JP3257634B2 - Moving image editing method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a moving image editing method, and more particularly to a management method therefor, a method of presenting management information (user interface), and an editing function via an interface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional moving image editing method mainly has a function of dividing a previously input moving image into fragments called shots and replacing or deleting the fragments. Alternatively, a function for arranging separately input moving image fragments was provided.

[0003]

However, in the conventional method, there is only one management hierarchy, and several fragments are collectively managed as an object to be edited, or divided into large pieces and fine editing is performed by division of labor. It was inconvenient to work. That is,
There is no concept of a hierarchical structure, and there is no work environment (user interface) that can perform editing based on the hierarchical structure.

[0004] An object of the present invention is to provide a moving image editing method for managing moving images in a hierarchical structure called a tree structure in order to solve the inconvenience described above.

[0005]

According to the moving picture editing method of the present invention, a moving picture is based on a hierarchical structure, and a tree having an element having no lower hierarchy as a leaf and an element having a lower hierarchy as a branch point. The tree structure is managed and displayed on the screen where editing is performed for each branch point / leaf of each level in the tree structure. The branch point or leaf stored in the evacuation buffer by dividing, deleting, or deleting the branch point or leaf is displayed. The necessary editing for adding a leaf, expanding / contracting a branch point or a leaf in frame units, and changing the reproduction speed and the reproduction direction of the branch point or the leaf is performed.

Also, the restriction that the range from the start frame to the end frame of a certain branch point includes the range of the branch point or the leaf beyond that, and the change of the reproduction condition given to the branch point are more difficult. Three restrictions are applied: a restriction that a similar change is made to the previous branch point and leaf, and a restriction that prohibits the case where only one leaf exists at the end of the branch point.

[0007]

According to the present invention, since moving images are managed in a tree structure, the closer to the root of the tree structure is the upper part of the hierarchical structure, that is, a large subset, and the farther from the root is the lower part of the hierarchical structure. ,
In other words, it can be intuitively understood that the subset is smaller. Further, by using a user interface for presenting the management structure as it is, it is possible to make the structural editing easy for the user.

[0008]

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an apparatus used in an embodiment of the present invention. Here, a central processing unit (CPU) 2, a memory 3, and a disk 4 are connected to a bus 1 of a computer, and in addition, peripheral devices 5 for input / output, a switcher 6 for switching images, and a terminal 7 for editing work. Are connected via a control cable 8. All control is performed via this control cable 8. On the other hand, the peripheral device 5, the CPU 2, and the terminal 7 are connected to the switcher 6 via a video cable 9, and video data is exchanged via the video cable 9. The switching (switching of input and output) at that time is performed by the switcher 6, and the CPU 2 performs the instruction and selection of the switching to the switcher 6.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment on the terminal 7 of the present invention.
In FIG. 2, 10 is a desktop image, 11 is a main window, and a main window menu 111,
A moving image display monitor 112 and an operation panel 113 are provided. Reference numeral 12 denotes an index window, and reference numeral 13 denotes a wandering window of a structure editor which appears when an item in the main window menu 111 is selected. Here, when the editing program is started, a main window 11 including a main window menu 111, a moving image display monitor 112, and an operation panel 113 appears. Further, an index window 12 in which representative screens of the currently loaded moving image file are arranged is displayed. On the index window 12, a moving image can be selected by placing a mouse cursor on the representative screen and clicking.

[0010] In the main window menu 111, function items such as editing and search are displayed and can be selected. The moving image selected on the index window 12 can be reproduced on the moving image display monitor 112.
On the operation panel 113, there are buttons for forward reproduction, reverse reproduction, and the like, and the reproduction direction and reproduction speed of the display image on the moving image display monitor can be operated.

In the main window 11, there is a function item of a structure editor. When the function item is selected, a structure editor panel (STRUCTURE) as shown in FIG.
EDITOR PANEL) appears. The structure editor panel is divided into the following three areas. 1) Partial image representative screen display area 13A 2) Guideline display area 13B 3) Command button display area 13C In the partial image representative screen display area 13A, representative screens of partial images of several layers are displayed. In FIG. 3, three layers are displayed. At the top of the area, representative screens of partial images of the first hierarchy are arranged. A representative screen of the partial image of the second hierarchy is displayed in the second row from the top. However, the representative screen group arranged in the second hierarchy is a partial image of the first hierarchy, which is a further partial image of the currently selected partial image. The partial image of the third layer further becomes the partial image.
That is, at this time, the partial image of the first hierarchy is a so-called branch point in the tree structure. A partial image in the second hierarchy that has no partial image below it is a leaf in the tree structure. These hierarchical displays can be moved up, down, left, and right using the scroll bars 13D, 13E displayed on the right side and the lower side of the representative screen display area.

A partial image can be selected by clicking the mouse cursor in the display area of the representative screen of the partial image in each layer. The lower left of the representative screen shows the start frame number of the partial image, and the lower right shows the end frame number of the partial image, which can be selected at the time of expansion / reduction editing described later. In the guideline display area 13B, guidance and help information for the user are displayed.

In the command button display area 13C, an editing operation on the selected partial image can be selected by clicking a button. Button is divided (Cu
t), deletion (Delete), addition (Paste), change (Change), reproduction speed / direction designation (Spee)
d) and cancellation (Cancel).

In Cut, an editing operation for dividing a selected partial image into two partial images at a designated location is performed.
The operation procedure and the reaction on the device side are as follows. 1) Specify a partial image. The designated partial image is highlighted to indicate that it has been designated. 2) Cut by operating the operation panel in the main window
Specify the position to perform. At this time, since the moving image of the corresponding location is displayed on the video display monitor in the main window,
The user can confirm. 3) Place the mouse cursor on the Cut button in the command button display area 13C of the structure editor panel and click with the mouse button (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as "clicking with the mouse"). 4) The designated partial image is divided into two at the designated position, and a new representative screen of the two partial images appears in a lower layer (the initial value of the representative screen is set to a default value, for example, the first frame). ).

In Delete, an editing operation for deleting the selected partial image is performed. The operation procedure and the reaction on the device side are as follows. 1) Select a partial image. The designated partial image is highlighted to indicate that it has been designated. 2) Click the Delete button in the command button display area 13C of the structure editor panel with the mouse. 3) The specified partial image is deleted, and the representative screen displayed so far disappears (at this time, there is no selected partial image, but a default is set, for example, The state where the partial image is selected). 4) The deleted partial image is stored in the save buffer.

In Paste, Delete
An editing operation is performed to insert the moving image deleted and stored in the evacuation buffer at the designated position. The operation procedure and the reaction on the device side are as follows. 1) Designate the position of the partial image of the structure editor panel to be inserted in the representative screen display area. That is, the mouse is clicked between the representative screens of the two partial images corresponding to the desired insertion positions. The specified location is highlighted to indicate that it has been specified. 2) Click the Paste button in the command button display area 13C of the structure editor panel with the mouse. 3) The partial image stored in the save buffer is inserted at the designated position. 4) On the display, the representative screen of the partial image stored in the save buffer is displayed at the insertion position designated in the representative screen display area of the partial image (at this time, the inserted partial image is automatically displayed). Selected state). 5) Even after the Paste processing, the partial images stored in the save buffer are not erased, and are not updated until the next Delete. As a result, Pas is repeated many times using the partial image once stored in the save buffer.
te can be done.

In Change, the start position and the end position of the selected partial image can be corrected in frame units, and the partial image can be expanded / reduced. The operation procedure and the reaction on the device side are as follows. 1) Select a partial image. At this time, the frame number on the side to be corrected is clicked with the mouse. That is, the start frame number is displayed at the lower left of the representative screen of the partial image, and the end frame number is displayed at the lower right. To modify the start frame number back and forth, the displayed start frame number is clicked with the mouse, and to modify the end frame number back and forth, the displayed end frame number is clicked with the mouse. The selected frame number is highlighted to indicate that it has been selected. 2) Operate the operation panel in the main window to specify the position of the correction destination. At this time, the moving image of the corresponding portion is displayed on the moving image display monitor in the main window, so that the user can confirm it. 3) Click the Change button in the command button display area 13C of the structure editor panel with the mouse. 4) The start frame or end frame of the specified partial image is corrected to the specified position. 5) On the display, the frame number is rewritten to the corrected number.

In Speed, the reproduction conditions (reproduction speed and reproduction direction) of the specified partial image can be changed. The operation procedure and the reaction on the device side are as follows. 1) Select a partial image. The selected frame number is highlighted to indicate that it has been selected. 2) When the Change button in the command button display area 13C of the structure editor panel is clicked on with a mouse, a menu as shown in FIG. 4 from which reproduction conditions can be selected appears. I do. 3) The reproduction condition of the selected partial image is changed.

Unless any restrictions are imposed on the above-mentioned editing operation, inconvenience after editing occurs.
For example, even if Delete of a certain branch point is performed, if the branch point and the leaves below it are not deleted, they will become inaccessible. Further, when the branch point A is cut, it is not possible to specify which of the new branch point A1 and the new branch point A2 the branch point B and the leaves below the cut point A belong to. Here, the following three constraints are set. (1) The range from the start frame to the end frame of a certain branch point includes the range of the branch point or leaf beyond (below). (2) A change in the reproduction condition given to a branch point also gives a similar change to a branch point or a leaf ahead of it. (3) If only one leaf exists at the end of the branch point, it is prohibited.

If the above constraints are violated as a result of editing, post-processing is performed to change the partial image that was not the object of editing, ie, the branch point or leaf of the tree structure, so as to satisfy the constraints. Do. FIG. 5 shows a case where the above-mentioned restriction in each editing operation is violated. In this table, the upper branch point of the tree structure is called a "parent", and the lower branch points or leaves are called "children".

During the Cut editing operation, when the branch point designated at the time of the parent Cut is between the start frame and the end frame of the child (hereinafter referred to as an area), the Cut edit operation is performed on the child. Is automatically performed, and the divided two partial images (children) are distributed as children of each of the two new parents formed by cutting the existing parent. This is due to the constraint (1).

In the delete editing operation, when the selected partial image is the parent, all the children below it (and all the children, that is, all descendants) are deleted. This is also due to the constraint (1). In addition, when two children are present in the parent and one child is deleted, the other child is deleted. This is due to the constraint (3).

In the Paste editing operation, similarly to Delete, all the children (and all the children, that is, all descendants) stored in the save buffer are pasted to the designated position.

In the Change editing operation, when the parent's start (or end) frame is changed, a child that starts from the parent's start frame (or ends with the parent's end frame), That is, the start frame (or end frame) of the end child is also changed at the same time. When the child area becomes 0 by this operation, the child is deleted, and then the next child area is changed. This is due to the constraint (1).

In the Speed editing operation, when the reproduction conditions of the parent are changed, the reproduction conditions of all the descendants are automatically made the same. Changing the child's playback conditions does not affect the parent. This is due to the constraint (2).

A management file of each partial image is stored on the disk 4 in FIG. FIG. 6 shows an example of the management file. In FIG. 6, Keyname, ar is used as an element.
ea, Keyword, date, and Keyfea
me indicates the representative frame number, and area indicates star.
tfame, endframe is numeric, also, speed is shown FN, FF, FS, RN, RF, in the RS, K e yword that the index is a character or numeric, date is the year, month, day, hour, minute It is indicated by a numerical value.
Each range indicated by area in this file corresponds to a child partial image of this partial file.

The procedure of the actual processing performed using this management file will be described below with reference to FIG. That is, when the user performs an editing operation on the interface screen in shown in Figure 2, which is displayed on the display of the end end <br/> 7, which is namely an instruction to CPU 2, the following processing is automatically performed . This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Note that (1) to (4) in FIG. 7 indicate each step.

The CPU 2 loads the management file on the disk 4 shown in FIG. 6 into the memory 3, or processes the information of the management file already loaded on the memory 3. Further, it issues an instruction for switching the video cable 9 to the switcher 6. Further, an instruction is given to create a moving image display area on the display of the terminal 7 (1). An editing function is selected (2), and editing such as division, deletion, addition, decompression / reduction, change of reproduction conditions, etc. is performed (3). As a result of the editing, the CPU 2 stores the management file in the memory 3 Is instructed to the peripheral device 5 based on this information. At the same time, the video cable 9 is connected to the switcher 6.
If the path has not been opened, the switcher 6 instructs the path to be opened, and the switcher 6 passes the image from the peripheral device 5 which has already been displayed on the display of the terminal 7. After editing, the CPU 2 stores (saves) the management file on the memory 3 on the disk 4 (4).

[0029]

As described in detail above, the present invention manages moving images in a tree structure and performs editing operations on the tree structure such as division, deletion, addition, decompression / reduction, and change in reproduction conditions. Therefore, it is possible to decide the outline first, and to work on each part simultaneously by the division of labor. Furthermore, since three restrictions are added, batch editing and batch processing of moving images can be performed.

Further, according to the present invention, a partial moving image is stored in another database, and the moving image is handled through one user interface as if it were one moving image. It can also be used for general storage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an apparatus that implements the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example on an editing terminal in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example in a window in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a menu that appears when a reproduction condition change button (Speed) in a command area is clicked in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing restrictions on editing operations according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a management file used in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a processing procedure in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 bus 2 central processing unit (CPU) 3 memory 4 disk 5 peripheral device 6 switcher 7 terminal (display) 8 control cable 9 video cable 10 desktop image 11 main window 12 index window 13 wandering window 13A representative image display area of partial image 13B Guideline display area 13C Command button display area 13D scroll bar 13E scroll bar 111 Main window menu 112 Video display monitor 113 Operation panel

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/76-5/956 H04N 5/262-5/278

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. For a moving image input in advance,
In a moving image editing method for performing editing such as correction / change, a moving image is managed based on a hierarchical structure, elements having no lower layers are managed as leaves, and elements having lower layers are managed as a branch point in a tree structure, For each branch point / leaf of each hierarchy in this tree structure, it is displayed on a screen for performing an editing operation, and the branch point or leaf is divided, deleted, added with the branch point or leaf stored in the save buffer by deletion, A moving image editing method characterized by performing necessary editing for extending / reducing a branch point or a leaf in frame units, and changing a reproduction speed and a reproduction direction of a branch point or a leaf. 2. A constraint that a range from a start frame to an end frame of a certain branch point includes a range of a branch point or a leaf ahead of the range and a change in reproduction conditions given to the branch point are more significant. Claims characterized by applying the following three restrictions: a restriction that the same change is made to the previous branch point and the leaf, and a restriction that the case where only one leaf exists at the end of the branch point is prohibited. Item 7. The moving image editing method according to Item 1.