Method and device for media editing

• US 20020031262A1
• Filed: 09/12/2001
• Published: 03/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsuo, Hideaki, Imagawa, Kazuyuki, Iwasa, Katsuhiro, Yoshimura, Tetsuya, Takata, Yuji
• Granted Patent: US 6,961,446 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/190
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2007/145 Handheld terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/141 between two video terminals, e.g. videophone telephonic communication systems combined with television receiver for reception of entertainment or information matter H04M11/085
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

The present media editing device generates media including messages in an easy manner in a communication terminal such as a mobile terminal. Therein, a moving image data storage part 14 stores moving image data recorded by a user. A region extraction part 17 extracts any region including the user from the moving image data. A front determination part 18 detects whether or not the user in the extracted region is facing the front. A sound detection part 19 detects the presence or absence of a sound signal of a predetermined level or higher. A frame selection part 20 determines starting and ending frames based on the results outputted from the front determination part 18 and the sound detection part 19. An editing part 21 performs, for example, an image conversion process by clipping out the media based on thus determined starting and ending frames. A transmission data storage part 15 stores the resultantly edited media as transmission data.

Claims

1. A media editing method for editing media including an image sequence comprised of a plurality of images showing a user partially or entirely as a subject, said method comprising the steps of:

extracting a region from said images including the user partially or entirely;

determining whether or not the user included in the region extracted in said extracting step is facing a predesignated direction;

selecting a part of the image sequence between time points determined as the user facing the predesignated direction in said determining step by scanning said image sequence from a start point to an end point, and from the end point to the start point; and

editing the media including the image sequence selected in said selecting step.

2. The media editing method according to claim 1, wherein said determining step determines whether or not the user included in the region extracted in said extracting step is facing the front.

3. The media editing method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of detecting a sound included in said media, and

said selecting step selects, by scanning the image sequence from the start point to the end point, and from the end point to the start point, the part of said image sequence satisfying as being between the time points determined in said determining step as the user facing the predesignated direction, and between time points at which a sound is each detected.

4. The media editing method according to claim 1, wherein said editing step specifies the image sequence selected in said selecting step by description in a meta-deta format.

5. The media editing method according to claim 1, wherein said editing step clips out the image sequence selected in said selecting step from said media.

6. The media editing method according to claim 1, wherein said editing step selects the first image in the image sequence selected in said selecting step as an initial display image.

7. The media editing method according to claim 1, wherein said editing step calculates a partial region corresponding to said image sequence based on a position and size of the region extracted in said extracting step, and performs editing by using said partial region.

8. The media editing method according to claim 6, wherein said editing step specifies said partial region by description in a meta data format.

9. The media editing method according to claim 1, wherein said editing step arranges a text included in said media onto an arrangement region which is so set as not to overlap at all the region extracted in said extracting step, or to overlap as little as possible if overlaps.

10. The media editing method according to claim 1, wherein

said extracting step extracts a face region including the user'"'"'s face, and

said editing step arranges a text included in said media onto a speech bubble region which is so set as not to overlap at all the region extracted in said extracting step, or to overlap as little as possible if overlaps.

11. The media editing method according to claim 1, wherein said editing step performs an image conversion process for one or more of said images.

12. The media editing method according to claim 1, wherein

said extracting step extracts a face region including the user'"'"'s face, and

said editing step refers to a face characteristic calculated based on the face region extracted in said extracting step, and from a character database storing a plurality of character images and the face characteristic each corresponding thereto, selecting one or more of said character images.

13. The media editing method according to claim 11, wherein said editing step calculates said face characteristic based on character data inputted by the user.

14. The media editing method according to claim 11, wherein said editing step calculates said face characteristic based on a length-to-width ratio or a partial characteristic of a face in the face region extracted in said extracting step.

16. The media editing device according to claim 15, further comprising a sound detection part for detecting a sound included in said media, and

said frame selection part selects, by scanning the image sequence from the start point to the end point, and from the end point to the start point, the part of said image sequence satisfying as being between the time points determined by said predesignated face orientation determination part as the user facing the predesignated direction, and between time points at which a sound is each detected.

17. The media editing device according to claim 15, wherein said editing part selects the first image in the image sequence selected by said frame selection part as an initial display image.

18. The media editing device according to claim 15, wherein said editing part calculates a partial region corresponding to said image sequence based on a position and size of the region extracted by said region extraction part, and performs editing by using said partial region.

19. The media editing device according to claim 15, wherein said editing part arranges a text included in said media onto an arrangement region which is so set as not to overlap at all the region extracted by said region extraction part, or to overlap as little as possible if overlaps.

15. A media editing device for editing media including an image sequence comprised of a plurality of images showing a user partially or entirely as a subject, said device comprising:

a region extraction part for extracting a region from said images including the user partially or entirely;

a predesignated face orientation determination part for determining whether or not the user included in the region extracted by said region extraction part is facing a predesignated direction;

a frame selection part for selecting a part of the image sequence between time points determined as the user facing the predesignated direction by said predesignated face orientation determination part by scanning said image sequence from a start point to an end point, and from the end point to the start point; and

an editing part for editing the media including the image sequence selected by said frame selection part.

20. The media editing device according to claim 20, wherein

said region extraction part extracts a face region including the user'"'"'s face, and

said editing part refers to a face characteristic calculated based on the face region extracted by said region extraction part, and from a character database storing a plurality of character images and the face characteristic each corresponding thereto, selecting one or more of said character images.

21. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded to be carried out by a device for editing media including an image sequence comprised of a plurality of images showing a user partially or entirely as a subject, said program comprising the steps of:

extracting a region from said images including the user partially or entirely;

determining whether or not the user included in the region extracted in said extracting step is facing a predesignated direction;

selecting a part of the image sequence between time points determined as the user facing the predesignated direction in said determining step by scanning said image sequence from a start point to an end point, and from the end point to the start point; and

editing the media including the image sequence selected in said selecting step.