Patent ID: 7822229

Claim:
A method of determining a 3-dimensional position of an object within an environment having a known geometry, the method comprising the steps of: (a) determining, at a first time, a 3-dimensional location of the object not residing on the known geometry, said determination made using points selected from a first video image, at least a portion of the known geometry, and lines of position extending from one or more cameras capturing the first image in the directions of respective 3-dimensional projections of the points selected from the first video image; (b) determining, at a second time different than the first time, a 3-dimensional location of the object not residing on the known geometry, said determination made using points selected from a second video image, at least a portion of the known geometry, and lines of position extending from one or more cameras capturing the second image in the directions of respective 3-dimensional projections of the points selected from the second video image; (c) determining 3-dimensional locations of the object at times of video frames between the first and second times, said step (c) including the steps of: (c1) using the 3-dimensional location of the object determined in said step (a), (c2) using the 3-dimensional location of the object determined in said step (b), and (c3) using equations defining the trajectory of the object in three dimensions at known times between the first time and the second time, said equations accounting for at least one of drag and atmospheric conditions affecting the trajectory of the object; (d) converting 3-dimensional locations of the object determined in said step (c) to a position of the object in video frames between the first video image and the second video image; and (e) modifying video frames between the first video image and the second video image based on the positions of the object identified in said step (d) for different times in order to emphasize the object in the video frames between the first video image and the second video image.