Creating video synopsis for use in playback

• US 8,787,730 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2012
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Budzinski, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HUY THANH
• Application Number:
  US13/477,013
• Publication Number:
  US 20130308921A1
• Time in Patent Office: 792 Days
• US Class Current: 386/241
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

Implementing a video synopsis includes using a playback device configured to: receive a video for playing on the playback device; generating a synopsis index of video clips from the video; playing the video until the play is suspending before reaching an end of the video; checkpointing the location in the video timeline at which the video play was suspended; and storing the checkpointed location.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a video synopsis, comprising steps of:

using a playback device comprising a processor performing steps of;

receiving a video for playing on the playback device;

generating a synopsis index of video clips from the video by performing;

selecting the video clips that describe key moments in the video, each video clip comprising attributes of;

a time tick within the video timeline where said video clip starts, and a time duration of said video clip; and

storing the attributes of each video clip in the synopsis index, along with an identifier for each video clip;

wherein a time-ordered set of video clips comprises a synopsis of the video; and

adding an additional attribute comprising a synopsis replay length for each video clip identified in the synopsis index, wherein the synopsis replay length is selected from a group consisting of;

short, medium, and long;

playing the video until the play is suspended before reaching an end of the video;

checkpointing a location in a video timeline of the video where the video play was suspended; and

storing the checkpointed location.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an indication that the video play is to be resumed;

playing the synopsis of the video, said synopsis comprising the video clips occurring in the video timeline only up to the checkpointed location; and

resuming play of the video at the checkpointed location when the synopsis terminates.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein playing the synopsis comprises:

retrieving the checkpointed location where the video play was suspended;

retrieving the synopsis index;

retrieving the video clips referenced in the synopsis index; and

playing the synopsis.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein playing the synopsis comprises:

playing a first video clip as identified in the synopsis index;

performing an iterative loop beginning with a video clip pointer set to one, said iterative loop comprising;

loading a next video clip as referenced by the video clip pointer;

comparing the time tick of the next video clip with a time of the checkpointed location; and

playing the next video clip when the time tick occurs before the time of the checkpointed location;

setting a video clip pointer to the checkpointed location upon reaching an end of the iterative loop.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

receiving a selection of the synopsis replay length;

comparing the synopsis replay length attribute of the next video clip with the selection received from the viewer; and

wherein playing the next video clip further comprises playing said next video clip when the synopsis replay length attribute matches the selection received from the viewer.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the selection of the synopsis replay length is received from the viewer.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the selection of the synopsis replay length is derived by the playback device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the checkpointed location comprises storing an encoding of said checkpointed location in the video.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the video clips that describe the key moments in the video comprises:

determining a type of the video;

noting key features of the video while sequencing through said video;

assigning weights to the key features, wherein said weights are assigned based on the type of the video;

ranking the weighted features; and

selecting for synopsis replay the video segments containing highest-ranked features.

10. A computer-implemented system for implementing a video synopsis, comprising:

a playback device; and

a storage medium operatively coupled with the playback device;

wherein the playback device comprises a processor performing steps of;

receiving a video for playing on the playback device;

generating a synopsis index of video clips from the video by performing;

selecting the video clips that describe key moments in the video, each video clip comprising attributes of;

a time tick within the video timeline where said video clip starts, and a time duration of said video clip; and

storing the attributes of each video clip in the synopsis index, along with an identifier for each video clip;

wherein a time-ordered set of video clips comprises a synopsis of the video; and

adding an additional attribute comprising a synopsis replay length for each video clip identified in the synopsis index, wherein the synopsis replay length is selected from a group consisting of;

short, medium, and long;

playing the video until the play is suspended before reaching an end of the video;

checkpointing a location in a video timeline of the video where the video play was suspended; and

storing the checkpointed location in the storage medium.

11. The computer-implemented system of claim 10 wherein the checkpointed location is encoded in the video.

12. The computer-implemented system of claim 10 wherein the synopsis replay length is derived by the playback device according to a category of the video.

13. The computer-implemented system of claim 10 wherein the playback device further comprises an input/output interface performing:

requesting that a viewer select the synopsis replay length; and

receiving the synopsis replay length selected by the viewer.

14. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with computer-executable instructions stored therein, said computer-executable instructions enabling a computer to perform:

using a playback device performing steps of;

receiving a video for playing on the playback device;

generating a synopsis index of video clips from the video by performing;

selecting the video clips that describe key moments in the video, each video clip comprising attributes of;

a time tick within the video timeline where said video clip starts, and a time duration of said video clip; and

storing the attributes of each video clip in the synopsis index, along with an identifier for each video clip;

wherein a time-ordered set of video clips comprises a synopsis of the video; and

adding an additional attribute comprising a synopsis replay length for each video clip identified in the synopsis index, wherein the synopsis replay length is selected from a group consisting of;

short, medium, and long;

playing the video until the play is suspended before reaching an end of the video;

checkpointing a location in a video timeline of the video where the video play was suspended; and

storing the checkpointed location.