Patent ID: 8243807

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: identifying motion vectors associated with a plurality of portions of a video signal; identifying, for the video signal, at least two boundary portions that correspond to an outer part of a screen, the boundary portions facing each other and being disposed such that a center of the screen is between the boundary portions; generating, using a processor, a value representative of at least one of a zooming motion or a pan and tilt motion within the boundary portions, the representative value being based on at least the detected motion vectors associated with corresponding ones of the boundary portions, wherein generating the representative value comprises: generating a histogram of the motion vectors of the boundary portions; identifying a motion vector within the histogram having a largest distribution; and establishing the identified motion vector as the representative value; obtaining, based on the representative value, a first motion component caused by zooming operations within the boundary portions; computing, based on the at first motion component, a first conspicuous degree associated with zooming operations; generating, based on the first motion component, modified motion vectors for the video signal portions, the modified motion vectors correcting for zooming operations within the boundary portions; obtaining, based on the representative value, a second motion component caused by pan and tilt operations within the boundary portions; computing, based on the second motion component and the modified motion vectors, a second conspicuous degree associated with pan and tilt operations; and determining a total conspicuous degree for the video signal potions based on a sum of the first and second conspicuous degrees, the total conspicuous degree being indicative of a probability that a conspicuous area is disposed within corresponding ones of the video signal portions.