JP4104071B2 - Video search and editing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a moving image search / editing apparatus, and in particular, it is possible to search and edit an image without using fast-forward playback and the like, and a moving image search / editing that can easily specify an editing start point and end point. Relates to the device. The present invention also relates to a moving image search / editing apparatus capable of searching and editing images on a network and transmitting only the edited portion.

  In the conventional editing of moving images, an editing device using a VTR tape, a device for editing digital data recorded on a hard disk or the like as it is, and the like are used. In the case of an editing apparatus using a VTR tape, a section to be edited is determined using a function such as fast-forward playback, and editing work is performed. However, it is necessary to operate the tape to rewind or fast-forward each time an edit section is designated, and editing requires a lot of work time.

  On the other hand, when digital moving image data is stored on the hard disk, it is possible to display an image at a specified time at high speed by using the random accessibility of the hard disk, and to shorten the editing time. Yes.

  However, in any apparatus, it is necessary to mainly use fast-forward playback to search for the contents of a moving image, and much time is required to edit a long-time material. In addition, when editing a material collected at a remote place, the recorded VTR tape is mailed or transmitted while being reproduced using a video line. In the case of digital moving image data, data is transferred using a file transfer means (FTP). Therefore, in any case, since all the materials are once transmitted and edited, the transmission cost is increased.

  In addition, when the image is encoded by the MPEG system, etc., the image is once decoded and returned to the image and recorded on the VTR, or after being recorded on the hard disk, the editing process is performed, and then the image is encoded again. There is a possibility that the work process before and after the process may take a long time or the image quality deteriorates every time editing is performed.

  As described above, in the conventional method, since fast-forward playback or the like is performed in order to search for an editing section, there is a problem that editing work takes a long time. In addition, in order to edit a video in a remote place, all the video is once transmitted, so that there is a problem that the transmission cost increases. Furthermore, when the video is compressed by MPEG or the like, it is necessary to perform decoding and compression processing every editing, so that the editing work time and editing cost increase, and the image quality deterioration occurs. was there.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a moving image search / editing apparatus capable of shortening the editing time by removing the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and easily browsing and searching the contents of moving images. It is in. Another object of the present invention is to provide a moving image search / editing apparatus capable of interactively searching and editing video data in a remote place connected by a transmission line to reduce transmission cost and editing work. There is. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a moving image search / editing apparatus capable of reducing editing costs and preventing image quality deterioration by performing image editing on encoded data.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a moving image search / editing apparatus having a storage means capable of accessing a moving image file by random access, and has a search time interval input means, and starts to specify moving image data From the point, it has a macro search means for searching at the time interval input by the search time interval input means, and displays an image of each time interval as a search result, and a search mode designating means, and is displayed by the macro search. A search mode designated by the search mode designation means, starting with an image selected from the selected images, and a micro search means for displaying a screen at a time interval shorter than the macro search, the search mode When the group is designated by the designation means, the micro search means performs an image search for a plurality of frames in groups and displays the search result. To a function, an editing section specifying means to the displayed search results are specified on the screen representing the the section of the editing section of the image, and reproduces the image of the designated editing segment in the editing section specifying means further there is a first feature in that it comprises the edit section reproduction confirmation means that allows for the confirmation of the editing section Te. In addition, since the scene is specified by the search mode specifying means, the micro search means has a function of performing an image search for each scene in which an image is divided into scene units and displaying the search result. There are features.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, moving image data is stored in a WWW server, and a WWW browser connects to a WWW server via a network, and all moving image search and editing processes are performed by the WWW server. A third feature is that display, search, and editing conditions are designated.

  According to the present invention, high-speed search can be performed in time units by the macro search means, and then detailed search in frame units, group units, or scene units can be performed by micro search. Therefore, the contents of the moving image can be easily browsed and searched, and the editing time can be shortened. In addition, when the moving image data is compressed, the intra-frame encoded image section is cut out as the encoded data. Therefore, it is necessary to perform decoding and re-encoding processing for editing. Thus, the editing cost can be reduced and the deterioration of the image quality can be prevented.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, when moving image data is stored in the WWW server, all moving image search and editing processing is performed by the WWW server, and the WWW browser displays search results, search and edit conditions. Since the designation is performed, it is possible to interactively search and edit video data in a remote place connected by a transmission line, thereby reducing transmission cost and editing work.

  According to the present invention, a search image can be easily found by searching image data in units of macro and micro and displaying the search image. In the macro search, the search interval can be adjusted according to the length of the moving image data by changing the time unit for the search. Furthermore, in micro search, it is now possible to search for images in response to various search requests using scene, GOP, and frame search modes. Conventionally, searching for images by replaying or fast-forwarding moving images has required a large amount of search work or search work time. According to the present invention, this can be greatly reduced. It becomes.

  Further, in the present invention, editing points can be easily set from the searched image, and it is possible to perform the editing process without returning to the image even for the compressed image data, thereby greatly reducing the editing processing time and cost. It becomes possible to do.

  In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to search and edit image data existing in a server connected via a network. Therefore, in comparison with the conventional technology, editing can be performed only after all images are transferred. It will be possible to greatly reduce the work volume and work cost.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the process of reducing the coding rate is introduced for checking the editing section, it is possible to greatly reduce the work time and cost required for checking.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, a schematic hardware configuration of an editing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, a ROM 1 has an editing processing program of the present invention, and a RAM 2 functions as a work area for the editing processing, temporarily stores parameters input during the editing processing, and the like. The display unit 3 displays a screen necessary for editing processing, and forms a man-machine interface in cooperation with various keys and a pointing device on the operation panel. The storage unit 5 is composed of a hard disk or the like, and stores video materials of a plurality of files in a form that can be randomly accessed. The CPU 6 executes the editing processing program stored in the ROM 1 in accordance with the input from the operation unit 4, reads the material file instructed from the operation unit 4 from the storage unit 5 or stores it in the storage unit 5, Further, the RAM 2 performs necessary editing processing and supplies screen information corresponding to each editing processing to the display unit 3. The network interface 7 is connected to a line such as the Internet.

  Next, an outline of the operation of the editing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, when an editing process is selected from the operation unit 4 and the process is started, an edit control screen display 11 is displayed on the display unit 3. Next, search / edit file processing 12 is executed. In the search / edit file processing 12, a file to be searched and edited is selected. In the next moving image search processing 13, an image to be searched and edited is displayed by performing a macro and micro image search for the selected file. Subsequently, an editing section designation process 14 is executed. In this edit section designation process 14, the start point and end point of the section to be edited are designated from the images displayed in the moving image search process. When editing a plurality of sections, the determination of the editing section editing 15 becomes affirmative, and the editing section is designated again by the editing section designation processing 14. When editing another file, the determination of multiple file editing 16 is affirmative, and the search / edit file processing 12 selects another file, searches for an image, and designates an editing section. After all the editing sections are determined, the editing section is reproduced by the editing section reproduction processing 17 to confirm the editing portion. When the edited part is confirmed, the image of the corresponding part is edited in the editing process 18 and recorded as a new file.

  Next, processing of each part of the flowchart of FIG. 1 will be described in detail. In the edit control screen display 11, an edit control screen 11 a as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the display unit 3. When FILE 211 is selected in FIG. 2, two file control modes Open 212 and Quit 213 are displayed. Here, when Open 212 is selected, the process proceeds to the search / edit file processing 12. When Quit 213 is selected, the edit control screen display is terminated.

  In the search / edit file processing 12, a file selection screen 12a as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the screen while the edit control screen 11a is opened. The file selection screen 12a in FIG. 3 displays a list of image files in a directory in which moving image files are stored. In the figure, the first file 38 is specifically described. However, if a plurality of files are stored in the storage unit 5, these file names are the second to tenth files. 38. Since the display of these files is the same, the following description will be made with the first file as a representative.

  Each file name is displayed in Name 36. The file representative screen 31 displays a moving image file representative screen. The head image of the moving image file can be used as an example of the representative screen. If the moving image file is compressed by the MPEG standardized by ISO, only the corresponding representative screen can be decoded and displayed from the moving image file. As another method, a representative screen can be prepared in advance, and the representative screen can be displayed by linking to the corresponding moving image file. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, a method of discriminating a moving image file and a representative screen by a file descriptor can be used. The representative screen can also be recorded using a still image compression method such as JPEG or GIF.

  In Total Time 32, the total playback time of each moving image file is displayed. In the case of a compressed video file, the playback time can be obtained at the file size / encoding bit rate. In addition, when compressed by the MPEG method, the encoded bit rate can be decoded from the encoded data. It is also possible to record the playback time information in a separate file in advance. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, the file descriptor can be recorded as XXX.lnk as a file linked to the original moving image file. Information 33 displays information related to the moving image file. This information can record the shooting location, time, etc., and is recorded as a text file. This information can be recorded as a file linked to the original moving image file as XXX.lnk. This link file can also be shared by using the first line for playback time information of Total Time 32 and the second and subsequent lines for Information 33. Byte 302 indicates the capacity of the moving image file.

  Each of the file list page return 34 and page feed 35 has a function of returning or sending the list display of search edit files in units of pages. For example, if there are 10 edit partial images that can be displayed on the monitor and the n + 9th display from the nth edit partial image is displayed, the edit partial images from the n-10th to the n-1th by page return 26 Is displayed.

  When OK 36 is instructed, the process proceeds to moving image search processing 13 for the selected image. Note that an image can be selected by designating an image on the file representative screen 31 using a pointing device such as a mouse. Further, when an image is selected, it is possible to display that the image has been selected by surrounding the periphery of the representative image 31 with a frame like the selection frame 39. Cancel 37 is used when the search edit file processing is stopped and the process returns to the edit control screen 11a. The file number 38 indicates the number of each moving image file.

  FIG. 4 shows a method of performing the search / edit file processing by another method. Each moving image file is displayed in a list format without displaying a moving image representative screen. The image selection mark 400 displays an image to be selected. When the image selection mark 400 is selected with a pointing device such as a mouse, the image selection mark 400 can be changed from a white circle ○ to a black circle ● to indicate that it has been selected. It is. A file number 401 indicates the number of each moving image file. Name 40, Total Time 42, Byte 402, and Information 43 are the same as in FIG. The page return 44 and page feed 45 are the same as the page return 34 and page feed 35 in FIG. Further, OK 46 and Cancel 47 are the same as those in FIG.

  Here, the details of the moving image search processing 13 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the moving image search process 13, a moving image search screen 51a as shown in FIG. 6 is first displayed. Next, a search start position is specified in the search position specification 52. Next, in the macro search interval designation 53, a time interval for performing the macro search is designated. Next, the macro search is started by the macro search start 54, and the search result is displayed on the macro search result display 55. In the micro search start position designation 56, a position for starting the micro search is designated from the macro search result screen. Further, in the micro search mode designation 57, the micro search mode is designated. Next, the micro search is started by the micro search start 58, and the micro search result screen is displayed in the micro search result display 59. This processing procedure will be specifically described below.

  3 or 4, when OK 36 or 46 is instructed, the file selection screen (FIG. 3 or 4) is deleted, and the File Browser screen 620, the Macro Browser screen 621 and the Micro Browser as shown in FIG. A moving image search screen 51a including the screen 622 is displayed. Here, in the File Browser image 61, the representative screen of the file selected in FIG. 3 or 4 is first displayed, and the file name 60 to be searched and edited is displayed in the uppermost file name 60.

  On the File Browser screen 620, the search start position designation 52 shown in FIG. 5 is performed. The moving image file cursor 63 is a cursor for designating a moving image search start position. The search start position is changed by moving the cursor 63. Also, the image at that position is displayed in the File Browser image 61 according to the position of the cursor. In conjunction with the cursor 63, Time 614 is displayed above the cursor. However, in the initial state, the first image is displayed in the File Browser image 61, and the time of the image is displayed in Time 62. The cursor is set at the left end.

  Total Time 611 indicates the total playback time of the moving image file. The method for obtaining the reproduction time is the same as in the case of Total Time 32 in FIG. Time 62 displays the time of the designated image. However, this time is the same as Time 614. As the time display method, the following method can be used. First, the position of the designated cursor with respect to the entire length of the cursor is K%. Change the total playback time Total Time to seconds to make TT seconds. TP seconds are obtained from the formula TP = TT × K / 100, and the TP seconds changed to hours, minutes and seconds are displayed as the designated image time.

  The image to be displayed can be determined using the following method. The image existing at the file position FP obtained by FP = TC × K / 100 is displayed with the file capacity as TC. In the case of image data compressed by MPEG or the like, time information is acquired from a group (GOP) header near the file position FP. Based on this time information, a GOP in which an image at a specified time is found from the preceding and succeeding GOP headers is searched. After searching, the corresponding GOP is decoded from the beginning, and the image at the corresponding time is displayed.

  The Macro Browser screen 621 is used to search for an image specified in the File Browser screen 620 in macro units. The Macro Browser screen 621 displays an image from the image 61 specified on the File Browser screen 620 at a specified time step TS. TS64 is a time step, and the user can specify an arbitrary step such as 5 seconds or 30 seconds. Thereby, the macro search interval designation 53 of FIG. 5 is performed.

  Start 65 is for starting image display at a designated step, whereby the macro search start 54 of FIG. 5 is performed. When Start 65 is selected, the macro search image 66 and the search time 67 are displayed, and FIG. The macro search result display 55 is displayed. As the image to be displayed, the image at the search start position TP is displayed on the leftmost macro search image 66, and the macro search image 66 is sequentially displayed on the right in the order of TP + TS, TP + 2TS,. The image to be displayed can be determined from the designated time TQ and the total file amount TC. If the file position of the designated image is FPS, it can be obtained as FPS = TC x TQ / TT. The macro search image 66 can display an image at a specified time in the same manner as the file browser image 61.

  Search screen page return 69 and search screen page feed 602 are functions for returning or sending the search screen in units of pages. Search screen return 68 and search screen sending 601 indicate functions for returning and sending the search screen in units of one screen. When one of the displayed macro search images 66 is selected using a pointing device such as a mouse, a selection frame 612 indicating the selection is displayed on the screen, and the micro search image is designated as the micro search start position designation 56 in FIG. In addition to being the starting point, it is used as an editing point. Further, when the TS 64 is changed and Start 65 is selected in a state where an image is selected, it is also possible to display the image with a designated step width using the selected image as a start point.

  The Micro Browser screen 622 is used to search for an image specified in the macro image search 621 in finer units. Mode 603 designates a mode for performing micro image retrieval, whereby micro retrieval mode designation 57 is performed. As the type of mode, it is possible to designate one frame, group (GOP), scene, or the like. Here, one frame indicates a physical minimum unit of an image. GOP indicates grouping of images. For example, in an image compressed by the MPEG method, the GOP is composed of an image group of about 15 frames. It is also possible to use an arbitrary number of images as a GOP. A scene is a collection of images, where the scene changes.

  When displaying a search image in units of a plurality of frames, a method of displaying when a predetermined number of frames are reached while counting the number of frames can be used. In addition, when compressed in the MPEG format, it is possible to use a method of detecting GOP_Start_Code indicating the start point of the GOP, finding the start point of the GOP, and decoding and displaying the leading image (I-picture). is there. As for the scene unit image, the scene change point is detected and the image after the change is displayed. As for the method of detecting the scene change point, for example, a “moving image cut point image detection device” (Japanese Patent Application No. 7-263681, filed on Sep. 19, 1995) by Ushihara et al. Can be detected. In addition, the scene change point is detected in advance, and only the time of the change point is stored in a file (XXX.CUT) with the descriptor CUT, and the image of the change point is extracted from the original image file according to the time of the change point. It is possible to call and display. Note that the display of the image at the designated time can use the same method as that for the file browser image 61.

  As another method, it is also possible to store the GOP or scene image itself as an image file and use the image file for the GOP or scene image. In this case, it is possible to indicate the link with the original moving image file and the attributes of each file as files (XXX.GOP, XXX.SCN) having descriptors GOP and SCN, respectively. For these files, JPEG or GIF, which are still image compression methods, can be used.

  Start 604 starts display of the micro search image from the image specified on the MacroBrowser screen 621 in accordance with the specified search mode (Mode 603), thereby becoming the micro search start 58 of FIG. The micro search image 605 is displayed on the right side in accordance with the search mode specified from the start point image specified in order from the left, and the micro search result display 59 of FIG. 5 is thereby obtained. Time 606 indicates the time of the displayed image.

  Search screen page return 608 and search screen page feed 610 are functions for returning or sending the search screen in units of pages. A search screen return 607 and a search screen sending 609 indicate functions for returning and sending the search screen in units of one screen. When one of the displayed micro search images 605 is selected using a pointing device such as a mouse, a selection frame 613 indicating the selection is displayed on the screen, depending on the edit start point, the edit end point, and other modes. Used as starting point for micro search image. When the selection frame 613 is displayed on the Micro Browser screen 622, the selection frame 612 on the MacroBrowser screen 621 disappears.

  If one of the images displayed as a search image is selected and Mode 603 is changed and Start 604 is selected, a micro search is performed using the selected image as a starting point and new search conditions are displayed, and the search result is displayed. To do. Thereby, it is possible to efficiently search for a target image under a plurality of search conditions.

  When the moving image search process 13 in FIG. 1 is completed by the above process, the process proceeds to the next edit section designation process 14. In the editing section specifying process 14, the editing section is specified on the moving image search screen 51a of FIG. As described above, the selection frame 612 or 613 is displayed on the image selected in FIG. When IN206 on the edit control screen 11a (see FIG. 2) is selected while this selection frame is displayed, the image in the selection frame becomes the editing start point. Next, on the MacroBrowser screen 621 or the Micro Browser screen 622 in FIG. 6, the image is selected as described above to display the selection frame. When OUT 207 is selected here, the image in the selection frame is finished editing. It becomes a point.

  In this case, when the start point IN206 is selected, the time of the selected image is displayed in In Time 204, and the image previously selected as the image to start editing is copied to the edit start image 22. Also, when the end point OUT 207 is selected, the time and image are displayed in the Out Time 205 and the edit end image 23, respectively. As another method, the selected image is moved to the editing start point image or the editing end image while being selected by a pointing device such as a mouse, and the selected image is moved to the position at the moment when the selection by the mouse is released. It is also possible to use a copying method. If there are multiple editing parts in the same material, on the MacroBrowser screen 621 or Micro Browser screen 622 in FIG. 6, an image is selected as described above and the selection frame is displayed again, and the editing showing the editing position is performed. By moving the number 24 to the next number and selecting IN and OUT again, it is possible to designate the editing portion of another editing section. And it is possible to put together the edit part of these several areas. For example, when there is a moving image material for 10 minutes, an edit section 1 of 2 minutes from time 01 minutes: 00 seconds to 02 minutes: 59 seconds is registered in the first edit number 24, and time 05 minutes: 00 It is possible to register the edit period 2 of 4 minutes from the second to 08 minutes: 59 seconds as the second edit number 24 and to create a moving image of 6 minutes by combining them.

  Furthermore, when selecting an edit portion from a plurality of moving image materials (files), the FILE 211 on the edit control screen 11a is designated to open the file selection screen 12a of FIG. 3 or FIG. 4, and editing is performed on the file selection screen 12a. It is possible to designate a moving image file to be used for the search, display a corresponding moving image search screen 51a, and designate a search edit portion by the same operation as described above.

  In this case, for example, when editing portions are specified for two moving image files, a moving image search screen is opened for each of moving image file 1 and moving image file 2 as shown in FIG. Can be specified.

  The control section 25 on the edit control screen 11a in FIG. 2 controls insertion / deletion of each edit section. When the control section 25 is selected, four control modes of Delete 214, Insert 215, Modyfy 216, and Clear 217 are displayed. Delete 214 is a function for deleting the corresponding editing part. In this case, the editing part existing on the right is shifted to the left by one and displayed. When Insert 215 is selected, the edit part on the right is shifted to the right by one to make the edit part on the right blank. Thereby, it becomes possible to insert the edit part newly designated on the moving image search screen. Modify 216 changes the editing section of the same file. The moving image search screen of the currently specified moving image file is displayed at the top, and the editing section can be specified. For example, when editing section 1 is specified from moving image file 1 and editing section 2 is specified from moving image file 2, if Modify 216 is specified for editing section 2, a moving image search screen for moving image 2 (screen 51a in FIG. 6). Is displayed at the top. Clear 217 is a process of making the corresponding editing part blank, and the editing part newly designated on the moving image search screen can be made a new editing part for the editing part that has become blank.

  The edit screen page return 26 and the edit screen page advance 27 are functions for returning or sending the edited portion in units of pages. An edit screen return 28 and an edit screen feed 29 indicate functions for returning or sending the edit portion in units of one screen.

  Window View 203 shows a list of files that are currently open for editing. When Window View 203 is selected, a Window View screen as shown in FIG. 9 is displayed. Name 71 displays the name of a file opened for editing. Total Time 72 displays the total playback time. A file representative screen 73 displays a file representative screen. These can be displayed using a method similar to that of the file selection screen 12a of FIG. When the file representative screen 73 is designated by a pointing device such as a mouse, a selection frame such as 76 is displayed, and a moving image search screen (screen 51a in FIG. 6) relating to the selected moving image file is displayed at the top. Is done.

  In the edit section reproduction process 17 of FIG. 1, the edit section designated by the edit section designation process 14 can be reproduced and used for confirmation of the edit portion. When Preview 201 is selected on the edit control screen 11a (see FIG. 2), the edit start image 22 to the edit end image 23 are reproduced. However, when there are a plurality of editing sections, the plurality of editing portions are continuously reproduced according to the editing number 24. Note that a function such as playback stop can be added as necessary.

  For example, when reproducing from an MPEG file, the initialization information is read from the sequence header of the file, and the GOP header is detected by skipping to the file pointer specified by the file seek. The time code existing in the detected GOP header and the time code existing in the preceding and following GOP headers are searched to search for the GOP in which the target time code exists. Decoding is started in order for the GOP in which the target time code exists, and playback continues until the time code at which editing ends. Even when there are multiple editing sections, section playback is performed using the sequence header and file seek of the file.

  In the editing process 18 in FIG. 1, the editing process is performed for the determined editing section. When Record 202 is selected on the edit control screen 11a, a file name input screen to be recorded after editing is displayed as shown in FIG. Save File Name 91 is a place for inputting a file name to be saved. File list 92 displays a list of already stored files. The list moving cursor 93 is a cursor for searching a list before and after the displayed file list. OK 94 performs the editing process for the designated editing section, and saves the edited file with the designated save file name. Cancel 95 interrupts the editing process and returns to the editing control screen.

  The following method can be used for the editing process of the editing section. First, when there is one editing section, moving image data for only the corresponding section is extracted from the original moving image file to create a new moving image file. In the case of image data compressed with MPEG, the corresponding section is cut out in GOP units with an intra-frame coding screen such as I picture, and the sequence header information is added at the beginning and the sequence end code is added at the end to create one edited file. It is possible to create. However, VBV (Video Buffering Verifier) must be checked again to control the buffer amount, and the VBV value in the encoded data must be changed to a new value as necessary. This processing makes it possible to perform editing processing with the compressed data as it is, and it is not necessary to restore the compressed image data to image data and then compress it again after the editing processing. Further, since the encoded data is used as it is, the image is not deteriorated as compared with that before editing. When there are a plurality of editing sections, a plurality of corresponding sections are extracted from the original moving image file, and a new moving image file is created by connecting these sections. In the case of image data compressed by MPEG, each corresponding section is basically cut out in units of GOPs, and each section is connected. Thereafter, one edit file can be created by adding sequence header information to the top and sequence end code to the end. However, if the coding rates are different in sections, it is necessary to connect the sections by performing rate conversion so as to unify them into one coding rate. For rate conversion, it is possible to use “a rate conversion method and apparatus for encoded image data” (Japanese Patent Application No. 7-77100, March 9, 1995) by Nakajima et al. The buffer amount control also needs to be processed in the same way as a single section.

  As a modified example, the determination 15 for a plurality of sections, the determination 16 for a plurality of files, and the editing section reproduction processing 17 in the search / edit flowchart 1 can be performed a plurality of times as necessary, or the order can be changed.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This embodiment relates to search editing processing when a database and a search terminal are separated in a network such as the Internet. FIG. 11 shows an example of network connection. The WWW server 101 stores files such as image data, a search screen, and search conditions. However, commercially available software can be used for the WWW server software. The WWW browser 103 is connected to the WWW server 101 via the Internet 102 and is equipped with software capable of browsing the WWW. As this software, commercially available WWW browser software can be used.

  The WWW server 101 is loaded with an image search / edit processing procedure described in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). This procedure is the search editing procedure shown in the first embodiment. When the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) where the WWW server 101 is located is designated from the WWW browser 103, the edit control screen 11a of FIG. The When FILE 211 is specified in the WWW browser 103, the specified information is transferred to the WWW server 101 side, and OPEN 212 and Quit 213 are displayed on the WWW browser 103 side through CGI (Common Gateway Interface). By returning a response to the screen displayed in this way, the result is sent to the WWW browser 103 side, and all searching and editing operations on the search editing processing flowchart of FIG. 1 can be performed on the network. Is possible.

  However, the WWW browser 103 only selects each process and designates parameters for the search result and the like, and the actual editing process and search process are performed on the WWW server 101 side. Since the edited file is stored on the server 101 side, it is necessary to transfer the file using HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) or FTP (File Tranfer Protocol) in order to transfer the file to the WWW browser 103 side. There is.

  In addition, when playback confirmation is performed using the Preview 201 in the editing section playback process 17, playback is performed on the WWW browser 103 side, and the file to be played exists in the WWW server 101. The image is transferred to the browser 103 side by HTTP or the like and the moving image file is reproduced on the WWW browser 103 side. Also, it is possible to shorten the transfer time by transferring only the editing section by performing the editing process, instead of sending the entire section of the moving image file and reproducing only the editing section on the WWW browser 103 side. .

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, when a compressed moving image file is used in the reproduction confirmation of the second embodiment, the compression rate is further increased than that of the original file, and the file is converted into a smaller file size and transferred. FIG. 12 shows an example of network connection with rate conversion. The WWW browser 103 and the Internet 102 are the same as those in FIG. The WWW server 110 includes moving image data 111 and a rate conversion device 112, and the moving image data 111 is transferred to the WWW browser 103 through the rate conversion device 112. As for the rate conversion method, “a rate conversion method and apparatus for encoded image data” by Nakajima et al. (Japanese Patent Application No. 7-77100, filed on Mar. 9, 1995) can be used. As a result, the data size can be greatly reduced and the transfer time can be shortened.

  An uncompressed moving image file can be used as a substitute for rate conversion by reducing the spatial resolution and temporal resolution and reducing the data size in addition to compressing and transferring. Regarding the reduction of the spatial resolution, for example, it is possible to reduce the amount of data to 1 / mn by sampling an image with n: 1 in the vertical direction and m: 1 in the horizontal direction (m and n are positive integers). . As for the time resolution, the amount of data can be reduced to 1 / k by sampling the number of frames at k: 1 (k is a positive integer).

It is a flowchart which shows the outline | summary of the whole process of the editing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of an edit control screen. It is a figure which shows an example of a file selection screen. It is a figure which shows an example of the other file selection screen. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the moving image search process of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of a moving image search screen. It is explanatory drawing of the identifier of each file. It is a figure which shows the example of an edit screen of a some file. It is a figure which shows an example of a window view screen. It is a figure which shows an example of a file name input screen. It is a figure which shows the example of network connection. It is a figure which shows the example of a network connection with rate conversion. It is a block diagram which shows the outline of the hardware constitutions of the editing apparatus of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... ROM, 2 ... RAM, 3 ... Display part, 4 ... Operation part, 5 ... Memory | storage part, 6 ... CPU, 11a ... Edit control screen, 12a ... File selection screen (Ficon display), 51a ... Moving image search screen.

Claims (6)

In a moving image search / editing apparatus provided with storage means capable of accessing a moving image file by random access,
Macro search means having search time interval input means, searching from the start point designating moving image data at the time intervals input by the search time interval input means, and displaying images of each time interval as the search results When,
Search mode designating means, and starting from an image selected from the images displayed in the macro search, in a search mode designated by the search mode designating means, at a shorter time interval than the macro search. A micro search means for displaying a screen,
When the group is specified by the search mode specifying means, the micro search means has a function of performing image search for a plurality of frames in units of groups and displaying the search results.
An editing section specifying means for setting the section of the image specified on the screen representing the displayed search result as an editing section;
Further comprising an editing section playback confirmation means that allows for the confirmation of the editing section by reproducing the image of the designated editing segment in the editing section specifying means,
Video Retrieval editing apparatus is characterized in that so as to obtain line editing process of the image of the edit section. In a moving image search / editing apparatus provided with storage means capable of accessing a moving image file by random access,
Macro search means having search time interval input means, searching from the start point designating moving image data at the time intervals input by the search time interval input means, and displaying images of each time interval as the search results When,
Search mode designating means, and starting from an image selected from the images displayed in the macro search, in a search mode designated by the search mode designating means, at a shorter time interval than the macro search. A micro search means for displaying a screen,
When the scene is specified by the search mode specifying means, the micro search means has a function of performing an image search in units of scenes for dividing an image into scene units and displaying the search results.
An editing section specifying means for setting the section of the image specified on the screen representing the displayed search result as an editing section;
Further comprising an editing section playback confirmation means that allows for the confirmation of the editing section by reproducing the image of the designated editing segment in the editing section specifying means,
Video Retrieval editing apparatus is characterized in that so as to obtain line editing process of the image of the edit section. The moving image search / editing device according to claim 1 or 2,
The editing process, a moving image, characterized in that the editing segment is to obtain line editing to create these sections into a single file if the same file in multiple sections or multiple files in multiple sections, Search and editing device. The moving image search / editing device according to claim 3,
In the editing process, when the moving image data is compressed, the section having the intra-coded image is cut out as the encoded data so that the decoding and re-encoding process is not performed for editing. A moving image search / editing apparatus characterized by the above. 5. A WWW server comprising the moving image search / editing apparatus according to claim 1 and a WWW browser, wherein the WWW browser is connected to the WWW server via a network to perform moving image search and editing processing. A moving image search / editing device, characterized in that it is performed on a server and the search results are displayed, searched, and editing conditions are specified on a WWW browser. The moving image search / editing apparatus according to claim 5,
When checking the playback of the editing section, the encoding rate conversion is performed for encoded data, and the data volume is reduced by reducing or encoding the resolution of space and time for uncompressed data. A moving image search / editing apparatus characterized in that the reproduction confirmation is performed by transferring the data to the side.

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