Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-10
2003-02-25
Tran, Thai (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C345S215000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06526215
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a moving picture editing apparatus for use in production of such a moving picture program as television broadcasting program or video program.
The performance of a facility for television broadcasting programs or video programs has conventionally been advanced rapidly with the help of computer. In these years, in particular, remarkable advancement is directed not to a video editing method of a video tape recorder based on repeating fast-forward and fast-reverse depending on a tape counter, but to a moving picture editing apparatus for storing source material video pictures in an inexpensive hard disk which is easy to handle and save for editing of source material video pictures, that is, to a so-called nonlinear editing apparatus.
FIG. 2
shows a block diagram of a nonlinear moving picture editing apparatus.
The illustrated apparatus includes a scene change point detector
201
, a magnetic memory device
202
, a monitor
203
, a frame buffer
204
, a main memory
205
, an input device
206
, a video tape recorder (VTR)
207
, a video interface
208
, a picture compressor
209
, an audio interface
210
, a central processing unit (CPU)
211
, a bus
212
and a picture size reducer
214
.
The scene change point detector
201
, magnetic memory device
202
, monitor
203
, frame buffer
204
, main memory
205
, input device
206
, VTR
207
, audio interface
210
, picture compressor
209
and picture size reducer
214
are connected to the CPU
211
through the bus
212
. The VTR
207
is connected to the video interface
208
and audio interface
210
.
In
FIG. 2
, the CPU
211
performs data transfer with the respective constituent elements connected thereto via the bus
212
, the constituent elements being controlled by an access signal received from the CPU
211
. An instruction to the CPU
211
is carried out by an operator with use of the input device
206
such as a mouse or keyboard. The VTR
207
reproduces a series of moving picture information containing plurality of scenes, sends moving picture in the reproduced information to the video interface
208
, and also sends an audio signal in the reproduced information to the audio interface
210
. The audio interface
210
converts the received audio signal to a digital signal and sends the digital signal to the magnetic memory device
202
. The magnetic memory device
202
stores therein the received audio information. The video interface
208
converts the received moving picture information to information having a format processable by the moving picture editing apparatus, and sends the converted information to the scene change point detector
201
, magnetic memory device
202
, main memory
205
, picture compressor
209
and picture size reducer
214
. The picture compressor
209
compresses digital data of the reproduced moving pictures, e.g., based on a moving picture experts group (MPEG) or motion joint photographic experts group (motion JPEG) system. The magnetic memory device
202
stores therein the received video information. The scene change point detector
201
analyzes the received moving pictures on a frame basis and detects a scene change point and a cut change point on the basis of a degree of change in a color distribution between frames. The picture size reducer
214
generates a reduced moving picture (M-icon) by thinning out data of each frame into video or moving picture data of 80×60 pixels on the basis of an analysis result of the scene change point detector
201
. The generated M-icon is sent to the magnetic memory device
202
and stored therein. Moving picture analysis information (including frame numbers for scene change points or cut change points) indicative of a relationship between the M-icon and the detection result of the scene change point detector
201
is also sent to the magnetic memory
202
and saved therein. The monitor
203
displays the moving pictures stored in the magnetic memory device
202
on the basis of analysis information thereof to offer a graphical user interface (GUI) to the operator. The frame buffer
204
stores therein pictures to be displayed on the monitor
203
. The main memory
205
stores therein various sorts of control programs for the CPU
211
.
In this connection, the magnetic memory device
202
may be replaced by another recording medium such as a magneto-optical memory or a remote file connected through a network. Further, the mouse used as the input device
206
may be replaced by a track ball or another pointing device. A communication device
215
may be a Ether Net, an interface, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interface, a modem, a facsimile machine, a telephone or another communication terminal which can perform information transfer between an external communication network and the nonlinear editing apparatus.
The operator sequentially edits the reduced moving picture (M-icon) on which the scene analysis information obtained at the scene change point detector
201
is reflected, and constructs them into a tree structure.
FIG. 3
shows an example of the editing display screen displayed on the monitor
203
. In the drawing, reference numeral
301
denotes a hierarchical structure (a tree structure) area, numeral
302
denotes an M-icon,
303
denotes a schematic enlargement of the M-icon,
304
denotes a source material area, and
305
denotes a group of various function buttons. Editing is carried out by constructing M-icons into such a hierarchical structure as shown in the hierarchical structure area
301
of an editing screen
300
. In the tree (in the hierarchical structure area
301
), M-icons (for example M-icon
302
) of a lowest layer are cuts which are composed a plurality of frame images, M-icons of a upper layer of said lowest layer are scenes which are composed a plurality of cuts, and a M-icon of a uppermost layer are moving pictures which are composed a plurality of scenes. Namely, in the tree having a plurality of layers, an M-icon is in upper layer represents a combination of M-icons in a lower layer belonging to the upper layer, which corresponds to a chapter or section in a story. An M-icon in the uppermost layer represents the story. The source material area
304
is an area in which the M-icons
302
prepared by the picture size reducer
214
based on an analysis result of the scene change point detector
201
are arranged. The operator selects ones of the icons to be edited and constructs them into a hierarchical structure in the hierarchical structure area
301
. The various function buttons
305
are operating buttons for various sorts of editing operations on the editing screen
300
.
Such an apparatus as mentioned above can lighten operator's burden.
More in detail, since editing can be realized on a scene or cut (or clip) basis, story making can be facilitated. Further, since division of the input moving pictures into cut units can be automatically carried out, operator's inconvenience of manually doing so can be eliminated. In addition, since the moving pictures can be stored and managed in the form of a hierarchical structure, retrieval of a necessary scene or cut (or clip) can be facilitated.
Explanation will next be made by referring to
FIGS. 4 and 5
as to a specific example (information managing/displaying method) of a method for managing related video information (linked video information) in the prior art nonlinear editing apparatus.
FIGS. 4 and 5
show related video linked information such as source material names, types and lengths of source material media, and comments. Reference numeral
401
denotes a column for indication of different sorts of source material icons, reference symbol
401
-
1
and
401
-
2
denote source icons, numeral
402
denotes a column for indication of names of the source materials,
403
denotes a column for indication of a distinction between video and audio,
404
denotes a column for indication of time durations of the materials,
501
denotes a column for indication of typical source material icons,
502
Hirai Seiichi
Ueda Hirotada
Antonelli Terry Stout & Kraus LLP
Chieu Po-lin
Hitachi Denshi Kabushiki Kaisha
Tran Thai
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