Digital video editing method and system

• US 6,710,785 B1
• Filed: 11/03/1998
• Issued: 03/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kaga, Tomomi, Asai, Kayoko, Kato, Hitoshi, Yoshio, Hiroaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Cabeca, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US09/184,584
• Time in Patent Office: 1,967 Days
• Field of Search: 345/716, 345/719, 345/720, 345/721, 345/723, 345/724, 345/725, 345/726, 345/765, 345/781, 345/810, 345/835, 345/846, 386/46, 386/52, 386/53, 386/75, 715/500.1, 715/501.1
• US Class Current: 715/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/00 General purpose image data processing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/20 Disc-shaped record carriers
• 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 video editing system has the functions of: a) scene browsing with next and back icons and/or a scroll bar; b) recursive scene segmentation available with the browsing function; c) scene/clip specification with a reversing option (in case of a system with two display areas); d) recursive scene grouping; d) scene clipping based on selection by default; e) clip sorting in order of time or in a specified order; f) relative position restoration of a specified scene (in case of a system with a single display area); g) clamping a scene to its original play time; and h) scene transition processing.

Claims

1. A method for generating an edited video program from at least one source video in a computer-based video editing system, comprising the steps of:

creating at least one record, for at least one source video, containing information on said at least one source video including a number of frames constituting the source video, wherein said at least one records for said at least one source video constitutes a record set;

searching a user-specified one of said at least one source video for start and end frames of each of video segments constituting said user-specified video to add, to said record set, a record of at least one scene which includes a start frame number and an end frame number of each said scene;

displaying, as an index, a free representative of each said at least one scenes in a display area comprising an array of small windows;

permitting a user to select a desired one of said scenes;

permitting said user to group desired ones of said at least one scenes into at least one grouped scene;

in response to said selecting and said grouping, updating predetermined fields of records, which contain an order of said scenes, so that said fields of record reflect an order of current scene indexes;

permitting said user to select desired ones out of said scene indexes to form clip;

permitting said user to put said clip indexes into an order to yield a clip list;

in response to a first command issued by said user while specifying one of the displayed scene indexes, restoring said specified scene index to a relative position with respect to a specified scene index which said specified scene index was adjoining at a time of occurrence of a predetermined event; and

in response to a predetermined command from said user, compiling said edited video program on the basis of said clip list.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said predetermined event is a later one of a last selecting and a last grouping.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said step of restoring said specified scene index comprises the steps of

prompting said user to select whether said specified scene index should be restored to a next-based relative position or a back-based relative position;

in response to a selection of said next-based relative position, moving said specified scene index to just before a scene index with which a value of said predetermined field of a record associated is larger by one than a value of said predetermined field of a record associated with said specified scene index; and

in response to a selection of said back-based relative position, moving said specified scene index to just after a scene index with which a value of said predetermined field of a record associated is smaller by one than said value of said predetermined field of said record associated with said specified scene index.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, further comprising the step of, in response to a command to order said clip indexes in order of time, sorting said clips in order of time.

5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein said step of sorting said clips in order of time includes the step of, if there are clips selected by a drag operation, keeping a current order of said clips selected by a drag operation as it is.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said step of permitting said user to select desired ones out of said indexes as clip indexes comprises the steps of

in response to an unselection command said user issues while specifying said at least one desired clip index in a state of all being clips due to selection by default, changing said specified clip index to at least one scene index;

and

in response to a selection command said user issues while specifying at least one desired scene indexes, changing said specified at least one scene index to at least one clip index.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein said step of changing said at least one specified clip index to at least one scene index includes the step of changing a normal way of displaying said specified clip index to another way;

and wherein said step of changing said specified scene index to clip index includes the step of restoring said other way to a normal way.

8. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein said step of permitting said user to select desk at least one clip index and/or at least one scene index includes the step of permitting said user to specify said changed specified clip index as said specified scene index be selected.

9. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein said step of permitting said user to select at least one clip index and/or at least one scene index includes the step of permitting said user to specify said changed specified scene index as said specified clip index to be unselected.

10. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein said step of changing said specified at least one clip index to at least one scene index includes the step of updating at least one predetermined fields of said records so that said at least one predetermined fields retains at least one values indicative of an order of selection of respective scenes and clips, wherein said step of changing said specified scene index to a clip index includes the step of updating said predetermined fields of said records so that said predetermined fields retains values indicative of an order of selection of respective scenes and clips, and wherein the method further comprises the step of:

in response to a command to order said clip indexes in a selected order, sorting said clips in said selected order.

11. A method as defined in claim 10, wherein said step of sorting said clips in said selected order includes the step of, if there are clips selected by a drag operation, keeping a current order of said clips selected by a drag operation as it is.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of permitting said user to specify a desired one of said scene indexes and assigning said specified scene index a predetermined transitional effects, and wherein said step of compiling said edited video program includes the step of applying said assigned transitional effect to said specified scene index.

13. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein said predetermined transitional effects comprise at least one of a dissolve, a fade and a wipe.

14. A method for generating an edited video program from at least one source video in a computer-based video editing system, comprising the steps of:

creating a record comprising at least one scene, for at least one source video, containing information about each said at least one source video including the number of frames that constitute the source video, said records for said at least one source video constituting a record set;

searching a user-specified one of said at least one source video for start and end frames of each of video segments constituting a user-specified video to add, to said record set, a record of each said scene which includes a start frame number and an end frame number of each said scene;

displaying, for each said scenes, a scene index comprising a frame representative of said scene in a display area comprising an array of small windows;

in response to a command to view a user specified scene by a scene index specified by a user, displaying a view window at a predetermined relative position with respect to said user-specified scene index, and displaying, in said view window, a frame of said user-specified scene while changing a position of said frame according to a control by said user;

selecting desired ones of said indexes as clips;

ordering said selected indexes to yield a clip list; and

compiling said edited video program on the basis of said clip list.

15. A method as defined in claim 14, wherein said step of displaying a frame comprises the steps of:

displaying a frame of said user-specified scene, identified by a preset initial frame number, in said view window;

in response to an input caused by an operation, by said user, of a switch icon attached to an icon defining a movable range of said switch icon, displays, in said view window, a frame having a number calculated from said movable range, a relative position of said switch icon and a number of frames of said user-specified scene;

in response to a first input caused by an operation, by said user, of a first icon, displaying a frame just preceding said displayed frame in said view window; and

in response to a second input caused by an operation, by said user, of a second icon, displaying a frame just following said displayed frame in said view window.

16. A method as defined in claim 15;

wherein said step of displaying a frame includes displaying a plurality of frames including said displayed frame.

17. A method as defined in claim 15, further comprising the step of, at a time of creating a record for said user-specified scene, setting said preset initial frame number in a pointer field of said record, and wherein said displaying a frame of said user-specified scene includes the step of obtaining said preset initial frame number from said pointer field of said record of said user-specified scene.

18. A method as defined in claim 17, further comprising the step of, in response to a change of the frame number of said displayed frame, storing a frame number resulting from said change in a field associated with said user-specific scene.

19. A method as defined in claim 14, further comprising the step of, in response to reception of a predetermined input entered during said displaying of a frame, segmenting said user-specified scene whereby making said displayed frame one of two boundaries defining said scene.

20. A method as defined in claim 19, wherein said step of segmenting a frame comprises the steps of:

prompting said user to select whether said frame should be made an end frame of a former segment or a start frame of a later segment;

in response to said selection, adding a suitable frame number to a queue;

if said user desires further segmentation, resuming said displaying of a frame; and

if said user desires no more segmentation, performing segmentations of said user-specified scene according to the contents of said queue.

21. A method as defined in claim 20, wherein said step of performing segmentations of said user-specified scene includes the step of automatically naming segments line from said segmentations by appending a delimiter and a sequential notation to an ID of said user-specified scene;

and

wherein the method flier comprises the step of permitting said user to specify one of said segments resulting from said segmentations as said user-specified scene.

22. A method for generating an edited video program from at least one source video in a computer-based video editing system, comprising the steps of:

creating a record comprising at least one scene, for each of said at least one source video, containing information on each said at least one source video including a number of frames constituting the source video, said records for said at least one source video constituting a record set;

searching a user-specified one of said at least one source video for start and end frames of at least one video segment constituting said user-specified video to add, to said record set, a record of each said scene which includes a start frame number and an end frame number of each said scene;

displaying a scene index comprising a frame representative of each said scenes in a first display area comprising an array of small windows;

displaying as a clip index a frame representative of each of said selected scenes in a second display area comprising an array of small windows;

permitting a user to select a desired one of said scenes or clips;

permitting said user to specify desired ones of said indexes to assemble said desired at least one index in a specified state and remaining indexes in a nonspecified state, said step of permitting said user to specify desired ones including the step of;

further permitting said user to reverse said specified state and said nonspecified state;

in response to said step of permitting said user to specify desired at least one index and a grouping command, grouping indexes in said specified state into a group of clip indexes;

in response to said step of permitting said user to specify desired indexes and a clipping command, changing scene indexes in said specified state to clip indexes;

permitting said user to order said clip indexes to yield a clip list; and

in response to a predetermined command from said user, compiling said edited video program on the basis of said clip list.

23. A system for generating an edited video program from at least one source video, comprising:

means for displaying information used in an editing process, said means having a first area comprising an array of windows each of which being adopted to display a scene index comprising a frame representative of each available scenes constituting said at least one source video a second area comprising a smaller array of windows each of which being adapted to display a clip index comprising a frame representative of each scenes;

means for containing records associated with said scenes;

comprising a record of each said scene having at last one fields comprising an ID and a number of frames that constitute the scene; and

specifying means for permitting a user to specify desired ones of said indexes to make said desired indexes in a specified state and remaining indexes in a nonspecified state, said specifying means including;

means responsive to a predetermined input from said user, for reversing said specified state and said nonspecified state;

means responsive to said specifying means and a grouping command for grouping indexes in said specified state into a group of clip indexes;

means responsive to said specifying means and a clipping command for changing scene indexes in said specified state to clip indexes;

means for permitting said user to order said clip indexes to yield a clip list; and

means, responsive to a predetermined command from said user, for compiling said edited video program on the basis of said clip list.

24. A system as defined in claim 23, further comprising means, responsive to a command to view a user specified scene indicated by a scene index specified by a user, for displaying a view window at a predetermined relative position with respective to said user-specified scene index, and means for displaying, in said view window, a fire of said user-specified scene while changing a position of said frame according to a control by said user.

25. A system as defined in claim 24, wherein said means for displaying a frame includes means for displaying a plurality of frames including said displayed frame.

26. A system as defined in claim 24, wherein said means for displaying a frame comprises:

means for displaying a frame of said user-specified scene identified by a preset initial frame number in said view window;

means, responsive to an input caused by an operations by said user, of a switch icon attached to an icon defining a movable range of said switch icon, for displaying, in said view window, a frame having a number calculated from said movable range, a relative position of said switch icon and a number of frames of said user-specified scene;

means, responsive to an input, caused by an operation;

by said user, of a first icon, for displaying a frame just preceding said displayed frame in said view window; and

means responsive to an input caused by an operation;

by said user, of a second icon, for displaying a fame just following said displayed frame in said view window.

27. A system as defined in claim 26, further comprising means, activated at a time of creating a record of said user-specified scene, for setting said preset initial frame number in a pointer field of said record, and wherein said means for displaying a frame of said user-specified scene includes means for obtaining said preset initial frame number from said pointer field of said record of said user-specified scene.

28. A system as defined in claim 27, further comprising means, responsive to a change of the frame number of said displayed frame, for storing a fame number resulting from said change in a field associated with said user-specified scene for resuming a current view.

29. A system as defined in claim 24, further comprising means, responsive to a reception of a predetermined input entered during said displaying a frame, for segmenting said user-specified scene to make said displayed frame one of end or start frames.

30. A system as defined in claim 29, wherein said means for segmenting a frame comprises:

means for prompting said user to select whether said frame should be made an end frame of a former segment or a start frame of a later segment;

means responsive to said selection for adding a suitable frame number to a queue;

means, activated in the event said user desires further segmentation, for resuming said displaying a frame; and

means, activated in the event said user desires no more segmentation, for performing segmentations of said user-specified scene according to contents of said queue.

31. A system as defined in claim 30, wherein said means for performing at least one segmentations of said user-specified scene includes means for automatically naming at least one segment resulted from said at least one segmentations by appending a delimiter and a sequential notation to an ID of said user-specified scene;

and wherein the system further comprises the step of permitting said user to specify one of said segments resulting from said at least one segmentation as said user-specified scene.

32. A system as defined in claim 23, wherein said means for grouping specified indexes into a at least one grouped clip indexes comprises:

means, responsive to said specifying means and a reception of IDs of user-specified scenes, for adding a record of said grouped scene to a record set comprising records of available video scenes and including said IDs in a field of said added record which is for containing ID of scenes constituting a scene associated with said added record;

means for adding an index indicative of said grouped scene to an index set comprising displayed indexes of available scenes; and

means for deleting at least one index of said user-specified scenes from said index set.

33. A system as defined in claim 32, wherein said means for adding an index comprises means for selecting, for said index indicative of said grouped scene, an index of a scene with which said grouped scene begins.

34. A system as defined in claim 32, wherein said means for including said IDs in said field of said added record includes means for keeping the order of said IDs the same as that of indexes of said user specified scenes.

35. A system as defined in claim 32, wherein said means for including said IDs in said field of said added record includes means, further responsive to an indication that an order of a constituent scene of said grouped scene should be in order of selection of said user-specified scenes, for arranging said IDs in an order of selection of said user-specified scenes.

36. A system as defined in claim 35, wherein said means, for arranging an order of said IDs in order of selection of said user-specified scenes, includes the step of, in the event said user-specified scenes includes scenes specified by a drag operation of a mouse, keeping an order of said scenes specified by said drag operation as it is.

37. A system as defined in claim 32, wherein said means for including said IDs in said field of said added record includes means, further responsive to an indication that an order of constituent scenes of said grouped scene should be in order of time sequence of said user-specified scenes, for arranging said IDs in order of time sequence of said user-specified scenes if said user specified scenes have been derived from a single video.

38. A system as defined in claim 32, wherein said means for including said IDs in said field of said added record includes means, further responsive to an indication that an order of constituent scenes of said grouped scene should be in order of time sequence of said user-specified scenes and responsive to a determination that said user-specified scenes include scenes other that scenes derived from a single scene, for arranging only said scenes derived from a single scene in order of time sequence while keeping an order of said other scenes as it is.

39. A system as defined in claim 32, further comprising means for permitting said user to include at least one of said grouped scenes in said user-specified scenes.

40. A system as defined in claim 23, wherein said means for changing at least one specified scene index to at least one clip index comprises:

means, responsive to said specify means and a selection command from said user, for changing said specified scene index to a clip index; and

means, responsive to said specifying means and an unselection command from said user, for changing said specified clip index to a scene index.

41. A system as defined in claim 40, wherein said means for changing said specified scene index to a clip index includes means for updating said predetermined fields of said records so that said predetermined fields retain values indicative of an order of selection of respective scenes and clips, wherein said means for changing said specified clip index to a scene index includes means for updating predetermined fields of said records so tat said predetermined fields retain values indicative of an order of selection of respective scenes and clips, and

wherein the system further comprises:

means, responsive to a command to order said clip indexes in a selected order, for sorting said clips in said selected order.

42. A system as defined in claim 41, wherein said means for sorting said clips in said selected order includes means, responsive to a determination that there are clips selected by a drag operation, for keeping a current order of said clips selected by a drag operation as it is.

43. A system as defined in claim 23, further comprising means, responsive to a command to arrange said clip indexes in order of time, for sorting said clips in order of time.

44. A system as defied in claim 43, wherein said means for sorting said clips in order of time includes means, responsive to a determination that there are clips selected by a drag operation, for keeping a current order of said clips selected by a drag operation as it is.

45. A system as defined in claim 23, wherein said scenes includes derivative scenes comprising video segments derived from a single source video, and wherein the system further comprises means to attach a user-specified video segment to said single source video comprising means for causing a start time, in said edited video, of a said user-specified one of said video segments to be the same as that in said single source video, and wherein said means for attaching said user-specified video segment to said single source video further comprises:

means, responsive to a command to attach said user-specified videos for setting a flag in a predetermined field of a record associated with said user-specified video; and

means for compiling said edited video program on the basis of records for clipped scenes, said means for compiling said edited video program including the step of;

trimming a scene just preceding said user-specified video so that an end frame number of said preceding scene in a program being compiled is smaller by one than a value of a start frame field of said record associated with said user-specified video.

46. A system as defined in claim 23, further comprising means for permitting said user to specify a desired one of said scene indexes and assigning to said specified scene index a predetermined transitional effects, and wherein said means for compiling said edited video program includes the step of applying said assigned transitional effect to said specified scene index.

47. A system as defined in claim 46, wherein said predetermined transitional effects comprise at least one of:

a dissolve, a fade and a wipe.

48. A system for generating an edited video program from at least one source video, comprising:

means for displaying information used in an editing process, said means having an area comprising an array of windows with each window displaying a scene index comprising a frame representative of each available scenes constituting said at least one source video, said scenes being adapted to be displayed in said area even if they are selected as clips for use in said edited video program;

means for containing records associated with said scenes, wherein a record of each said scene at least has fields for an ID and a number of frames in the scene;

specifying means for permitting a user to specify desired at least one of said indexes;

means responsive to said specifying means and a segmentation command for segmenting a specified scene or clip;

means responsive to said specifying means and a grouping command for grouping specified indexes into a grouped clip index;

means responsive to said segmenting and said grouping for updating predetermined fields of records which contain an order of said scenes so that said fields of record reflect an order of current scene indexes;

means responsive to said specifying means and a clipping command for changing a specified scene index to a clip index;

means for permitting said user to order a clip indexes to yield a clip list;

means responsive to said specify means and a first command for restoring said specified scene index to a relative position with respect to a scene index which said specified scene index was adjoining at a time of occurrence of a predetermined event; and

means, responsive to a predetermined command from said user, for compiling said edited video program on the basis of said clip list.

49. A system as defined in claim 48, wherein said predetermined event is a later one of a last segmenting and a last grouping.

50. A system as defined in claim 48, wherein said means for restoring said specified scene index comprises:

means for prompting said user to select whether said specified scene index should be restored to a next-based relative position or a back-based relative position;

means, responsive to a selection of said next-based relative position, for moving said specified scene index to just before a scene index with which a value of said predetermined field of a record associated is larger by one than a value of said predetermined field of a record associated with said specified scene index; and

means, responsive to a selection of said back-based relative position, for moving said specified scene index to just after a scene index with which a value of said predetermined field of a record associated is smaller by one than said value of said predetermined field of said record associated with said specified scene index.

51. A system as defined in claim 48, wherein said means for changing a specified scene index to a clip index comprises:

means, responsive to said specifying means and an unselection command issued in a state of all being clips due to selection by default, for changing said specified clip index to a scene index; and

means, responsive to said specifying means and a selection command from said user, for changing said specified scene index to a clip index.

52. A system as defined in claim 51, wherein sad means for changing said specified clip index to a scene index includes means for changing a normal way of displaying said clip index to another way and wherein said means for changing said specified scene index to a clip index includes means for restoring said other way to said normal way.

53. A system as defined in claim 51, wherein said means for changing a specified scene index to a clip index includes means for permitting said user to specify said changed specified clip index as said specified scene index to be selected.

54. A system as defined in claim 51, wherein said means for permitting said user to select a desired index includes the step of permitting said user to specify said changed specified scene index as said specified clip index to be unselected.