Content shooting apparatus

• US 8,643,745 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2008
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Morioka, Yoshihiro, Matsuura, Kenji, Inoue, Hisashi, Kobayashi, Masaaki
• Primary Examiner(s): FOSSELMAN, JOEL W
• Application Number:
  US12/521,865
• Publication Number:
  US 20100091113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,156 Days
• Field of Search: 348/231.3, 386/52, 386/118
• US Class Current: 348/231.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/147 Scene change detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

A content shooting apparatus is provided which is suitable for generating a digest meeting the user'"'"'s desire.

A scene information generation portion detects a characteristic scene with reference to a parameter contained in either video/audio in content recorded during shooting operation information for the shooting apparatus, and generates scene information, an auxiliary information assignment portion assigns the scene information its type, priority, start time, end time, or representative time as auxiliary information in accordance with a prescribed rule, a listing portion makes a list of the scene information and the auxiliary information thereof, and a scene sorting-out portion sorts out scenes from the content with reference to the priority, such that the number of scenes is within a predetermined range.

Claims

1. A content shooting apparatus for recording content containing video, audio, or data onto a recording medium, in combination with scene information for the content, and accessing a specific scene in the content with reference to the scene information, the apparatus comprising:

a housing;

a scene information generation section, supported by the housing, that detects an important scene and an unnecessary scene with reference to a parameter contained in operational control information for the shooting apparatus, the operational control information relating to camerawork including overall movement of the housing with respect to position and orientation direction and that generates the scene information for the important scene and the unnecessary scene;

an auxiliary information assignment section, supported by the housing, that assigns the scene information for the important scene and the unnecessary scene its type, priority, start time, end time, or representative time as auxiliary information in accordance with a prescribed rule;

a listing section, supported by the housing, that makes a list of the scene information for the important scene and the unnecessary scene and the auxiliary information thereof; and

a scene sorting-out section, supported by the housing, that sorts out scenes from the content with reference to the priority after a recording operation to the recording medium, such that the number of scenes is within a predetermined range,

wherein the unnecessary scene is deleted from the content by the scene sorting-out section, and wherein the priority is based on an assigned respective weighted priority level of metadata relating to said parameter contained in the operational control information, the operational control information comprising at least one of horizontal/vertical angular velocity information and forward-backward/rightward-leftward/upward-downward acceleration information.

2. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scene sorting-out section includes at least one of a high priority scene sorting-out unit that sorts out the scene information in descending order of priority and a low priority scene sorting-out unit that sorts out the scene information in ascending order of priority.

3. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the high priority scene sorting-out unit sorts out high priority scenes from shot content having removed therefrom scenes sorted out by the low priority scene sorting-out unit.

4. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a setting unit that sets a method for selecting the scene information;

a second-type priority section that computes a combination of plural pieces of scene information on the list in accordance with an arithmetic system determined by the setting unit, and assigning second-type priority to the scene information;

an auxiliary information assignment section that assigns auxiliary information to the scene information, the auxiliary information being at least one of start time, end time, and representative time of a characteristic scene with the second-type priority; and

a second-type priority list generation section that sorts out scene information from the list in descending order of second-type priority, such that the number of pieces of scene information is within a predetermined range, and generating a second-type priority list.

5. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a second-type priority listing section that provides the second-type priority list to a file to be referenced for playing back the shot content.

6. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a scene playback section that plays back characteristic scene sections in a specified order with reference to the second-type priority list.

7. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a ticker display section that provides descriptions about characteristic scenes in characteristic scene sections, the descriptions being superimposed on playback video as tickers while playing back the characteristic scene sections in a specified order.

8. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a digest scheme specification section that receives a specification of at least one of the following items concerning characteristic scenes to be included in a digest;

priority, type, digest time length, and content-to-digest reduction ratio;

a generating section that generates the file to be referenced for playback in accordance with a digest generation scheme specified by the digest scheme specification unit, while referring to the second-type priority list, which is auxiliary data for the file to be referenced for playback; and

a registration section that registers the file to be referenced for playback on a list of the content.

9. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

a file generation section that generates a file to be referenced for playing back a recommendation based on the file to be referenced for playback registered on the list of the content, the file to be referenced for recommendation playback consisting of scenes at a predetermined priority level or higher or scenes taken by specific camerawork; and

a registration section that registers the file to be referenced for recommendation playback with a recommended playback object list.

10. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

a generating section that generates background music when playing back the file to be referenced for playback registered on the list of the content; and

an alteration section that changes the background music in at least one of melody, tone, and tempo immediately before switching of characteristic scenes in the file to be referenced for playback.

11. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a ticker display section that provides descriptions about characteristic scenes in characteristic scene sections, the descriptions being superimposed on playback video as tickers while playing back the characteristic scene sections with reference to the file to be referenced for playback.

12. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a digest scheme specification section that receives a specification of at least one of the following items concerning characteristic scenes to be included in a digest;

priority, type, digest time length, and content-to-digest reduction ratio; and

a file generation section that generates a file containing a collection of specified characteristic scenes in accordance with a digest generation scheme specified by the digest scheme specification unit, while referring to the second-type priority list, which is auxiliary data for the file to be referenced for playback.

13. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a digest scheme specification section that receives a specification of at least one of the following items concerning characteristic scenes to be included in a digest;

priority, type, digest time length, and content-to-digest reduction ratio; and

a playback section that plays back a string of unspecified characteristic scene sections in accordance with a digest generation scheme specified by the digest scheme specification unit, while referring to the second-type priority list, which is auxiliary data for the file to be referenced for playback.

14. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a digest scheme specification section that receives a specification of at least one of the following items concerning characteristic scenes to be included in a digest;

priority, type, digest time length, and content-to-digest reduction ratio; and

a file generation section that generates a file obtained by collecting shot sections not specified at the time of playback, in accordance with a digest generation scheme specified by the digest scheme specification unit, while referring to the second-type priority list, which is auxiliary data for the file to be referenced for playback.

15. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a playback section that performs playback with reference to the second-type priority list, which is auxiliary data for the file to be referenced for playback, such that sections specified at the time of playback are played back at normal speed, and shot sections not specified at the time of playback are played back at a “

playback speed changed from normal”

or with “

playback video being additionally processed”

.

16. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising a playback/display that plays back shot video in slow motion, at high speed, in skip mode, or in still image display mode, wherein the playback is performed at the “

playback speed changed from normal”

.

17. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising a video generation section that generates video by removing any horizontal and vertical jiggle due to camerawork from shot video, wherein the playback is performed with the “

playback video being additionally processed”

.

18. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a skip section that references the second-type priority list at the time of playback to skip from the start point, representative point, or end point of the characteristic scene to a referenced point.

19. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operational control information comprises information relating to at least one of panning, tilting, and zooming of the content shooting apparatus.

20. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operational control information for the shooting apparatus is at least one selected from the group consisting of horizontal/vertical absolute inclination information, horizontal/vertical angular velocity information, and forward-backward/rightward-leftward/upward-downward acceleration information.

21. The content shooting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the camerawork includes one of panning, tilting, fixing, and zooming.