of the video streams collected from the plurality of cameras, The caddie placed his golf bag next to the player. or the caddie handed the golf club to the player; The caddie's behavior or situation, including any one of the above, is recognized by image recognition, and the detection of the recommended scene is performed.

13. A sports watching system according to claim 1, wherein the sports watching system is a system for watching a sports event.

14. The sport is a golf sport, The video collection and provision device recognizes that the player has gripped a golf club, faced a golf ball, and addressed the golf ball by image recognition of each of the collected video information of the video streams from the multiple cameras, and performs the detection of the recommended scene. A sports watching system according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

15. the video collecting and providing device generates a recommendation flag corresponding to a period of video information from a time point preceding the start of the detected recommended scene to a time point preceding the end of the recommended scene, and notifies the spectator terminal of the recommended scene based on the generated recommendation flag, the recommendation flag having a different value according to a degree of recommendation of the recommended scene, and controls execution of notification of the recommended scene to the spectator terminal that has notified the value of the recommended flag based on the value of the recommendation flag notified from the spectator terminal and the generated value of the recommendation flag; The spectator terminal includes a recommended flag value notification means for notifying the video collection and provision device of the set value of the recommended flag. A sports watching system according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

16. the video collecting and providing device generates a recommendation flag corresponding to a period of video information from a time point preceding the start of the detected recommended scene to a time point preceding the end of the detected recommended scene, and notifies the spectator terminal of the recommended scene based on the generated recommendation flag, the recommendation flag having different values, and controls execution of the notification depending on the value of the recommendation flag; A value of the recommendation flag is assigned to each person who owns the spectator terminal, and the spectator terminals are classified according to the value of the recommendation flag. A sports watching system according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

17. the video collecting and providing device generates a recommendation flag corresponding to a period of video information from a time point preceding the start of the detected recommended scene to a time point preceding the end of the detected recommended scene, and notifies the spectator terminal of the recommended scene based on the generated recommendation flag, the recommendation flag having different values, and controls execution of the notification depending on the value of the recommendation flag; The spectator terminals are classified according to membership type, and the spectator terminals are assigned different values ​​of the recommended flag for each membership type.

17. A sports watching system according to claim 1, wherein the sports watching system is a system for watching a sports event.

18. The number of players who can be registered as targets for which the notification is requested, the number of shooting locations, and / or the image quality of the video stream can be changed according to the classified membership type.

18. A sports event viewing system according to claim 17.

19. The number of players who can be registered as targets for which the notification is requested, the number of shooting locations, and / or the image quality of the video stream can be changed according to the classified usage fee type.

20. The sports watching system according to claim 18,

20. The one or more cameras include a video transmission means for transmitting a video stream of images captured by the one or more cameras; The video collection and provision device collects the video streams transmitted from the one or more cameras and provides them to the spectator terminal.

20. A sports watching system according to claim 1, wherein the sports watching system is a system for watching a sports event.

21. The competition is a marathon competition or a relay race, The video collection and provision device detects the recommended scene by recognizing, through image recognition, that a player has appeared at a predetermined passing point and / or a goal point for each of the collected video information of the video streams from the plurality of cameras. A sports watching system according to any one of claims 1 to 20.

22. The video collection and provision device includes a provision means for providing, to the spectator terminal, a video stream including at least the notified recommended scene among the collected video streams. A sports watching system according to any one of claims 1 to 21.

23. In addition to the identification information of the athlete, the notification of the recommended scene includes at least one of the following: identification information of the country to which the athlete belongs, identification information of the university to which the athlete belongs, identification information of the athlete's ranking, identification information of the group to which the athlete belongs, and identification information of the event in which the athlete will perform. A sports watching system according to any one of claims 1 to 22.

24. A spectator terminal for watching the athletes compete; One or more cameras for photographing the athletes' performance; a video collection and provision device for collecting video streams of the video images captured by the camera and providing the video streams to the spectator terminal; The image collecting and providing device comprises: a registration means for receiving a registration request from the spectator terminal and registering the selected player of a predetermined ranking in association with terminal identification information of the spectator terminal; a detection means for detecting a recommended scene of the competition of the selected athlete of a predetermined ranking based on the collected image information from the one or more cameras; a notification means for notifying the spectator terminal when the detection means detects the recommended scene of the selected athlete of a predetermined ranking, A registration request means is provided for transmitting the selected player of a predetermined ranking from among a plurality of players participating in the competition and the terminal identification information to the video collection and provision device, and making the registration request. The spectator terminal is characterized by the above.

25. A spectator terminal for watching the athletes compete; One or more cameras for photographing the athletes' performance; a video collection and provision device for collecting video streams of the video images captured by the camera and providing the video streams to the spectator terminal; the video image collecting and providing device of the competition watching system includes a registration request means for transmitting a player of a predetermined ranking selected from a plurality of players participating in the competition and terminal identification information of the spectator terminal to the video image collecting and providing device, and making a registration request; a registration means for receiving the registration request from the spectator terminal and registering the selected player of the predetermined ranking in association with the terminal identification information; a detection means for detecting a recommended scene of the competition of the selected athlete of a predetermined ranking based on the collected image information from the one or more cameras; a notification means for notifying the spectator terminal when the detection means detects the recommended scene of the selected player of the predetermined ranking; A video collection and provision device comprising:

26. providing means for providing, to the spectator terminal, a video stream including at least the notified recommended scene among the collected video streams; 26. The image collecting and providing device according to claim 25.

27. A spectator terminal for watching the athletes compete; One or more cameras for photographing the athletes' performance; a video collection and provision device for collecting video streams of the video images captured by the camera and providing the video streams to the spectator terminal; The image collecting and providing device comprises: a registration means for receiving a registration request from the spectator terminal and registering the selected player of a predetermined ranking in association with terminal identification information of the spectator terminal; a detection means for detecting a recommended scene of the competition of the selected athlete of a predetermined ranking based on the collected image information from the one or more cameras; a notification means for notifying the spectator terminal when the detection means detects the recommended scene of the selected athlete of a predetermined rank, a registration request means for transmitting the selected player of the predetermined ranking from among the multiple players participating in the race and the terminal identification information to the video collection and provision device and requesting registration; A program for spectator terminals to function as a

28. A spectator terminal for watching the athletes compete; One or more cameras for photographing the athletes' performance; a video collection and provision device for collecting video streams of the video images captured by the camera and providing the video streams to the spectator terminal; a computer provided in the video collection and provision device of the competition watching system, the video collection and provision device having a registration request means for transmitting a player of a predetermined ranking selected from a plurality of players participating in the competition and terminal identification information of the spectator terminal to the video collection and provision device and requesting registration; a registration means for receiving the registration request from the spectator terminal and registering the selected player of the predetermined ranking in association with the terminal identification information; a detection means for detecting a recommended scene of the competition of the selected athlete of a predetermined ranking based on the collected image information from the one or more cameras; a notification means for notifying the spectator terminal when the detection means detects the recommended scene of the selected player of the predetermined ranking; A program for a video collection and provision device to function as a video collection and provision device.

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