JP3636830B2 - Intelligent video camera and intelligent still camera - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a video camera, and more particularly to a digital video camera capable of editing captured video content.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Household video cameras are becoming popular for the purpose of recording children's growth and various events. In home video cameras, amateurs often shoot, so often they take longer than necessary or re-take the same scene over and over, resulting in very redundant and uninteresting tapes. And since many people are troublesome to make appropriate edits later, they are left as they are. For this reason, recently, a photographing technique that pays attention to from the time of photographing has attracted attention so that it is not necessary to edit later. In commercial video cameras, for example, a camera that records video from Ikegami Tsushinki to the hard disk has been commercialized, and you can quickly call up video that has already been shot for trial viewing or unnecessary cuts (from video camera recording start) It is possible to make simple edits such as deleting a video from one continuous section until the stop, which is called “cut.”
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, photography techniques that do not require editing cannot be performed well by inexperienced people, and the editing functions of the above-mentioned professional cameras have been improved so that specialists can work efficiently, and are still used by amateurs. It's not easy enough. In addition, it is necessary to make a note of what kind of video content was shot at the time of shooting, or which cut is important, on paper etc., and the work itself is complicated. Further, it was more troublesome to take correspondence between the actual recording tape and the memo later.
[0004]
By the way, as a digital still camera for still images, there is known a digital camera that can reduce an already captured image and display a plurality of reduced images collectively on a screen. However, in this prior art, there are a mode for displaying a photographed image and a mode for displaying a plurality of reduced images at a time. If the user does not instruct switching of this mode, a plurality of reduced images are collected at a time. It cannot be displayed.
[0005]
A first object of the present invention is to provide an intelligent video camera and an intelligent still camera that allow a photographer to instantly grasp the contents of a captured video or still image.
[0006]
A second object of the present invention is to enable easy editing on an intelligent video camera without the need for special editing equipment.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the first object described above, an intelligent video camera of the present invention includes a photographing unit that photographs an arbitrary scene as a moving image, a display unit that displays a moving image photographed by the photographing unit, and the photographing unit. Recording means for recording a captured video, extraction means for extracting a representative image that is a still image of a part of the moving picture from the video recorded by the recording means, and representative images extracted by the extraction means List display means for displaying as a list is provided.
[0008]
According to the present invention, it is possible to display a list of representative images, and the photographer can instantly grasp the contents of the captured video by viewing the representative images.
[0009]
In addition, the intelligent still camera of the present invention records a still image photographed by the photographing means for photographing an arbitrary scene as a still image, a display means for displaying a still image photographed by the photographing means, and the photographing means. Receiving means, a reduction means for reducing the still images recorded by the recording means, a list display means for displaying a list of still images reduced by the reduction means, and an instruction for shooting by the shooting means An operation input unit, and the reduction unit reduces a new still image shot by the shooting unit when the shooting instruction is received by the operation input unit, and the list display unit includes: One of the still images displayed as a list is updated to the newly reduced still image.
[0010]
According to the present invention, the reduced images can be displayed as a list, and the photographer can instantly grasp the content of the captured still image by viewing the reduced images.
[0011]
In order to achieve the second object described above, the information processing apparatus further includes creation means for creating auxiliary information related to the representative image, and the list display means relates to auxiliary information created by the creation means. The corresponding representative image is displayed. The extraction unit extracts one representative image from a cut that is a moving image of one section recorded from a recording start instruction to an end instruction received by the operation input unit, and displays the list display For each representative image displayed by the means, there is further provided a setting means for setting whether the recording of the cut corresponding to the representative image is valid or invalid, and the list display means is configured to record by the setting means. It is possible to display that the recording of the cut is effective in association with the representative image corresponding to the cut set to be effective. An editing unit that edits the video recorded by the recording unit; a receiving unit that receives an instruction to perform editing by the editing unit; and the editing unit that receives the instruction when the receiving unit receives the instruction. You may make it further have an edit object display means which displays the representative image of the edit object of a means.
[0012]
According to the present invention, editing can be easily performed on an intelligent video camera.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.
[0014]
FIG. 1 shows an example of a schematic block diagram of a system configuration for realizing the present invention. The configuration shown in FIG. 1 is basically the same as the system configuration of a digital computer currently used for general purposes, in particular, a notebook personal computer, CPU 112, auxiliary storage device 110, memory 114, video memory 116, D An A / A converter 118, a display 120, and an input I / F 122, in addition to the optical system 100 including a lens for photographing, an imaging element 102 such as a photoelectric conversion element, and a compressed video. For example, an image compression encoder 104 and an image expansion decoder 106, and an analog output 124 for outputting video to the outside. Further, FIG. 2 shows an external view when intelligent video cameras having such a system configuration are compactly combined into one housing.
[0015]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes an optical system which adjusts so that a landscape or a person to be photographed correctly focuses on the image sensor. This optical system also includes a magnification adjustment mechanism for performing zoom-up photography. The operation information such as how much zoom magnification is set is also transmitted to the CPU 112. Reference numeral 102 denotes an image sensor, which performs photoelectric conversion to change an imaging target into an electrical signal. An image compression encoder 104 captures the electric signal obtained in 102 as a single image, reduces the amount of data using an image compression method typified by MPEG, and stores the compressed image in the auxiliary storage device 110. To store. By repeating such image capturing at a frequency of about 30 times per second, the image can be stored in the auxiliary storage device as a continuous moving image. The sound can be captured by the microphone 126 and the A / D converter 128 and stored in the auxiliary storage device 110 in association with the moving image. The optical system 100, the image sensor 102, and the image compression encoder 104 can constitute a photographing unit. The auxiliary storage device 110 is a large-capacity recording device such as a hard disk, and is a device for semi-permanently recording digital data. This may be a recording device that can be attached to and detached from the main body together with a storage device such as a PCMCIA hard disk card, or a type of recording device that can attach and detach only a recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk. The CPU 112 executes a software program for realizing the functions described in the present embodiment, including control such as start / stop of recording processing. The software program is resident in the memory 114, and various variable values and data necessary for the execution of the program are stored therein as necessary. The video memory 116 stores an image displayed on the display 120 as digital data. Reference numeral 118 denotes a D / A converter of a type generally called RAMDAC, which sequentially reads data written in the video memory 116 in accordance with the scanning line speed and draws it on the display 120. Therefore, when the data in the video memory 116 is updated, the updated content is immediately reflected in the display content on the display 120. It is also possible to directly write the image being shot input to the image compression encoder 104 directly into the video memory 116, bypassing the image compression function. The display 120 is a device for displaying an image, and may be, for example, a small CRT or a plasma display, or a liquid crystal type display device. The image expansion decoder 106 expands the compressed moving image data stored in the auxiliary storage device 110 and expands it on the video memory 116 as an expanded image. The analog output 124 converts the decompressed image into an analog video signal widely used in television receivers such as the NTSC system, and outputs the analog video signal. This output can be recorded by connecting to video equipment such as the VHS system that is currently widely used. When audio is also recorded, the audio can be output by the audio D / A converter 132 and the speaker 130 in synchronization with the expansion of the image. The input I / F 122 is an information input device, and includes switches such as a recording button and a playback button, a transparent touch panel pasted on the display surface of the display 120, and the like. The input information input via the input I / F 122 is transmitted to the CPU 112 and processed as appropriate. Reference numeral 108 denotes a data bus that interconnects the devices described above.
[0016]
FIG. 2 shows an example of the appearance and screen display of the intelligent video camera as described above. 2, the intelligent video camera body 200 includes a lens unit 202, a flat display 206 having both a display function and a pen input function, and an input I / F of buttons such as 216. The video taken by the lens unit 202 is displayed as it is in the partial area 208 in the display 206 so that the photographer can check the content of the video. The upper part 203 of the main body including the lens unit 202 can be rotated, and the photographer can photograph scenes and people at various angles while fixing the angle at which the flat display is viewed. Reference numeral 204 denotes an operation switch for zooming, which is a seesaw switch. When it is tilted to one side, it zooms in continuously, and when it is tilted to the other side, wide shooting is performed. By pressing the recording button 216, the start / end of recording can be instructed. When pressed once, recording starts, and when pressed again during recording, recording ends. In the area on the right side of the display, icon images 210 are displayed as a list. This is an image in which one representative frame image is selected from each of the cuts taken immediately before, and the selected frame image is converted into an icon as a representative image. In this way, since the list of cuts taken immediately before is always displayed on the display 206 during recording, the shooting history so far can be confirmed immediately, what form should be taken now, You can easily determine what kind of cut you should shoot while shooting. In the first embodiment, auxiliary information 212 such as the recorded time and the cut time length is displayed below the icon to provide information for recalling what kind of cut the cut is. As the auxiliary information 212, location information can be used when a location photographed by GPS (Global Positioning System) or the like is obtained. As a result, it is possible for even an amateur to shoot without waste, and it is possible to record a video that can be viewed without having to edit a large video later. Also, since you won't lose sight of the flow of the video you shot, the image of the next cut to be taken comes up during the shooting of one cut, and you can move smoothly to the next cut to save time and save time. The flow is also less likely to fail. On the other hand, when the camera is not being photographed, any icon can be highlighted from the icon list using the cursor button 218 as shown in the highlight display 224. When the cursor button 218 is pressed, the highlighted display of the currently highlighted icon disappears, and another adjacent icon corresponding to the pressed direction is highlighted. When video playback is instructed by operating the right cursor button 218 or the like with the icon highlighted, a cut corresponding to the highlighted icon is played back in the partial area 208. In the configuration example of the intelligent video camera shown in FIG. 2, reference numerals 220 and 222 denote general-purpose buttons, which can be used for general determination of various operations of the camera. Reference numeral 214 denotes a pen, which is used for pointing an arbitrary position on the display device and inputting annotation information to be described later. A combination of a pen and a touch panel is basically equivalent to a pointing device such as a mouse widely used in current personal computers, and can be replaced by a combination of a mouse and a cursor display. Therefore, in the following, information input is not limited to pen input, but general input by a pointing device is considered. When the edit mode button 226 is pressed, a simple edit mode described later is entered, and simple editing such as cut rearrangement and trimming can be performed.
[0017]
FIG. 3 is a state transition diagram showing a main processing flow in the intelligent video camera 200 shown in FIG. These processes are stored as a program in the memory 114 and executed by the CPU 112.
[0018]
In FIG. 3, when the intelligent video camera 200 is powered on, first, various devices are initialized by an initialization process 300, and the system enters a state in which video input from the optical system is displayed as it is on the display. Set. Also, if the cuts that were taken immediately before remain in the auxiliary storage device, each representative image of those cuts is displayed in a list, the display is updated to the latest representative image, and the latest representative image is displayed. Highlight the icon. In the standby state 302, nothing is performed until any button is pressed or an input is made by the pointing device. When the recording button 216 is pressed, the camera transitions to the recording state 304. The video input from the optical system is continuously recorded in a predetermined storage area of the auxiliary storage device while compressing the image. When there is no free space, a warning is issued and recording is automatically terminated. Here, the recording method to the auxiliary storage device is based on a file management method such as a disk operation system generally used by current computers. One cut of video data is recorded as one file in the auxiliary storage device.
[0019]
FIG. 4 shows a management table 1000 when file management is performed for each cut. In FIG. 4, a serial number is added as a cut number 1010 for each cut, and a pointer 1020 indicating a storage position of a video data structure 500 for storing video data of the cut and information related to the video data, which will be described later, The frame number 1030 for identifying the representative image in the cut is stored in correspondence with the serial number of the cut. Files can be managed by this management table 1000.
[0020]
FIG. 5 shows an example of a video data structure of an auxiliary storage device that stores information related to the cut video. This is referred to as a video data structure 500. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 502 denotes video header information, which includes information necessary for decompression, such as an image compression method and a vertical and horizontal size of an image. Reference numeral 504 denotes a flag indicating whether the recording of the cut is valid or invalid, and details thereof will be described later. 510 indicates the data amount of the video data, and indicates how many bytes of the video data 512 that follows. As a result, even if the data size of the compressed image changes depending on the type of video, it is possible to calculate where the annotation information stored after the video data 512 and the data related to the annotation structure to be stored are recorded. The video data 512 includes each still image constituting a cut, that is, a frame image and audio data. Each frame has a unique serial number (hereinafter referred to as a frame number), and the frame number is also included in the video data. The trimming start point 506 and the trimming end point 508 are used for designating one section of the video being cut. The trimming start point 506 indicates the frame number of the start position of one section of the video being cut, and the trimming end point. Reference numeral 508 denotes a frame number at the end position of one section. The flag 504, the trimming start point 506, and the trimming end point 508 are used for simple video editing described later. When replaying a trimmed cut during simple editing, only the section from the trimming start point to the end point is replayed, not from the beginning of the cut. 514 is the number of annotations associated with the cut indicated by the data structure, and 516 is a pointer to the data of the annotation information. The annotation information is managed as a file one by one, and the pointer is specifically an identification code for uniquely specifying the storage position of the file.
[0021]
The annotation information is performed, for example, by drawing an arbitrary line drawing figure at an arbitrary position on the display screen using a pointing device. Characters are also included in the line drawing figure. When the pointing device is a pen device in particular, it is equivalent to drawing a picture with a pen on a piece of paper on which a display image is printed. As the program itself for performing such drawing processing, commercially available graphic processing software can be used, and the color and coordinates of the diagram on the display screen are acquired as drawing information by the drawing processing program.
[0022]
FIG. 6 shows an example of the data format of the annotation structure 400 that records and stores drawing information obtained by this drawing processing program. In FIG. 6, a corresponding frame number 402 is a frame number to which an annotation is added. A display flag 404 is a flag indicating whether or not annotation information is displayed during cut reproduction. When the flag is set, the annotation information is displayed. During playback of the cut, the CPU 112 manages which frame being cut is currently expanded and displayed. When the frame number to be displayed matches the value stored in 402, the display flag 404 is set. The annotation information represented by the data from 408 to 420 can be drawn superimposed on the display screen. In the display time 406, a value indicating how long the display is continued after the frame number being reproduced matches the value of the corresponding frame number 402 is entered. The default is set to a fixed value of about 5 seconds, and a separate interface that can be changed only when the user specifically desires can be provided. For example, when the general-purpose button 220 is pressed when inputting the annotation information, the display time 406 can be set longer or shorter than 5 seconds by the cursor button 218. Data 408 to 420 are line drawing data to be drawn, and a color code 408 is a code number representing the color of the line to be drawn. Reference numerals 410 to 416 denote so-called polygon coordinate data strings, in which coordinates described before the line segment delimiter code 418 appears are connected in a straight line in order. Further, drawing is performed for the number of polygons described until the terminal symbol 420 appears. Arbitrary characters and figures can be expressed by these polygons. This annotation information can be used as a kind of telop or title character. Ordinary telop is a composition method based on the premise that the video itself is rewritten. However, since such telop does not change the video itself, the composition content can be easily changed or canceled. For example, handwritten characters added at the shooting site can be changed to a typeface later.
[0023]
In addition to the line drawing figure, the annotation information may be voice that can be input using the microphone 126 and the A / D converter 128 shown in FIG. Specifically, in the frame to be annotated, the user records the annotation with a microphone instead of drawing with a pen. The annotation structure contains digital audio data instead of polygon data.
[0024]
In FIG. 3, the CPU 112 immediately ends the recording when the recording button is pressed in the recording state, and stores information such as the video data size 510 that has not been determined until the recording ends in the video data structure 500 shown in FIG. 5. To record. Next, a representative image is extracted for the cut that has just been recorded (306), and the frame number of the extracted representative image is recorded in the frame number 1020 of the representative image in the management table 1000 shown in FIG. Next, in the representative image list display, the representative image that has been displayed for the longest time is updated and displayed as the latest extracted representative image, and the updated representative image is highlighted (308) to enter a standby state. Return. As a representative image, a frame image at a predetermined position such as the top, end, or half position of a cut is acquired as a default.
[0025]
Here, an example is shown in which the representative image is extracted and added to the list display after the end of recording. However, the head image may be extracted as a representative image and added to the list display simultaneously with the start of recording.
[0026]
In FIG. 3, when the up cursor button 218 is pressed in the standby state (302), the highlighted display moves to a cut one higher than the cut highlighted in the list display (310). On the contrary, when the down cursor button is pressed, the highlighted display moves to the next lower cut in the same manner. As a result, any cut displayed in a list can be highlighted. Here, when the number of cuts taken immediately before does not fit in the list display screen area, the representative image of the cut that cannot be displayed can be displayed by scrolling the screen.
[0027]
When the right cursor button 218 is pressed in the standby state (302), it is assumed that the reproduction is instructed, and the reproduction corresponding to the highlighted representative image is started from the beginning (312). When the right cursor is further pressed in this playback state, it is assumed that fast forward is instructed, and the playback position is immediately switched to fast forward playback (314). In this fast forward playback state, when any button is pressed, normal playback is immediately resumed from the fast forward playback. If the left cursor button is pressed in the normal reproduction state (312), it is assumed that a pause is instructed, and a still (pause) state is set at the reproduction position at that time (316). When there is an input from the pointing device in this still state, it is used as annotation information, and the annotation information is recorded in the annotation structure 400 shown in FIG. 6 in association with the frame number of the reproduction position at this time (318). When the right cursor button is pressed in the still state 316, it is assumed that the reproduction is instructed, and the normal reproduction is resumed from that position. If any button other than the right cursor button is pressed, the process returns to the standby state. In the state during the cut reproduction (312, 314), when the reproduction is completed to the end of the cut, the state immediately returns to the standby state, and when the recording button is pressed in any state, the recording state transitions to 304.
[0028]
In the intelligent video camera 200 in the first embodiment, the state transition is performed as described above.
[0029]
According to the first embodiment, since a list of representative images of the last shot taken is always displayed during recording, the shooting history so far can be checked immediately, and what type of shooting should be taken now You can easily determine what kind of cut you should shoot while shooting. Also, you can easily describe what you were interested in as an annotation by associating it with the video, and you can quickly find that part, so you can decide which cut to use when you want to edit later. This makes it easier to remove and allows you to call the cut immediately.
[0030]
In the list display of cuts displayed on the display 206, as described above, a frame image at a fixed position such as the beginning or end is used as a representative image. However, a frame image of a portion that makes it easier to grasp the contents of the cut. May be used. For example, a frame with annotation information is used as a representative image, and the annotation information is superimposed on the representative image. This is because the annotated frame is a frame that the user determines to be particularly important in the cut, and the contents of the cut are easier to remember when the image is displayed in the list. In addition, when there is a camera operation such as zooming in the cut, it is better to extract the representative image from the stably taken part after the operation. This is because, after such a camera operation is performed, the target to be photographed is often determined and photographed accurately.
[0031]
In the above-described embodiment, a frame image at a predetermined position such as the top, end, or half position of a cut is extracted as a representative image. Other extraction methods are described below.
[0032]
FIG. 7 shows the flow of processing when a representative image is extracted from the video after the camera operation is completed. FIG. 7 shows processing when a representative image is extracted from a portion where the video is stable (close to the state where the video is still) after the zoom operation is performed in the cut. In this case, in order to extract an image of a portion where the image is stable, one frame image when the difference between two frame images having a predetermined time difference is smaller than a predetermined threshold is used as a representative image.
[0033]
In FIG. 7, a variable fr indicates the frame number of the representative image, and initialization processing is performed by substituting the first frame number 0 as an initial value (step 600). When an image is input from the image sensor (step 602), a cut number 1010 and a video data structure pointer 1020 are registered in the management table 1000 shown in FIG. 4 in order to manage the cut file input by the CPU 112. Is done. When image input starts, image compression processing (step 604) and transfer processing to a video memory for display (step 606) are performed in parallel. The processing in step 604 and step 606 may be performed by dedicated hardware without using the CPU 112. Performance will be better if you use dedicated hardware. The image data compressed in step 604 is recorded in the free space of the auxiliary recording device indicated by the video data structure pointer 1020 in the format as shown in the video data structure 500 (step 608). Then, in order to determine the representative image, an image recognition process is performed using the image data before compression, and it is checked whether or not the video is taken still. Here, a color histogram is obtained from the image before compression (step 610), and compared with a color histogram obtained in the same manner from a photographed image t1 seconds before the predetermined time (step 612). For comparison, the degree of difference is obtained by a predetermined method such as the sum of squares of the frequencies between histograms. If the degree of difference is larger than a preset threshold value (step 614), the process proceeds to processing step 620 as not stationary. . If the dissimilarity is small, it is checked whether or not there has been a zoom operation immediately before (step 616). If the difference is small, the frame number currently being recorded is substituted for fr to be a representative image (step 618). Whether or not the zoom operation has been performed immediately before can be known by storing the time when the zoom button 204 is pressed and determining whether or not the difference between the time and the current time is sufficiently small. If there is no instruction to end recording (step 620), the process returns to step 602 to continue the recording process. If there is an instruction to end the recording, the image of the frame number fr is iconified as a representative image (step 622). Then, in addition to the list display of representative images, highlighting as shown in FIG. 2 is performed. If there is no zoom operation in the cut or if the degree of difference is greater than the threshold, the initial frame number 0, which is the initial value, is set as the representative image.
[0034]
By performing processing in this way, a representative image can be extracted from a portion where the video is stable after a zoom operation is performed in the cut.
[0035]
FIG. 8 shows an example of a screen for performing simple video editing in the intelligent video camera shown in FIG. When the edit button 226 on the main body shown in FIG. 2 is pressed, the simple edit mode is entered, and the display screen 206 changes to a display as shown in FIG. When the edit button 226 is pressed again, the display returns to the recording / reproducing mode as shown in FIG. Here, a description will be given of three-point editing operations of cut selection, rearrangement, and trimming. Reference numeral 700 denotes a monitor area, which reproduces and displays an arbitrary recorded cut. Reference numeral 702 denotes a scroll bar area, and the horizontal width of this area corresponds to the total time length of the cut being displayed. When an arbitrary position in the area 702 is pointed by the pointing device, the display is switched to the frame image at the corresponding position from the relative positional relationship between the full width and the point position. A display area 704 displays a list of representative images of each recorded cut. When the number of cuts is too large to be displayed in this area, a scroll bar 706 is prepared so that a representative image that cannot be displayed by scrolling can be displayed as appropriate. The representative image displayed in the display area 704 may be an image of a frame associated with the above-described annotation information, or an image in a stably captured state after the camera operation is finished. Alternatively, it is possible to make it easy to find a necessary cut by displaying a representative image of the cut to which at least one annotation information is associated. For the same purpose, when the representative images of all the cuts are displayed as a list, the representative images of the cuts associated with the annotation information may be highlighted and displayed as shown in the highlight display 712. In this case, since the representative images of cuts without annotation information are also in the list, there is no concern that the representative images of cuts without annotation information will not be found. The final editing video is assembled in the editing area 708. The representative image displayed in the display area 704 can be moved graphically by a so-called drag operation using a pointing device. The editing area 708 is a blank area in the initial state, and as the representative image is dragged and moved, a representative image sequence including only the selected representative image is formed. A final edited video is obtained by sequentially reproducing the cuts corresponding to the representative images according to the order of the representative image sequences arranged in the list in the editing area. In the cut video data structure 500 corresponding to the selected representative image, a value indicating validity is set in the validity flag 504. For example, 0 is set as a value indicating invalidity in the valid flag 504 of the video data structure 500 of the representative image cut that has not been selected. It is stipulated that it is effective if the value is higher than that. When the representative images lined up in the editing area are replaced by dragging, the order of cut reproduction on the edited video is rearranged. The order of cut reproduction at this time is stored by, for example, writing serial numbers in order from 1 in the valid flag 504 in correspondence with the order in which the representative image sequences are arranged. When trimming a cut, the frame image at the trimming start point is selected using the scroll bar 702 while confirming the video on the monitor 700, and the trimming start point is indicated when the frame image is displayed. When a predetermined body button such as the general-purpose button 220 shown in FIG. 2 is pressed, the frame image is set as a trimming start point. The frame number of the start point is recorded at the trimming start point 506 in the video data structure shown in FIG. Similarly, a frame image at the end point of trimming is selected using the scroll bar 702 while checking the video on the monitor 700, and a button of a predetermined main body for instructing the end point of trimming when the frame image is displayed. For example, when the general-purpose button 222 shown in FIG. 2 is pressed, the frame image is set as the trimming end point. The frame number of the trimming end point is recorded at the trimming end point 508 in the video data structure shown in FIG. When the trimmed cut is reproduced, it is performed not only from the beginning of the cut but only from the trimming start point to the end point.
[0036]
Alternatively, it may be instructed to enable / disable recording for each cut. For example, in the monitor area 700 shown in FIG. 8, each cut is monitored and examined, and when the general-purpose button 220 shown in FIG. 2 is pressed during playback, the cut is considered to be valid. It can be specified that when the button 222 is pressed, the cut is invalid.
[0037]
Further, after the editing instruction, when switching to the recording / playback mode and switching to the simple editing mode again, if the valid flag of the video data structure is 0, the representative image is displayed in the area 704, and the valid flag of the video data structure is displayed. If the value is 1 or more, the editing area 70 8 The representative images can be displayed in order.
[0038]
Further, by further providing an output means that can transfer the video data to an external video editing system, it is possible to perform editing in the external video editing system. In this case, only the cut set as valid for recording may be output to the outside. Thereby, only an effective cut can be edited in the external video editing system.
[0039]
As described above, according to the first embodiment, simple editing can be performed on the video camera.
[0040]
In the example described above, a video camera that records a moving picture has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to, for example, a still camera that electronically records a still picture. This case will be described below as a second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the representative image list corresponds to a still image obtained by cutting the still image in the first embodiment described above with a still camera and reducing the still image in a list. In this case, the still camera includes an imaging unit that captures an arbitrary scene as a still image, a display unit that displays a still image captured by the imaging unit, and a recording unit that records the still image captured by the imaging unit. A reduction unit that reduces the still image recorded by the recording unit, a list display unit that displays a list of still images reduced by the reduction unit, and an operation input unit that receives a shooting instruction from the imaging unit The reduction means reduces a new still image taken by the photographing means when the photographing instruction is received by the operation input means, and the list display means makes a list. One of the displayed still images is updated to the newly reduced still image.
[0041]
According to the second embodiment, it is possible to determine the next photographed image while confirming the camera angle taken immediately before and the facial expression of the subject during still image photography. Further, as in the embodiment described above, it is possible to input annotation information, create auxiliary information, and provide a simple editing mode. This makes it easy to search and organize photos.
[0042]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, since a list of representative images of the last shot taken is always displayed even during recording, the shooting history so far can be confirmed immediately, what form should be taken now, and You can easily determine what kind of cut you should shoot while shooting. Also, you can easily describe what you were interested in as an annotation by associating it with the video, and you can quickly find that part, so you can decide which cut to use when you want to edit later. This makes it easier to remove and allows you to call the cut immediately. In addition, since the video camera has a graphical editing function using icons, editing on the video camera can be easily performed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an example of a system configuration diagram for realizing the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an appearance of a system and a screen display in the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state transition diagram representing an operation flow of a system according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a management table created by the system according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the structure of video data created by the system according to the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of an annotation created by the system according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 is an example of a flowchart of processing for determining a representative image.
FIG. 8 is an example of a screen display diagram for editing.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Optical system, 102 ... Image pick-up element, 102 ... Image compression encoder, 106 ... Image expansion decoder, 108 ... Bus, 110 ... Auxiliary storage device, 112 ... CPU, 114 ... Memory, 116 ... Video memory, 118 ... D / A Converter 120 ... Display 122 ... Input I / F 124 ... Analog output

Claims (4)

Photographing means for photographing an arbitrary scene as a movie;
Display means for displaying a moving picture taken by the photographing means during photographing ;
Recording means for recording the moving picture taken by the photographing means;
Operation input means for accepting instructions to start and end recording by the recording means;
An extraction means for extracting a representative image that is a still image from a cut that is a moving image of one section recorded from an instruction to start recording to an instruction to end received by the operation input means;
A list display means for displaying a list of representative images extracted by the extraction means and displaying them on the display means together with the captured moving image each time an instruction to start and end recording is received by the operation input means;
In accordance with the act of selecting the representative image displayed on the list display means received from the operator, the recording of the cut corresponding to the selected representative image is externally recorded for each representative image displayed on the list display means. Editing instruction input means for receiving an instruction to output to,
An intelligent video camera comprising: output means for outputting only a cut corresponding to the representative image selected by the editing instruction input means to the outside. In claim 1,
Reproduction instruction input means for accepting reproduction of a cut corresponding to the representative image from the representative image displayed on the list display means in accordance with an action of selecting the representative image displayed by the list display means received from an operator When,
An intelligent video camera, further comprising: a reproducing unit that reproduces a cut corresponding to the representative image selected by the reproduction instruction input unit. In Claim 1 or 2, it further has a creation means for creating auxiliary information related to the representative image,
The intelligent video camera characterized in that the list display means displays the auxiliary information created by the creating means in correspondence with the related representative image. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extraction unit extracts a new representative image when an instruction to start or end recording is received by the operation input unit, and the list display unit makes a list. An intelligent video camera characterized in that, among the displayed representative images, the representative image displayed for the longest time is updated to the representative image newly extracted by the extracting means.

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