Patent ID: 7778470

Claim:
A moving picture processor for generating a metashot which includes a set of continuous shots as a repetitive unit of an image, comprising: a similarity calculator which calculates a similarity between shots, which refer to temporal parts of a moving picture, into which the moving picture is segmented at a point of scene change of the moving picture; a similar shot specifying unit which specifies similar shots based on the similarity; a grouping unit which divides the shots into a plurality of groups, each group including the similar shots specified; a lead group selector which selects at least one lead group from the plurality of groups based on a first predetermined condition, the lead group including candidates of a plurality of lead shots which should be a head of the metashot; a conversation interactivity calculator which calculates conversation interactivity indicating a probability that a target shot belonging to a same group is a shot indicating a conversation scene, based on an appearance pattern of shots belonging to the same group; a lead shot selector which selects the target shot as the lead shots from the candidates included in the lead group, when the conversation interactivity calculated by the conversation interactivity calculator is smaller than a predetermined reference value; and a metashot generator which generates the metashot including the lead shot selected at the head, wherein, the lead shot selector selects one of shots belonging to a first group and one of shots belonging to a second group, calculates the conversation interactivity with respect to sections from a start time of one of the two shots, which is closer to the head in the moving picture, to a finish time of another one being closer to an end in the moving picture, and selects the second group in which the conversation interactivity is maximum, and a shot belonging to the second group, and when the maximum value of the conversation interactivity with respect to the selected one shot belonging to the first group is higher than a predetermined conversation interactivity, the lead shot selector determines two shots having the maximum value of conversation interactivity, and a time section between the two shots as a conversation section, and either selects the lead shot from the conversation section or excludes the lead shot from a selection target.