METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MORE SLOWLY TELECASTING LIVE SPORTS EVENTS INSTANTLY AS THEY TAKE PLACE

摘要

A method and apparatus by which actual live action plays, as for example football plays starting from the line-up at the line of scrimmage and calling of the signals, and ending with the termination of the scrimmage and blowing of the official's whistle (which grounds the ball), are semi-automatically telecast in slower motion during the actual time the play is occurring. In the case of a football play, the last portions of small groupings (seven frames) of the slower motion telecast which occur during the period that the players are active are discarded and therefore not telecast; instead the undiscarded portions are spread over substantially the entire period of time that is consumed by the line action. The apparatus involves making a record or storing information, as on video tape of a recorder or else on a record disk, and substantially simultaneously playing back the stored information in a manner to produce a large number of small intervals of slower action than the actual live action. The playback information is modified but is still compatible with the television H.F. transmitter and with the synchronization of the telecasting and receiving equipment, as by relating picture portions of the video tape information to a suitable composite wave or to command and synchronizing pulses, erase or blanking pulses, etc. some of which are of the type utilized for a normal or conventional telecast to thereby maintain receiver synchronization. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the slower-action is obtained by the use of multiple play-back heads which are arranged to give the effect of physical displacement at uniform intervals "upstream" of the initial playback head, in conjunction with electronic switching of the heads under the control of "command" pulses added to the video tape.