Reduced representations of video sequences

• US 20030189588A1
• Filed: 04/03/2002
• Published: 10/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Girgensohn, Andreas, Chiu, Patrick, Wilcox, Lynn D., Shipman, Frank M. III
• Granted Patent: US 7,149,974 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/739 in form of a video summary, e.g. the video summary being a video sequence, a composite still image or having synthesized frames
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/785 using colour or luminescence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/786 using motion, e.g. object motion or camera motion
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D

Abstract

A system that represents a video sequence comprising of a plurality of video clips as number of images. The plurality of video clips is represented as a reduced representation of video images. A video clip is represented as a keyframe, wherein multiple keyframes may then be arranged according to chronological order. All or only a representative portion of the video clips can be represented as keyframes. The size of the keyframe may be configured to represent the length or importance of the video clip. The keyframe may depict an entire frame of a video clip, or a region of meaningful information within a frame of a video clip. Multiple keyframes may be arranged in a two dimensional array, in an S-shaped curve, or some other pattern. The keyframes may depict motion of an object occurring overtime in the video clip by configuring groups of pixels in the key frame. Configuring groups of pixels may include colorizing pixel groups and depicting pixel groups at a semi-transparent level according to the number of frames between the keyframe and the frame containing the object in motion.

Claims

1. A reduced representation of a video sequence comprised of a plurality of video clips, the reduced representation comprising:

a plurality of keyframes from at least a portion of the plurality of video clips of the video sequence; and

a keyframe display region for displaying the plurality of keyframes in chronological sequence.

2. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

the keyframe display region has the same area as a keyframe.

3. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

the horizontal spatial position of a keyframe within the keyframe display region corresponds to the relative chronological position of the keyframe.

4. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

the vertical spatial position of a keyframe within the keyframe display region corresponds to the relative chronological position of the keyframe.

5. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

the keyframe display region includes a keyframe from each video clip in the video sequence.

6. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

the keyframe display region includes a plurality of keyframes from a representative portion of the plurality of video clips in the video sequence.

7. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of keyframes are reduced in size in order to fit the plurality of keyframes within the keyframe display region.

8. The reduced representation of claim 7, wherein:

the plurality of keyframes are reduced in size by an equal amount.

9. The reduced representation of claim 7, wherein:

each of the keyframes is reduced in size proportional to the importance of the video clip associated with each keyframe.

10. The reduced representation of claim 9, wherein:

the importance of each video clip is determined by the length of the video clip.

11. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

each keyframe comprises a region of meaningful information; and

the keyframe display region displays only the meaningful regions of the plurality of keyframes.

12. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

the region of meaningful information is selected as a region at the center of the keyframe and of a predetermined area.

13. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

the region of meaningful information is selected by performing a foreground/background separation on the keyframe.

14. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of keyframes are arranged within the keyframe display region in an n by m array.

15. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of keyframes are arranged within the keyframe display region in an S-shaped curve.

16. The reduced representation of claim 15, wherein:

the downward offset between adjacent keyframes in the keyframe display region is greater than the upward offset between adjacent keyframes in the keyframe display region in order to present the s-shaped curve with a generally downward slope.

17. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein a key frame from a video clip indicates motion of an object within the video clip, the motion indicated in the keyframe by configuring pixels in the keyframe that change throughout the video clip, the pixels that change throughout the video clip corresponding to the object in different frames of the video clip.

18. The reduced representation of claim 17, wherein the object is indicated by a group of pixels at a certain level of transparency, the object corresponding to the object in motion in a particular frame before or after the keyframe of the video clip, the level of transparency corresponding to the number of frames between the keyframe and the particular frame in the video clip.

19. The reduced representation of claim 17, wherein the object is indicated by a group of pixels that are colorized to indicate the location of the object in a particular frame of the video clip, the color of the group of pixels corresponding to whether the particular frame occurs before or after the keyframe, the intensity of the color of the group of pixels corresponding to the number of frames between the particular frame and the key frame.

20. The reduced representation of claim 1, wherein:

a graphic overlay is added to the keyframe display region to indicate the number and depth of video clips in the video sequence.