Abstract:
A video information processing apparatus for selecting a representative video image from a group of video images in dependence upon a frequency of occurrence of a plurality of possible values of at least one image property. The processing apparatus comprises:  
     a an image data accumulator for calculating the frequency of occurrence of said plurality of values of the image property for each frame of said group;  
     a representative frequency calculation module for calculating a representative frequency of occurrence for each of said plurality of possible values of the image property wherein said representative frequency is calculated with respect to said group of video images;  
     a representative video image extractor for selecting said representative video image by selecting an image of said group which has a frequency of occurrence of said plurality of possible values close to said average frequency of occurrence.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to the field of video editing.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    Video editing was traditionally carried out by copying shots and scenes from one tape to another. Although this process protects the master tapes from damage during the editing process, it has the disadvantage of being very time consuming. Editing is controlled using digital “timecodes” which uniquely identify each video picture frame on a reel of tape. Due to the high expense of “on-line editing” where editing is performed by copying directly from the master tapes, it is common practice to edit off the main production line on a low-quality copy of the video footage. This is known as “off-line editing”.  
           [0005]    During an off-line edit, the position of each video edit transition is logged against a timecode to produce an Edit Decision List (EDL) which is generally stored in electronic form. The EDL enables edit decisions made in an off-line edit suite to be easily transferred to the on-line editing process. The on-line edit is still required to obtain a final edited tape of transmission quality.  
           [0006]    Some off-line editing systems make use of low band U-Matic or VHS tapes; however more advanced systems are computer-based and involve recording a version of the sound and images from the master recording onto the computer&#39;s hard disc. These computer based off-line editing systems offer the added flexibility of “non-linear editing” whereby video footage can be edited starting from any point in the recorded sequence. The process is still time-consuming because the images have to be loaded into the editing system, perhaps in real time, in a process called conforming and the final EDL produced has to be conformed again on an on-line edit suite.  
           [0007]    A typical computer-based non-linear editing apparatus is schematically illustrated in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings. The apparatus comprises a digital video recorder  10  which can be used to transfer video data to or from a computer-based disc storage  50 . During the editing process a copy of the master video footage is transferred from the original recording medium to the disc storage  50 . The editing process is software driven and is controlled by a central processing unit (CPU)  40 . The user interacts with the editing apparatus via a keyboard  20 , a mouse (not shown) or other controls (not shown) which communicate with the central processing unit  40 . A visual interface is provided via a monitor  120 . The desktop environment of the editing software typically includes a viewing window  110  in which video shots selected by the user can be replayed.  
           [0008]    A control panel  70  comprises control buttons with functions such as play, fast forward, rewind, pause and stop which are similar to the functions on a standard video recorder. The user activates these control buttons using the keyboard  20  and a mouse. Editing functions such as cutting of video and audio are provided via a toolbar  100  and the user will employ functions selected from pull-down menus on the toolbar to edit individual shots, to create sub-shots and to add captions and audio effects. The viewing window  110  is used to assess and review the content of shots when considering their inclusion in the final edited sequence and to replay the sequence itself. The user will typically segment the original footage into separate shots by specifying start and end points for each shot. The duration of the shots may vary from a few seconds to many minutes. These shots will then form the basis for constructing a final edited sequence.  
           [0009]    The segmented shots are represented by a group of thumbnail images  90  on the desktop and typically each thumbnail image will correspond to the first frame of the associated shot. The user can double-click on these thumbnail images to initiate replay of the video footage in the viewing window  110 . Alternatively the thumbnail images can be dragged and dropped into the viewing window  110  to initiate replay in real time. In practice each shot may be viewed several times over during assembly of the final sequence of shots. This will be necessary in order that the editor becomes familiar with the content of each shot. Edited shots are arranged in a chronological sequence by placing them on a timeline  80  and the full sequence can be replayed in the viewing window  110 .  
           [0010]    The timeline will have several channels for the arrangement of video and audio sequences and captions. The timeline makes it easy to experiment with different editing options by simple rearrangement of the sequence of shots.  
           [0011]    However the process of replaying individual shots, perhaps repeatedly, in real time to assess and review the content can be very time consuming, particularly in the case where large numbers of shots form the basis for compiling a programme. Other than replaying the shots, the user has no means to assess their overall content except for the first frame which is displayed as a thumbnail or perhaps a descriptive clip title.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0012]    The invention provides a video information processing apparatus for selecting a representative video image from a group of video images in dependence upon a frequency of occurrence of a plurality of possible values of at least one image property, said processing apparatus comprising:  
           [0013]    an image data accumulator for calculating the frequency of occurrence of said plurality of values of the image property for each frame of said group;  
           [0014]    a representative frequency calculation module for calculating a representative frequency of occurrence for each of said plurality of possible values of the image property wherein said representative frequency is calculated with respect to said group of video images;  
           [0015]    a representative video image extractor for selecting said representative video image by selecting an image of said group which has a frequency of occurrence of said plurality of possible values close to said representative frequency of occurrence.  
           [0016]    The invention provides the capability to select a representative video image from a group of images by taking into account the contents of each image in the group and selecting a representative image which has image values close to the predominant overall contents of the group of frames.  
           [0017]    Selecting a representative image in this way has the advantage that information that reflects the overall contents of a video shot can be seen at a glance without the need to replay the entire shot, by displaying a single representative image for each shot in the editor&#39;s desktop. This is likely to reduce the time required to edit video footage with respect to prior art systems which simply display the first image of a shot on the editor&#39;s desktop.  
           [0018]    Since the first frame of a shot is unlikely to reflect the predominant overall content of all of the frames in the shot it is more likely that in prior art systems the editor will be required to play and replay the shots to assess their average content making the editing process more laborious.  
           [0019]    Another advantage of the representative keystamp selection according to embodiments of the invention is that the process is automated hence all of the information about the predominant content of each shot can available to the editor simultaneously at the beginning of the editing process.  
           [0020]    The invention also provides the facility to select image properties which are appropriate to the video footage itself. For example the average contents of a shot could be determined with respect to a luminance signal or with respect to a colour signal. Furthermore several image properties could be used together in which case the average contents of the each shot could be determined with respect to a combination of the specified image properties.  
           [0021]    Although each image in a shot could be included in the group of images to be used for the calculation of the average frequencies of occurrence, it is also possible to select a representative group of images from each shot such as every second image, which should reduce the time spent processing the image property data.  
           [0022]    The selection of the representative image could be performed in the camera itself as the images are acquired so that the data is immediately available when the video footage is transferred to an editing apparatus. This saves having to process the images again before the representative images are located. Alternatively, the selection of representative images can be performed in a post-processing unit which means that the number of hardware components in the camera may be reduced, the system may be used with existing cameras and software associated with the invention should be more easily updated.  
           [0023]    It will be appreciated that any one of a variety of different image properties could be used to determine the representative contents of the group of frames however it is advantageous if the image property is a colour property since the data for colour properties is likely to be available during the recording or from the recorded video footage and colour values should be easily converted from one colour space to another. The colour property used could be either a digital colour property or an analogue colour property.  
           [0024]    Although any colour signal can be used as the image property in embodiments of the invention, the apparatus is particularly effective when the colour property is a hue signal because the hue signal contains only colour information and no luminance information. This has the advantage that if two of more images have identical content but they were captured in different lighting conditions, the hue values for these images will still be consistent despite the difference in lighting. This means that when the average frequencies of occurrence are calculated using the hue signal, the selection of the representative image is less likely to be influenced by changes in lighting conditions due to effects such as the sun moving behind clouds. Furthermore since the hue values lie within a well defined range of 0° hue&lt;360°, the hue data is easily sub-divided into groups of possible values for calculation of frequencies of occurrence.  
           [0025]    It will be appreciated that a restricted range of possible values of an image property could be used such as hue signal values in the range 90°&lt;hue&lt;270° only. Such a restricted range may be appropriate where certain possible values of an image property more strongly influence the image content than others. A calculation using such a restricted range is likely to be less time consuming however, using a full range of possible values is advantageous because it will include more information about the components of each image which should improve the likelihood of selecting a representative image which closely reflects the average contents of the group.  
           [0026]    Although the plurality of possible values of the image property can be discrete values it is advantageous to define possible values consisting of predetermined ranges, particularly in cases where the image property values vary continuously, because these ranges can be adjusted so that the frequencies of occurrence are high enough to give an appropriate statistical significance.  
           [0027]    It will be appreciated that the span of the predetermined range corresponding to each of the possible values can potentially be varied for a given image property however the calculations are simplified by choosing contiguous predetermined ranges with identical spans such that a histogram is formed. The value at which the peak in the frequency of occurrence occurs for each frame gives a good indication of the mean value of the image property for each image and histograms of fixed bin size (i.e. identical span) for each image can be directly compared. Where a fixed bin size is used, an average histogram is easily calculated by combining histograms from each image of the group.  
           [0028]    Although the plurality of possible values could consist of individual values representing two pixels or even larger groups of pixels it is advantageous if the plurality of values includes an individual value for each pixel of the image. Inclusion of an individual value for each pixel means that more information is taken account of in the average calculations which will should result in a better estimate of the average contents of a shot hence it is more likely that a suitable representative image will be selected.  
           [0029]    It will be appreciated that the representative video image extractor according to embodiments of the invention could select a representative image which is close to the average frequency of occurrence of the plurality of possible image values, in a variety of alternative ways such as by direct comparison of the peaks of the histograms for each image in the group or by comparing the most frequently occurring image value for each image with the most frequently occurring image value for the group of images. It is advantageous however, if the image extractor first calculates a difference between the representative frequency of occurrence and the frequency of occurrence for each of the plurality of possible values of the image property and calculates a single-valued difference; combines the values of the difference for each of the plurality of possible values; and finally selects an image from the group of images which corresponds to the smallest of the single-valued differences. The image of the group which has the smallest single-valued difference can be considered closest in content to the average contents of the associated group of images as determined from the average frequencies of occurrence of the particular image property.  
           [0030]    It will be appreciated that it is possible that more than one frame of the group may have a corresponding single-valued difference which coincides with the smallest single-valued difference and in this case any of these frames could be selected as the representative image. However the algorithm is simplified if the first of the images found to have the smallest single-valued difference is selected.  
           [0031]    Selecting a representative image with the smallest single-valued difference is more likely to result in selection of an image which closely reflects the predominant overall contents of a group of images however it may be sufficient to define an upper limit for the single-valued difference and to select any one of the images of the group which has a single valued difference below this upper threshold. Implementing such an upper limit is less rigorous than selecting an image with the smallest single-valued difference but it may be sufficient and is likely to be useful in practice, particularly if the contents of the group of images does not vary a great deal.  
           [0032]    It will be appreciated that the video information processing apparatus can use image properties supplied directly by the video camera or from the tape on which the video images were stored, however it is advantageous to include a format conversion unit in the apparatus for converting from a video signal in an arbitrary colour space to a video signal in the hue-saturation-value colour space. This has the advantage that the processing apparatus can take its input from digital or analogue cameras and digital or analogue video tape and it can use this input to obtain a representative image using the hue image property which is less sensitive to changes in lighting conditions.  
           [0033]    Although the representative images can be selected after shots and sub-shots have been defined by an editor and prior to compilation of the shots to form an edited programme, it is advantageous to include in the video image processing apparatus a metadata processing unit for performing shot and sub-shot segmentation operations in an automated process. This has the advantage that the representative image selection hardware can be located, at least in part, in the camera and the representative images can be made available immediately on transferral of the video footage to the editing apparatus. Since shot and sub-shot segmentation can be performed using hue histogram data and representative images can also be extracted using hue histogram data, the data can be generated once and used for both processes. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0034]    The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 1 shows a typical computer based off-line editing system;  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 2 shows the basic components of an audio-visual processing system according to embodiments of the invention;  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 3 shows a post-processing unit according to a first embodiment of the invention;  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 4 shows a camera and post-processing unit according to a second embodiment of the invention;  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 5 shows a camera and post-processing unit according to a third embodiment of the invention:  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram to illustrate hue; and  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 6B is an example of a hue histogram. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0042]    [0042]FIG. 2 shows the basic components of a video recording system according to the present invention. The system comprises a camera  150  for recording video footage. The camera is supplied with a data storage unit  160  comprising a video tape and a removable PC card. The video tape is used for recording audio and video data together with the in/out timecodes for each shot and possibly a unique code known as a UMID which identifies the recorded material. The PC card storage is used for supplementary information about the recorded video footage known as “metadata” and also for storage of the “audio visual proxy” which is a low-bit-rate copy of audio and video created from the broadcast quality high-bit-rate master. The metadata will typically include information about sub-shot segmentation and information used to generate thumbnail images for each shot for subsequent use in an editing suite. The camera  150  is linked to a post-processing unit  170  such that information can be communicated either by a local area network or by physically transferring the PC card from the camera  150  to the post-processing unit  170 . The post-processing unit is equipped with data storage capacity and software analysis tools for processing the metadata, performing such functions as sub-shot segmentation and interview detection. The post-processing unit  170  will perform at least part of the processing required to extract the representative keystamps to be supplied as thumbnail images to the video editing unit.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 3 shows a representative keystamp extraction apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention. In this case the post-processing unit  170  performs all stages of the representative keystamp extraction algorithm. The post-processing unit is supplied with an audio visual input signal  205  which is fed directly to a format conversion module  200 .  
         [0044]    The format conversion module  200  performs the function, if the input format so requires, of transforming between colour spaces. Image pick-up systems in a camera detect primary-colour red, green and blue (RGB) signals but these are stored on analogue video tape (such as PAL and NTSC) in a different colour space known as YUV space while digital video systems use the standard MPEG YCrCb colour space. Y represents the luminance signal, the U signal is obtained from B-Y and the V signal is obtained from R-Y. To convert from RGB to YUV spaces the following equations can be used:  
           Y= 0.299 R+ 0.587 G+ 0.114 B   
           U= 0.492( B - Y ) 
           V= 0.877( R - Y ).  
         [0045]    The digital YCrCb colour space is a subset of YUV that scales and shifts the chrominance values into the range from zero to one inclusive which is appropriate for digital storage. To convert from RGB to YCrCb the following equations can be used:  
           Y= 0.299 R+ 0.587 G+ 0.114 B   
           Cr={ ( B - Y )/2 }+0.5 
           Cb={ ( R - Y )/1.6 }+0.5  
         [0046]    A third colour space and the appropriate colour space for representative keystamp extraction is hue, saturation and value (HSV) where the hue reflects the dominant wavelength of the spectral distribution, the saturation is a measure of the concentration of a spectral distribution at a single wavelength and the value is a measure of the intensity of the colour. In the HSV colour space hue specifies the colour in a 360° range as illustrated by the hexagon of FIG. 6A. In this hexagon 0° corresponds to red, 60° to yellow, 120° to cyan, 180° to blue and 240° to magenta. S and V signals are both in the range from 0 to 1 inclusive. A pure hue specifies an angle for H and sets S=V=1. Decreasing V is analogous to adding black to produce a different shade while decreasing S is analogous to adding white to produce a different tint. The HSV colour space has the advantage that the colour information is derived completely from the hue value H and is completely separate from the intensity information specified by S and V. Thus the value of hue should be the same for frames corresponding to the same scene in different lighting conditions. This is why the HSV colour space is particularly suitable for representative keystamp extraction where we are interested in the basic content of the frames in a shot. The format conversion module  200  converts from an arbitrary colour space to HSV colour space to enable data extraction for the hue histograms.  
         [0047]    A second input to the post-processing unit  170  is a metadata input signal  215  which is received by a metadata processing module  240 . The metadata processing module  240  produces and supplies an input signal  245  including sub-shot segmentation information to an average calculation module  220 . A hue histogram generation module  210  analyses the hue signals for the pixels of each frame and produces hue histogram data on a frame-by-frame basis.  
         [0048]    The hue histogram generation module  210  compiles the hue values for the pixels comprising a frame to produce a histogram of frequency of occurrence against hue value. The hue values are in the range 0°&lt;hue&lt;360° and the bin-size of the histogram, although potentially adjustable, would typically be 1°. Since hue histograms will be compared between frames the bin size must be identical at least for every frame of a shot. FIG. 6B illustrates a hue histogram where the occurrence frequency values for adjacent bins have been interpolated and plotted as a continuous curve. In this case the hue histogram has a peak in the yellow to green region of the hue spectrun. Hue values will generally be provided for every pixel of the frame but it is also possible that a single hue value will be corresponding to a group of several pixels.  
         [0049]    The hue histogram data is input to the average calculation module  220  where it is combined with the sub-shot segmentation information to produce an output signal  255  comprising average hue histogram data for each shot and sub-shot.  
         [0050]    The average calculation module  220  uses the information on shot segmentation to group sets of frames according to the shots with which they are associated. The hue histogram information each frame of the shot is used to determine an average histogram for the shot according to the formula:  
         h   i   ′     =         ∑     F   =   1       n   F            h   i         n   F                             
 
         [0051]    where i is an index for the histogram bins, h′ I  is the average frequency of occurrence of the hue value associated with the ith bin, h I  is the hue value associated with the ith bin for frame F and n F  is the number of frames in the shot. If the majority of the frames in the shot correspond to the same scene then the hue histograms for those shots will be similar in shape therefore the average hue histogram will be heavily weighted to reflect the hue profile of that predominant scene.  
         [0052]    The representative keystamp extraction module  230  performs a comparison between the hue histogram for each frame of a shot and the average hue histogram for that shot. It calculates a singled valued difference diff F :  
         diff   F     =         ∑     l   =   1     nbins            (       h   i   ′     -     h   i       )     2                               
 
         [0053]    For each frame F (1&lt;F&lt;n F ) of a shot and selects one frame from the n F  frames which has the minimum value of diff F . The above formula represents the preferred method for calculating the single valued difference; however it will be appreciated that alternative formulae can be used to achieve the same effect. An alternative would be to sum the absolute value of the difference (h′ I -h′ I ), to form a weighted sum of differences or to combine difference values for each image property of each frame. The frame with the minimum difference will have the hue histogram closest to the average hue histogram and hence it is preferably selected as the representative keystamp (RKS) image for the associated shot. The frame for which the minimum difference is smallest can be considered to have the hue histogram which is closest to the average hue histogram. If the value of the minimum difference is the same for two frames or more in the same shot then there are multiple frames which are closest to the average hue histogram however the first of these frames can be selected to be the representative keystamp. Although preferably the frame with the hue histogram that is closest to the average hue histogram is selected to be the RKS, alternatively an upper threshold can be defined for the single valued difference such that the first frame in the temporal sequence of the shot having a minimum difference which lies below the threshold is be selected as an RKS. Although it will be appreciated that, in general, any frame of the shot having a minimum difference which lies below the threshold is could be selected as an RKS  
         [0054]    The RKS images can be used in the off-line edit suite as the group of thumbnail images  90  to represent the contents of the shots. The RKS images should more accurately reflect the average contents of a shot than the prior art systems which simply use the first frame of the shot as the thumbnail image.  
         [0055]    The representative keystamp extraction module  230  outputs a representative keystamp information signal  265  which is combined with the output signal  245  of the metadata processing module  240  to form an output signal  275 A which is sent out from the post-processing unit along a metadata data path.  
         [0056]    [0056]FIG. 4 shows a representative keystamp extraction apparatus according to a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment the format conversion and hue histogram generation are performed in the camera  150  while the average calculation and representative keystamp extraction is performed separately in the post-processing unit  30 . A main camera unit  250  generates the audio visual data signal  205  which is supplied as input to the image processing module  260  where it is processed and then output from the camera  150  through the main image data path  295 .  
         [0057]    The main camera unit  250  also supplies a signal  285  (essentially the same as the signal  205 ) to a metadata generation module  280  which generates an output metadata signal  335 . The audio visual data  205  is also supplied as input to the format conversion module  200  where the RGB chrominance data is converted to HSV format data and the output signal  225  is produced and fed directly to the hue histogram generation module  210 .  
         [0058]    The output signal  235  comprises hue histogram data for each frame and this is combined with the output signal  335  from the metadata generation module  280  to form a signal  275 B. The signal  275 B is output from the camera  150  along the metadata data path which is input to the post-processing unit  170 . In the post-processing unit  170  the input from the metadata data path  275 B is input to the metadata processing module  240  where the hue histogram data and other metadata are processed to produce an output signal  305  which includes shot and sub-shot segmentation information.  
         [0059]    The signal  305  is provided as input to the average calculation module  220  which calculates the average hue histogram for each shot on the basis of the hue histogram values and shot segmentation metadata. The output signal  255  of the average calculation module  220  is subsequently supplied to the representative keystamp extraction module  230  where a representative keystamp is selected for each shot on the basis of the minimum difference between the average histogram and a respective frame of the shot. The representative keystamp data signal  345  is output from the post-processing unit  170  and will be made available for use in the off-line editing apparatus.  
         [0060]    [0060]FIG. 5 shows a representative keystamp extraction apparatus according to a third embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment the format conversion, hue histogram generation and average calculation are performed in the camera  10  and only the representative keystamp extraction is performed separately in the post-processing module  170 .  
         [0061]    The main camera unit  200  generates the audio visual data signal  205  which is supplied as input to the image processing module  260  where it undergoes standard processing and is then output from the camera  150  through the main image data path  295 . The main camera unit  250  also supplies the audio visual signal  285  to the metadata generation module  280 . In this embodiment there is a facility for the camera operator to manually define the beginning and end of each shot using a camera control  270  which could be for example a button or switch.  
         [0062]    The shot segmentation information from the camera control  270  is combined with the signal  285  from the main camera unit  250  to form a signal  315  which is supplied as input to the metadata generation module  280 . The audio visual data signal  205  is also supplied as input to the format conversion module  200  where the RGB chrominance data is converted to HSV format data the output signal  225  is fed as input to the hue histogram generation module  210 . The hue histogram generation module  210  outputs the signal  235  which is supplied to both the average calculation module  220  and the metadata generation module  280 . The metadata generation module  280  uses the hue histogram data from the hue histogram generation module output signal  235  to produce the output signal  335  containing shot and sub-shot segmentation information which it supplies to the average calculation module  220 .  
         [0063]    The output signal  225  is generated by the average calculation module  225  and it is combined with output  335  of the metadata generation module to produce an output signal  275 C which is output from the camera  150  along the metadata data path which is fed directly to the post-processing unit  170 .  
         [0064]    In the post-processing unit  170 , the metadata data path signal  275 C is supplied to the metadata processing module  240  where processing operations such as interview detection are performed and then an output signal  325  is generated and supplied as input to the representative keystamp extraction module  230 . This module selects a frame from each shot as a representative keystamp by calculating the difference between the average hue histogram and the hue histogram of each frame of the shot. The RKS data  345  is output from the post-processing unit  170  and can be stored electronically or supplied directly to the off-line editing system.  
         [0065]    Although illustrative embodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various changes and modifications can be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.