Automatic video editing

• US 6,757,027 B1
• Filed: 09/27/2000
• Issued: 06/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Edwards, Eric, Fisher, Clay Harvey, Jonach, Kurt, Manowitz, Neal Jacob
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US09/671,766
• Time in Patent Office: 1,371 Days
• Field of Search: 348/700, 348/722, 348/701, 348/607, 348/616, 348/615, 386/52, 386/68-69, 386/55, 382/236, 382/224, 382/226, 382/227
• US Class Current: 348/722
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/262 Studio circuits, e.g. for mixing, switching-over, change of character of image, other special effects ; Cameras specially adapted for the electronic generation of special effects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2628 Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation

Abstract

An automatic video editing system identifies problems within frames in an input video, categorizes the frames by problem type, and edits the frames based on editing parameters for the category. A user can input values that override default values for the editing parameters and can choose to have certain frames remain unedited.

Claims

1. A computerized method for automatic video editing comprising:

automatically identifying a problem in a video frame in a plurality of video frames. comprising an input video;

classifying the video frame in a category based on the problem identified; and

editing the video frame according to a set of editing parameters associated with the category to create an output video.

2. The computerized method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying a video frame in the input video corresponding to a portion of the output video.

3. The computerized method of claim 2 further comprising:

replacing the portion of the output video with the video frame in the input video that was displayed.

4. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein one of the editing parameters is a value representing a percentage of the video frames in the category that are to be removed.

5. The computerized method of claim 4, wherein editing the video frame comprises:

removing the video frame as part of the percentage of video frames to be removed.

6. The computerized method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining a value for an editing parameter from a user; and

substituting the value for a pre-determined value of the editing parameter.

7. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein editing the video frame comprises:

establishing a common viewpoint for a sequence of video frames in the input video; and

editing the video frame to have the common viewpoint.

8. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein editing the video frame comprises:

applying an enhancement algorithm to the video frame.

9. The computerized method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining the input video from a user.

10. The computerized method of claim 9, wherein obtaining the input video comprises:

receiving the input video through a network connection.

11. The computerized method of claim 9 further comprising:

obtaining compensation from the user for editing the input video.

12. The computerized method of claim 9 further comprising:

displaying an advertisement to the user.

13. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions to a cause a computer to perform a method comprising:

automatically identifying a problem in a video frame in a plurality of video frames comprising an input video;

classifying the video frame in a category based on the problem identified; and

editing the video frame according to a set of editing parameters associated with the category to create an output video.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 having further computer-executable instructions comprising:

displaying a video frame in the input video corresponding to a portion of the output video.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 having further computer-executable instructions comprising

replacing the portion of the output video with the video frame in the input video that was displayed.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 having further computer-executable instructions comprising:

obtaining a value for an editing parameter from a user; and

substituting the value for a pre-determined value of the editing parameter.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the computer is a server computer coupled to a user computer through a network and having further computer-executable instructions comprising:

receiving the input video from the user computer through the network.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 having further computer-executable instructions comprising:

obtaining compensation for editing the input video by the server computer.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 having further computer-executable instructions comprising:

displaying an advertisement on the user computer.

20. An automatic video editing system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor through a bus; and

an edit bad video module executed by the processor to cause the processor to automatically identify a problem in a video frame in a plurality of video frames comprising an input video, to classify the video frame in a category based on the problem identified, and to edit the video frame according to a set of editing parameters associated with the category to create an output video.

21. The automatic video editing system of claim 20, wherein the edit bad video module further causes the processor to display a video frame in the input video corresponding to a portion of the output video.

22. The automatic video editing system of claim 21, wherein the edit bad video module further causes the processor to replace the portion of the output video with the video frame in the input video that was displayed.

23. The automatic video editing system of claim 20, wherein the edit bad video module further causes the processor to obtain a value for an editing parameter from a user, and to substitute the value for a pre-determined value of the editing parameter.

24. The automatic video editing system of claim 20, wherein one of the editing parameters is a value representing a percentage of the video frames in the category that are to be removed and the edit bad video module further causes the process to remove the video frame as part of the percentage of video frames to be removed.

25. The automatic video editing system of claim 20 further comprising:

a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor through the bus, the computer-readable medium having embodied thereon the edit bad video module.

26. An apparatus for automatic video editing comprising:

means for automatically identifying a problem in a video frame in a plurality of video frames comprising an input video;

means for classifying the video frame in a category based on the problem identified; and

means for editing the video frame according to a set of editing parameters associated with the category to create an output video.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 further comprising:

means for displaying a video frame in the input video corresponding to a portion of the output video.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising:

means for replacing the portion of the output video with the video frame in the input video that was displayed.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein one of the editing parameters is a value representing a percentage of the video frames in the category that are to be removed.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the means for editing the video frame comprises:

means for removing the video frame as part of the percentage of video frames to be removed.

31. The apparatus of claim 26 further comprising:

means for obtaining a value for an editing parameter from a user; and

means for substituting the value for a pre-determined value of the editing parameter.

32. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the means for editing the video frame comprises:

means for establishing a common viewpoint for a sequence of video frames in the input video; and

means for editing the video frame to have the common viewpoint.

33. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the means for editing the video frame comprises:

means for applying an enhancement algorithm to the video frame.

34. The apparatus of claim 26 further comprising:

means for obtaining the input video from a user.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the means for obtaining the input video comprises:

means for receiving the input video through a network connection.

36. The apparatus of claim 34 further comprising:

means for obtaining compensation from the user for editing the input video.

37. The apparatus of claim 34 further comprising:

means for displaying an advertisement to the user.