Automated video editing system and method

• US 7,248,778 B1
• Filed: 03/16/2001
• Issued: 07/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Anderson, Glen J., McKnight, Russell F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Groody; James J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Onuaku; Christopher
• Application Number:
  US09/809,819
• Time in Patent Office: 2,321 Days
• Field of Search: 386/1, 386/46, 386/52, 386/83, 386/96, 386/106, 386/126, 386/112, 386/125, 386/111, 360/31, 360/27, 360/72, 360/72.1, 360/72.2, 360/72.3, 360/13, 715/723, 709/218
• US Class Current: 386/280
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/213 Read-only discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2516 Hard disks
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2545 CDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/61 wherein solid state memory is used for storing A/V content
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/90 Tape-like 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 uses simple heuristics and parameters on video footage to provide a condensed version of the footage. The editing system automatically provides either a finished condensed version of the footage or selects a plurality of clips based on the heuristics and parameters. The clips are optionally further edited by a user to produce a condensed version. The condensed version is transferable to any desired media suitable for storing video. A user interface enables the user to select heuristics to identify video clips from the footage. Parameters are also be set to automatically edit the clips in a desired manner. Temporal combinations of heuristics and parameters form templates, which are used to assemble desired clips for selected types of events.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of creating a condensed video from video footage, the method comprising:

receiving heuristics representative of desired video clips;

identifying video clips from the video footage based on the heuristics;

tracking reference points in the identified video clips and measuring rates at which the reference points are displaced; and

applying parameters to the identified clips to provide the condensed video,

said method further comprising specifying, in response to a minimum quality setting by a user provided by entering the minimum quality setting into a computer interface, a minimum quality level for the video clips, examining all of said video clips, using a computer, to determine whether the video clips meet the minimum quality level based on the measured rates at which the reference points are displaced, rejecting the examined clips not meeting the minimum quality level and selecting only from the video clips remaining after rejecting the clips not meeting the minimum quality level in creating the condensed video.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising specifying a variable clip length.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying a transition style to be applied between clips.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising specifying background music for the condensed version of the video footage.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying a plurality of frames representative of a clip from the beginning of the clip to the end of the clip.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the beginning and end of a clip may be changed by a user, and wherein the plurality of frames representative of the clip are adjusted corresponding to such changed beginning and end.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein a double slider is provided for changing the beginning and end of a clip.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer interface includes a sliding bar mechanism for receiving said user provided minimum quality setting.

9. A system for creating a condensed video from video footage, the system

comprising:

means for receiving heuristics representative of desired video clips;

means for identifying video clips from the video footage based on the heuristics;

means for applying parameters to the identified clips to provide the condensed video,

said method further comprising displaying a plurality of frames representative of a clip from the beginning of the clip to the end of the clip,

wherein the beginning and end of a clip may be changed by a user, and wherein the plurality of frames representative of the clip are adjusted corresponding to such changed beginning and end, and

wherein a user interface including a double slider is provided for enabling the user to change the beginning and end of a clip based on the settings of the double slider.

10. A system for creating a condensed video from video footage, the system comprising:

a module that receives heuristics representative of desired video clips;

a module that identifies video clips from the video footage based on the heuristics; and

a module that iteratively applies parameters to the identified clips to provide the condensed video, said parameters including a minimum quality level for the clips specified in response to a minimum value setting by a user set by using a sliding bar in a user interface, and said system rejecting clips are examined by the system to determine whether they meet the minimum quality level and the examined clips not meeting the minimum quality level.

11. A computer readable medium having instructions to cause a computer to execute a computer implemented method of creating a condensed video from video footage, the method comprising:

receiving a set of heuristics representative of desired video clips;

identifying video clips from the video footage based on the heuristics;

tracking reference points in said identified video clips and measuring rates at which said reference points are displaced; and

iteratively applying parameters to the identified clips to provide the condensed video, said parameters including a minimum quality level of clips specified in response to a minimum quality setting by a user so that video clips are examined, using a computer, to determine whether they meet the minimum quality level based on the measured rates at which the reference points are displaced, to reject the examined clips not meeting the minimum quality level, and to exclude the rejected clips in the condensed video, said method further comprising selecting only from the video clips remaining after rejecting of the clips not meeting the minimum quality level in creating the condensed video.

12. A system for creating a condensed video from video footage, the system comprising:

a storage medium that receives a plurality of clips from video footage;

an interface for receiving an indication of a desired length for condensed video; and

a module that generates the condensed video from the clips such that the length of the condensed video is substantially equal to the desired length,

the interface receiving an indication specifying background music for the condensed version of the video footage and the interface further receiving an indication specifying, in response to a minimum quality setting for the clips set by a user, a corresponding minimum quality level for the clips; and

a module that tracks reference points in said condensed video and measures rates at which said reference points are displaced so that video clips are examined by the system to determine whether they meet the minimum quality level based on the measured rates at which the reference points are displaced and the examined clips not meeting the minimum quality level are not selected for the condensed video and so that in creating the condensed video selection is made from only the video clips remaining after rejecting the clips not meeting the minimum quality level.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the interface further receives an indication of a variable clip length.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the interface further receives an indication of a transition style to be applied between clips.

15. The system of claim 12 further comprising a display for displaying a plurality of frames representative of a clip from the beginning of the clip to the end of the clip.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the beginning and end of a clip may be changed by a user, and wherein the plurality of frames representative of the clip are adjusted corresponding to such changed beginning and end.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein a double slider is provided for changing the beginning and end of a clip.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein said interface includes a sliding bar mechanism for receiving said user set minimum quality.

19. A computer implemented method of creating a condensed video, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of clips from video footage; and

displaying a plurality of frames representative of a clip from the beginning of the clip to the end of the clip wherein the beginning and end of a clip may be changed by a user, wherein the plurality of frames representative of the clip are adjusted corresponding to such changed beginning and end and wherein a double slider is provided for changing the beginning and end of a clip.

20. A system for providing a user the ability to edit video clips, the system comprising:

a display representative of each of the clips, along with a user selectable option of keeping individual clips so as to provide a plurality of kept clips;

a mechanism to adjust the starting and ending points of the clips; and

an interface to facilitate multiple parameter selections to apply to the kept individual clips, the interface providing a parameter setting for specifying a minimum quality level for the clips in response to a minimum quality setting by a user using a sliding bar so that video clips are examined by the system to determine whether they meet the minimum quality level and the examined clips not meeting said minimum quality level are not included in a final condensed video.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the interface provides a user selectable option of creating a video from the video clips based on the selected parameters.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the interface provides a parameter setting for varying the length of clips between user defined time periods.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the interface provides a parameter setting for identifying a transition style to be applied between all clips.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein the interface provides a parameter setting for specifying a minimum quality level for the clips.

25. A computer implemented method of generating an event specific condensed video from video footage of the event, the method comprising:

identifying plural sets of heuristics, each set identifying a desired type of clip from the event;

specifying a temporal order to the plural sets of heuristics;

specifying at least one parameter to apply to clips identified by application of the heuristics to the video footage of the event, said at least one parameter comprising a minimum quality level for the clips in response to a minimum quality level setting by a user provided by entering the minimum quality setting into a computer interface of a computer;

tracking reference points in said identified clips and measuring rates at which said reference points are displaced; and

using the computer to determine whether the identified clips meet the minimum quality level based on the measured rates at which the reference points are displaced, rejecting the examined clips not meeting said minimum quality level, and excluding the rejected clips from the condensed video and so that in creating the condensed video selection is made from only the video clips remaining after rejecting the clips not meeting the minimum quality level.

26. A system for creating a condensed video from video footage, the system comprising:

a computer housing;

a processor mounted in the computer housing;

memory coupled to the processor;

a system bus coupled to the processor;

a display device coupled to the processor;

a module executing on the processor that receives a set of heuristics representative of desired video clips;

a module executing on the processor that identifies video clips from the video footage based on the heuristics; and

a module executing on the processor that iteratively applies parameters to the identified clips to provide the condensed video, said parameters including a minimum quality level for the clips specified in response to a minimum quality setting by a user, said module tracking reference points is said identified video clips and measuring rates at which said reference points are displaced, so that video clips are examined by the system to determine whether the examined video clips meet said minimum quality level based on the measured rates at which the reference points are displaced, and so that examined video clips not meeting said minimum quality level are rejected and not included in the condensed video, and so that in creating the condensed video selection is made from only the video clips remaining after rejecting the clips not meeting the minimum quality level.

27. An interface for a system for providing a user the ability to edit video clips, the interface comprising:

a display representative of each of the clips, along with a user selectable option of keeping individual clips to provide a plurality of kept clips;

a mechanism to adjust the starting and ending points of the clips; and

a mechanism for multiple parameter selections to apply to the kept individual clips, said multiple parameter selections including a minimum quality level for the clips specified in response to a minimum quality setting by a user so that the kept clips are examined by the interface to determine whether the examined clips meet the minimum quality level and the examined clips not meeting said minimum quality level are not included in a final condensed video, and said mechanism for multiple parameter selections including a sliding bar for enabling the user to make the minimum quality setting.