Japan's public television broadcaster, NHK, has developed an array of video cameras that are synchronized to provide dynamic images of objects at different positions and in motion.
Multi-view imaging involves surrounding the objects (e.g. sports players) with a number
of cameras, which can provide a virtual all-round view of them at any point of time.
Existing systems have only been able to capture the objects from a limited number of
vantage points, owing to the fixed direction of the cameras. NHK, however, has come up
with a means of ensuring that all of the cameras are focusing on the same point,
by having eight cameras (for pans, tilt s and zooms) move in tandem with one main
camera. This enables the cameras to keep up with quickly moving players and provide
multi-view imaging of the decisive moments in a sporting event.
The multi-view camera system can provide a virtual all-round view of an object at any point of time. For instance, the figure below shows the system in use at a volleyball match. The cameras are all directed at the back of the player making a spike. The images from each camera can be quickly displayed in a sequence, providing viewers with dynamic, all-around images of the player.