Method and apparatus for multimedia editing

• US 6,954,894 B1
• Filed: 09/29/1999
• Issued: 10/11/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Balnaves, James Anthony, Windle, John Richard, Brook, John Charles, Reeve, Rupert William Galloway, Kowald, Julie Rae
• Primary Examiner(s): Herndon, Heather R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): YUAN, ALMARI ROMERO
• Application Number:
  US09/407,293
• Time in Patent Office: 2,204 Days
• Field of Search: 707/500.1, 707/513, 345/723, 715/500.1, 715/513, 715/723
• US Class Current: 715/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence

Abstract

A method for production and post-production processing of multi-media input data where the method comprises the steps of inputting one or more multi-media input data sets inputting one or more templates and applying the one or more templates to the one or more input data sets so to produce a processed output data set for storage, and/or display and/or further processing.

Claims

1. A method of processing a plurality of time-based video content items into a description of an output production, the method comprising the steps of:

deriving an attribute characterizing a duration of at least one of the time-based video content items from meta-data of the time-based video content item;

operating upon the attribute using a pre-defined template to establish an editing process, said editing process including a temporal mapping process and an effects mapping process, said operating step determining the temporal mapping process in accordance with the attribute; and

applying the editing process to at least one of the time-based video content items and a description of the time-based video content items to thereby form the description of an output production, wherein the applying step is performed prior to presenting any information depending upon the description of the output production.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the applying step comprises sub-steps of:

first applying the temporal mapping process to the time-based video content items to produce a preliminary description comprising modified temporally structured data, and

second applying the effects mapping process having regard to the preliminary description to produce the description of the output production.

3. A computer-based method of editing time-based video content to form a description of an output production, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a plurality of time-based video content items;

selecting a pre-defined template;

deriving an attribute characterizing at least one of said time-based video content items;

defining a computer-based editing process dependent upon the attribute and the pre-defined template; and

applying the computer-based editing process to at least one of the time-based video content items and a description of the time-based video content items thereby to form the description of the output production, wherein the applying step is performed prior to presenting any information depending upon the description of the output production.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein:

the time-based video content is a data set comprising at least one of video data, still-image data and audio data;

the attribute characterizing the time-based video content comprises first meta-data derived from the data set and possibly further derived from second meta-data associated with the at least one data set;

the defining step comprises determining, depending upon the first meta-data, a set of instructions from the pre-defined template; and

the applying step comprises applying the instructions to the data set to produce the description of the output production.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the instructions comprise a temporal mapping process and the applying step comprises:

applying the temporal mapping process to the data set to produce the description of the output production having a modified temporal structure.

6. A method according to claim 4, wherein the instructions comprise a temporal mapping process and an effects mapping process, and wherein the applying step comprises the sub-steps of:

applying the temporal mapping process to the data set to produce a preliminary description of an output production having a modified temporal structure; and

applying the effects mapping process having regard to the preliminary description to produce the description of the output production having the modified temporal structure and a modified effects structure,

wherein the steps of having the temporal mapping process and applying the effects mapping process can alternatively be performed in the reverse order.

7. A method according to claim 4, wherein the data comprises a live capture data set segment.

8. A method according to claim 4, wherein the step of determining the set of instructions comprises the sub-steps of:

constructing, using the template and the first meta-data, a series of directions which refer to at least one of (a) segments of the at least one data set, (b) segments of the template, and (c) other information; and

resolving the references thereby to compile the directions into the set of instructions.

9. A method according to claim 3, wherein the template is constructed using heuristic incorporation of experiential information of an expert.

10. A method according to claim 3, wherein the description of the output production is an EDL.

11. A method according to claim 3, wherein the information depending upon the description of the output production is the output production.

12. A method according to claim 3, wherein:

the first selecting step includes selecting the plurality of time-based video content items according to a first order; and

said computer-based editing process is capable of excluding at least one of the plurality of time-based video content items from the description of the output production.

13. A method according to claim 3, wherein:

the first selecting step includes selecting the plurality of time-based video content items according to a first order; and

said computer-based editing process is capable of arranging the plurality of selected time-based video content items in the description of the output production in a different order.

14. A method according to claim 3, wherein:

the computer-based editing process is capable of cutting the plurality of selected time-based video content items into the description of the output production according to a cutting rhythm defined by the template.

15. A method according to claim 3, wherein the method further comprises the step of, prior to the defining step:

receiving an editing command that does not include any of (a) a reference to an explicit startpoint or (b) the explicit startpoint, at which a said selected time-based video content item is to be inserted into the description of the output production; and

wherein the computer-based editing process is dependent upon the selected plurality of time-based video content items and the pre-defined template and the editing command; and

wherein the computer-based editing process is capable of determining dependent upon said editing command, at least one of (c) the reference and (d) the explicit startpoint at which said selected time-based video content item is inserted into the description of the output production.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the editing command designates a segment of a selected media content item for one of inclusion in and omission from the description of the output production.

17. A method according to claim 3, wherein the attribute comprises at least one of:

a duration of a said content item;

relative durations of at least some of the content items;

the relative order of at least some of the content items;

amplitude of an audio signal in a said content item;

image motion in a said content item;

presence of a particular image object in a said content item;

inferred camera motion in a said content item;

an inferred camera setting used in relation to capture of a said content item;

a scene change in a said content item;

the date of a said content item;

the time of recording of a said content item;

a light level in a said content item;

presence of a particular voice in a said content item;

presence of a keyframe in a said content item;

metadata indicating a point of approval relating to a said content item; and

metadata indicating a point of disapproval relating to a said content item.

18. A method according to claim 3, wherein the description of the output production is a memory based representation of the output production.

19. A computer-based apparatus for editing time-based video content to form a description of an output production, the apparatus comprising:

capture means for capturing the time-based video content;

selecting means for selecting a plurality of time-based video content items from the time-based video content;

deriving means for deriving an attribute characterizing at least one of the time-based video content items;

defining means for defining a computer-based editing process dependent upon the attribute and a pre-defined template; and

applying means for applying the computer based editing process to at least one of the time-based video content items and a description of the time-based video content items thereby to form the description of the output production,

wherein said applying means performs the applying prior to presenting any information depending upon the description of the output production, and

wherein the deriving means, the defining means and the application means are housed on board the capture means.

20. An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein:

the time-based video content is a data set comprising at least one of video data, still-image data and audio data;

the attribute characterizing the time-based video content comprises first meta-data derived from the data set and possibly further derived from second meta-data associated with the at least one data set;

the defining means are adapted to determine, depending upon the first meta-data, a set of instructions from the pre-defined template; and

the application means are adapted to apply the instructions to the data set to produce the description of the output production.

21. An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the determining means comprise:

means for constructing, using the template and the first meta-data, a series of directions which refer to at least one of (a) segments of the at least one data set, (b) segments of the template, and (c) other information; and

means for resolving the references thereby to compile the directions into the set of instructions.

22. An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the template includes one or more of rules and references heuristically based upon experience of an expert.

23. A computer based apparatus for editing time-based video content to form a description of an output production, the apparatus comprising:

capture means for capturing the time-based video content;

selecting means for selecting a plurality of time-based video content items from the time-based video content;

deriving means for deriving an attribute characterizing at least one of the time-based video content items;

defining means for defining a computer-based editing process dependent upon the attribute and the pre-defined template; and

applying means for applying the computer-based editing process to at least one of the time-based video content items and a description of the time-based video content items thereby to form the description of the output production,

wherein said applying means performs the applying prior to presenting any information depending upon the description of the output production, and

wherein the deriving means, the defining means and the application means are distributed between the capture means and an off-board processor.

24. An apparatus according to claim 23, wherein:

the time-based video content is a data set comprising at least one of video data, still-image data and audio data;

the attribute characterizing the time-based video content comprises first meta-data derived from the data set and possibly further derived from second meta-data associated with the at least one data set;

the defining means are adapted to determine, depending upon the first meta-data, a set of instructions from the pre-defined template; and

the application means are adapted to apply the instructions to the data set to produce the description of the output production.

25. A computer readable memory medium for storing a program for apparatus for editing time-based video content to form a description of an output production, the program comprising:

code for selecting a plurality of time-based video content items from the time-based video content;

code for deriving an attribute characterizing at least one of the time-based video content items;

code for defining a computer-based editing process dependent upon the attribute and the pre-defined template; and

code for applying the computer-based editing process to at least one of the time-based video content items and a description of the time-based video content item thereby to form the description of the output production,

wherein the code for applying is performed prior to presenting any information depending upon the description of the output production.

26. A computer readable memory medium according to claim 25, wherein:

the time-based video content is a data set comprising at least one of video data, still-image data and audio data;

the attribute characterizing the time-based video content comprises first meta-data derived from the data set and possibly further derived from second meta-data associated with the at least one data set;

the code for defining comprises code for determining, depending upon the first meta-data, a set of instructions from the pre-defined template; and

the code for applying comprises code for applying the instructions to the data set to produce the description of the output production.

27. A computer readable memory medium according to claim 26, wherein the code for the determining step comprises:

code for constructing, using the template and the first meta-data, a series of directions which refer to at least one of (a) segments of the at least one data set, (b) segments of the template, and (c) other information; and

code for resolving the references thereby to compile the directions into the set of instructions.

28. A computer based method of editing time-based video content to form an output production, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a plurality of time-based video content items;

selecting a pre-defined template;

deriving an attribute characterizing at least one of the time-based video content items;

defining a computer-based editing process dependent upon the attribute and the pre-defined template; and

applying the computer based editing process to at least one of the time-based video content items and a description of the time-based video content items thereby to form the output production, wherein the applying step is performed prior to presenting any information depending upon the output production.

29. A method according to claim 28, wherein the information depending upon the production is the output production.