SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING VIRTUAL PAN-TILT-ZOOM, PTZ, VIDEO FUNCTIONALITY TO A PLURALITY OF USERS OVER A DATA NETWORK

A system for providing virtual pan-tilt-zoom, PTZ, video functionality video to a plurality of users (60a-60c) over a data network (30) is provided. The system (100) comprises one or more network video cameras (10a-10e) positioned to make a video recording of a real-world target field (20), or a respective subarea thereof, and output a respective raw video segment onto the data network (30), a back-end camera calibration unit (42) which is adapted to obtain a relative position and orientation of the respective network video camera (10a-10e) with respect to a three dimensional world space for the target field (20), and to save the obtained relative position and orientation as metadata for the respective network video camera (10a-10e), a back-end video processing unit (44), connected to the data network (30) and adapted to receive the respective raw video segment(s) recorded by the network video camera(s) (10a-10e), and to store or buffer video contents of the respective raw video segment(s) in a back-end video storage (41), a back-end video streaming unit (46) adapted to stream the stored or buffered video contents and the saved metadata for the respective network video camera (10a-10e) onto the data network (30), a plurality of client devices (50a-50c) for use by the plurality of users (60a-60c). Each client device (50a-50c) is adapted to receive the streamed video contents and the metadata, determine a chosen virtual pan-tilt-zoom value and present, on a display (52a-52c) of the client device, the video contents by projecting directions, in the three dimensional world space, onto the display (52a-52c) based on the chosen virtual pan-tilt-zoom value and the metadata.