VIDEO PLAYBACK METHOD

• US 20160118080A1
• Filed: 04/16/2015
• Published: 04/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QNAP Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: QNAP Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Chen, Chun-Yen
• Granted Patent: US 9,959,903 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30232 Surveillance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30241 Trajectory
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/62 relating to a temporal dimension, e.g. time-based feature extraction; Pattern tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/47 Detecting features for summarising video content
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/005 Reproducing at a different information rate from the information rate of recording for television signals H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• 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: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording

Abstract

A video playback method and a video playback apparatus are provided. The object path extraction module of the video playback apparatus extracts at least one object path from an original video. The video synthesizing module of the video playback apparatus selectively adjusts said object path, so as to synthesize the object path into the synthesis video. The video synthesizing module determines the time length of the synthesis video based on the playback time length set by user, wherein the time length of the synthesis video less than the time length of the original video.

Claims

1. A video playback method, comprising:

providing an original video, wherein the original video is obtained by using a camera module to shoot a scene;

providing a playback time length to determine a time length of a synthesis video, wherein the time length of the synthesis video is less than a time length of the original video;

extracting at least one object path from the original video; and

adjusting the at least one object path selectively to synthesize the at least one object path to the synthesis video.

2. The video playback method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one object path comprises a first object path and a second object path, and a playback speed of the first object path is different from a playback speed of the second object path in the synthesis video.

3. The video playback method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one object path comprises a first object path and a second object path, and a temporal position of a first object of the first object path in the original video and a temporal position of a second object of the second object path in the original video are not overlapped, and temporal positions of the first object and the second object in the synthesis video are overlapped, wherein a spatial position of the at least one object path in the synthesis video is the same as a spatial position of the at least one object path in the original video.

4. The video playback method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of extracting the at least one object path from the original video comprises:

performing an object detection and background extraction process to extract at least one object and at least one background image from the original video;

creating the at least one object path based on a relation between the at least one object in a current frame of the original video and the at least one object in a previous frame of the original video; and

storing the at least one background image and the at least one object path in a storage device.

5. The video playback method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the step of creating the at least one object path comprises:

creating a new object path when the object in the current frame does not have a parent object in the previous frame, or when the object in the current frame shares the parent object with another object, or when the object in the current frame has a plurality of the parent objects, wherein the object in the current frame is a first object of the new object path;

adding the object in the current frame to a currently available object path that the parent object belongs to when the object in the current frame has the only parent object, and the object in the current frame is a only child object of the parent object; and

ending the at least one object path when a last object of the at least one object path does not have a child object, or when the last object of the at least one object path has more than one child objects, or when the last object of the at least one object path shares a child object with another object path.

6. The video playback method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one object path comprises following data:

a time length of the at least one object path, a time stamp of a first object on the at least one object path, a time shift of each object on the at least one object path with respect to the first object, a position of each object, a size of each object, or a parent object path.

7. The video playback method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:

providing a start time T_b and an end time T_e of the original video; and

choosing a candidate object path in the storage device as the at least one object path if T_b≦

P_t≦

T_e, or T_b≦

P_t+P_l≦

T_e, or (P_t≦

T_b and T_e≦

P_t+P_l), wherein P_t and P_l are respectively the time of occurrence of the candidate object path and length of the candidate object path.

8. The video playback method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:

defining at least one reference target in the original video; and

filtering and selecting the at least one object path according to the at least one reference target.

9. The video playback method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the at least one reference target comprises at least one of a point, a line, and an area in the original video.

10. The video playback method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of filtering and selecting the at least one object path comprises:

providing a start time T_b and an end time T_e of the original video;

choosing a candidate object path in the storage device if T_b≦

P_t≦

T_e, or T_b≦

P_t+P_l≦

T_e, or (P_t≦

T_b and T_e≦

P_t+P_l), wherein P_t and P_l are respectively the time of occurrence of the candidate object path and length of the candidate object path; and

choosing at least one frame of the candidate object path as the at least one object path if the object of the candidate object path contact with the at least one reference target in the at least one frame.

11. The video playback method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

calculating a suggested time length according to crowdedness of the at least one object path at different pixels in a scene;

providing the suggested time length to a user to assist the user in deciding the playback time length;

generating a crowdedness map according to the original video to describe crowdedness values of the at least one object path at different pixels;

calculating with an equation

12. The video playback method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

providing an object property; and

filtering and selecting the at least one object path according to the object property,

wherein the object property comprises size, color, texture, material, face, movement direction, or behavior, and the step of adjusting the at least one object path selectively to synthesize the at least one object path to the synthesis video comprises;

rearranging the at least object path in the synthesis video according to a sequence of presence of the at least one object path in the original video; and

synthesizing the at least one object path and a background image as the synthesis video.

13. The video playback method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the step of rearranging the at least one object path in the synthesis video comprises:

adjusting the at least one object path selectively to obtain at least one adjusted object path;

initializing a temporal position of the at least one adjusted object path in the synthesis video according to the sequence of presence of the at least one object path in the original video; and

adjusting the temporal position of the at least one adjusted object path in the synthesis video according to overlapping of the at least one adjusted object path in the synthesis video.

14. The video playback method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the step of obtaining the at least one adjusted object path comprises:

combining the at least one object path and a parent object path to serve as the at least one adjusted object path when the at least one object path has the parent object path;

speeding up a playback speed of the at least one object path according to a speedup factor when a time length of the at least one object path is greater than a threshold length, so as to reduce the time length of the at least one object path and serve as the at least one adjusted object path, wherein the threshold length is less than or equal to the playback time length, and the speedup factor is a real number; and

dividing the at least one object path into a plurality of sub-paths to serve as the at least one adjusted object path when the time length of the at least one object path is greater than the threshold length.

15. The video playback method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the speedup factor S_p=(P_l/P_th), wherein P_l is the time length of the at least one object path, and P_th indicates the threshold length;

when the speedup factor S_p is greater than a maximal speedup value S_max, the speedup factor S_p is set at the maximal speedup value S_max, the maximal speedup value S_max being greater than 1 and less than 4; and

when the speedup factor S_p is less than 1, the speedup factor S_p is set at 1.

16. The video playback method as claimed in claim 14, when a representative crowdedness value C_p of the at least one object path in a crowdedness map is greater than or equal to a crowdedness upper limit C_U, the speedup factor S_p is set at a maximal speedup value S_max, wherein the crowdedness upper limit C_U and the maximal speedup value S_max being real numbers;

when the representative crowdedness value C_p is less than or equal to a crowdedness lower limit C_L, the speedup factor S_p is set at 1, wherein the crowdedness lower limit C_L being a real number less than the crowdedness upper limit C_U; and

when the representative crowdedness value C_p is greater than the crowdedness lower limit C_L and less than the crowdedness upper limit C_U, the speedup factor S_p is set at a value of [(C_p−

C_L)/(C_U−

C_L)]*(S_max−

1)+1.

17. The video playback method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the step of dividing the at least one object path into the plurality of sub-paths comprises:

adjusting a frame shift of a first sub-path of the sub-paths to other sub-path of the sub-paths to reduce an overlapped area of the sub-paths.

18. The video playback method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the step of initializing the temporal position of the at least one adjusted object path in the synthesis video comprises:

advancing the time of the later one of a first object path and a second object path when there is a gap in time between the first object path and the second object path in the at least one adjusted object path, wherein the time of the later one is later than the time of the earlier one of the first object path and the second object path; and

multiplying a time shift of the at least one adjusted object path with an adjustment value respectively, such that a time range of the at least one adjusted object path is less than or equal to a range of the playback time length.

19. The video playback method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the synthesis video comprises multiple sub-videos respectively including the at least one object path, and the sub-videos are scrolled in a direction in a scroll of the synthesis video.

20. The video playback method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising:

calculating with an equation