WO1999065224A2 - Creation d'une animation a partir d'une video - Google Patents

Creation d'une animation a partir d'une video Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1999065224A2
WO1999065224A2 PCT/US1999/013081 US9913081W WO9965224A2 WO 1999065224 A2 WO1999065224 A2 WO 1999065224A2 US 9913081 W US9913081 W US 9913081W WO 9965224 A2 WO9965224 A2 WO 9965224A2
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
video
image
animation
background
sequence
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1999/013081
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English (en)
Other versions
WO1999065224A3 (fr
Inventor
Shenchang Eric Chen
Whei-Tsu Helen Tahn
Jonathan Brandt
Original Assignee
Presenter.Com
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US09/096,726 external-priority patent/US6081278A/en
Priority claimed from US09/096,720 external-priority patent/US6278466B1/en
Priority claimed from US09/096,487 external-priority patent/US6268864B1/en
Application filed by Presenter.Com filed Critical Presenter.Com
Priority to JP2000554125A priority Critical patent/JP2002518723A/ja
Priority to EP99928542A priority patent/EP1097568A2/fr
Priority to AU45588/99A priority patent/AU4558899A/en
Publication of WO1999065224A2 publication Critical patent/WO1999065224A2/fr
Publication of WO1999065224A3 publication Critical patent/WO1999065224A3/fr
Priority to HK02100130.9A priority patent/HK1038625A1/zh

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Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/02Editing, e.g. varying the order of information signals recorded on, or reproduced from, record carriers
    • G11B27/031Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
    • G11B27/034Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals on discs
    • GPHYSICS
    • G06COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06TIMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T13/00Animation
    • GPHYSICS
    • G06COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06TIMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T15/003D [Three Dimensional] image rendering
    • G06T15/02Non-photorealistic rendering
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/10Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/34Indicating arrangements 

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the field of image animation, and more particularly to automatically creating an animation from a video.
  • the Internet has become an increasingly popular medium for delivering full motion video to end users. Due to bandwidth constraints, however, most users are unable to download and view high quality video on demand. For example, to deliver a compressed 640 by 480 pixel resolution video at thirty frames per second, image data must be transmitted at approximately eight Mbs (mega-bits per second), a bandwidth requirement roughly three hundred times more than the 28.8 Kbs (kilo-bits per second) modem speed available to most Internet users today. Even using industry standard compression techniques (e.g., MPEG—Moving Picture Expert Group), video effects on the Internet today are usually more like a low-quality slide show than a television experience.
  • MPEG Motion Picture Expert Group
  • Animations which use keyframes and interpolation to create video effects, potentially require much less bandwidth to transmit than video. With the improved performance of personal computers, television quality video effects can be synthesized in real-time from a relatively few keyframes that can be received using a low bandwidth modem. An animation sequence that requires transmission of a keyframe every few seconds can be delivered with an enormous bandwidth savings relative to video and yet provide exceptional image quality.
  • animations are also more scalable than videos in both playback image quality and frame rate.
  • the frame rate and image quality can be dynamically adjusted based on a number of factors, such as playback processor speed, network bandwidth and user preferences. Adding features for user interaction and other types of editing is also significantly easier with an animation than with a video. For instance, adjusting a camera panning path or object movement speed may only require changing motion parameters associated with a few keyframes in the animation. Editing a video clip to achieve the same effects may require modification of hundreds of frames. Similarly, attaching a hot spot that tracks a moving object over time can be achieved far easier in an animation than in a video.
  • Animation has its drawbacks. Because skilled human animators have traditionally been required to create high quality animation, the animation process is often costly and expensive. Further, because the human animators often sketch keyframes by hand, animation tends to appear cartoonish and usually lacks the lifelike imagery needed to depict real world scenes. In some cases animations are created using primitive two-dimensional and three- dimensional objects as building blocks. This type of animation also tends to have a synthetic rather than a natural appearance and is usually limited to presenting graphic information.
  • a method and apparatus for creating an animation are disclosed.
  • a sequence of video images is inspected to identify a first transformation of a scene depicted in the sequence of video images.
  • a first image and a second image are obtained from the sequence of video images.
  • the first image represents the scene before the first transformation and the second image represents the scene after the first transformation.
  • Information is generated that indicates the first transformation and that can be used to interpolate between the first image and the second image to produce a video effect that approximates display of the sequence of video images.
  • a method and apparatus for storing an animation are also disclosed.
  • a set of keyframes created from a video are stored in an animation object.
  • One or more values that indicate a first sequence of keyframes selected from the set of keyframes is stored in the animation object together with information for interpolating between the keyframes in the first sequence.
  • One or more values that indicate a second sequence of keyframes selected from the set of keyframes is stored in the animation object together with information for interpolating between the keyframes in the first sequence, storing in an animation object a set of keyframes created from a video.
  • the number of keyframes in the second sequence is fewer than the number of keyframes in the first sequence.
  • a method and apparatus for linking a video and an animation are also disclosed.
  • a data structure containing elements that correspond to respective frames of a first video is generated and information that indicates an image in an animation that has been created from a second video is stored in one or more of the elements of the data structure.
  • Fig. 1 illustrates creation and delivery of an animation
  • Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an animation authoring system according to one embodiment
  • Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a background track generator according to one embodiment
  • Fig. 4A illustrates a video segment that has been identified by a scene change estimator within a background track generator
  • Fig. 4B is a flow diagram that describes the operations of the background motion estimator, background frame constructor and background blending estimator depicted in Fig. 3.
  • Fig. 5 illustrates a background image set that has been generated by the background frame constructor depicted in Fig. 3;
  • Fig. 6 is a block diagram of an object track generator according to one embodiment
  • Fig. 7 A depicts a video segment that has been identified by the scene change estimator 41 of Fig. 3;
  • Fig. 7B is a flow diagram 100 of the operation of an object track generator according to one embodiment
  • Fig. 8 is a diagram of an animation object according to one embodiment
  • Fig. 9A illustrates exemplary embodiments of background frame blending data structures that can be used to perform background blending
  • Fig. 9B illustrates a discontinuous blending function
  • Fig. 10 illustrates the manner in which a background track and object tracks of an exemplary animation object may be used to synthesize an interpolated frame durmg animation playback
  • Fig. 11 illustrates a technique for providing multiple temporal resolutions of animation keyframes
  • Fig. 12 illustrates a technique for providing multiple spatial resolutions of animation keyframes
  • Fig. 13 illustrates the use of a server system to control the content of animation data streams being delivered to playback systems
  • Fig. 14A illustrates the use of a cross-link generator to establish crosslinks between a video source and an animation that has been created from the video source;
  • Fig. 14B illustrates the use of a cross-link generator to establish crosslinks between a first video and an animation that has been created from second video
  • Fig. 15 illustrates a cross linking data structure according to one embodiment
  • Fig. 16 is a diagram of a cross-linked relationship between a sequence of video frames in a video source and background images from an animation
  • Fig. 17 depicts a display that has been generated by a playback system
  • Fig. 18 depicts an alternate display that has been generated by a playback of an animation in a playback system.
  • a video is analyzed to automatically create an animation that includes keyframes and information for interpolating between the keyframes.
  • the keyframes and interpolation information may be used to synthesize images on the fly during animation playback.
  • the synthesized images produce video effects that approximate the original video.
  • video effects such as image motions and color changes can usually be represented with significantly less information in an animation than in a video
  • animations tend to consume much less bandwidth when transmitted via communication networks, such as the Internet.
  • a video containing hundreds of frames of images may be used to create an animation containing only a few keyframes and information for interpolating between the keyframes.
  • the playback system can use the keyframes and interpolation information provided in the animation to synthesize and display images as the animation is being received.
  • a playback system such as a desktop computer with animation playback capability
  • the playback system can use the keyframes and interpolation information provided in the animation to synthesize and display images as the animation is being received.
  • video refers to a sequence of images that have been captured by a camera at a predetermined rate or generated by an image generator for playback at a predetermined rate.
  • Each image in the sequence of images is included in a frame in the video and the real-world subject matter represented in the image is referred to as a scene.
  • Video data is often stored such that for each frame there is data representing the image in the frame. This data may be in a compressed form or may be an uncompressed bit map. Any capture rate may theoretically be used, but the capture rate is usually fast enough to capture human-perceivable motions in a scene (e.g., 10 frames per second or greater).
  • a video may be provided from any source including, but not limited to, film, NTSC video (National Television Standard Code) or any other live or recorded video format.
  • NTSC video National Television Standard Code
  • a video may be displayed on a number of different types of displays, including, but not limited to, cathode-ray tube displays (CRTs), liquid crystal displays, plasma displays and so forth.
  • animation refers to a data construct that includes keyframes and information for interpolating between the keyframes.
  • Keyframes are images that delineate, or that can be used to delineate, incremental transformations in a scene.
  • a new keyframe is provided for each incremental transformation in the scene and the criteria for determining what constitutes an incremental transformation can be adjusted according to system needs and user preferences. The more sensitive the criteria (i.e., smaller scene transformations), the more keyframes will be present in the animation.
  • background frames are keyframes that result from background motions or color changes. Background motions are usually caused by changes in the disposition of a camera used to record the scene. Typical changes in camera disposition include, but are not limited to, translation, rotation, panning, tilting or zooming of the camera. Color changes often result from changes in scene lighting (which may also result from a dispositional change in the camera such as a change in aperture), but may also be caused by color changes of large regions within the scene.
  • Object frames are keyframes that result from motions or color changes of objects within a scene and not from changes in disposition of the camera used to record the scene.
  • Objects in a scene which move or change color independently of camera motions are referred to herein as dynamic objects. It will be appreciated that whether a given object is a dynamic object or part of the background of a scene depends in part on how large the object is relative to the rest of the scene. When an object becomes large enough (e.g., because it is physically or optically near the camera), the dynamic object effectively becomes the background of the scene.
  • a sequence of background frames and information for interpolating between the background frames is stored in a data structure called a background track.
  • a sequence of object frames and information for interpolating between the object frames is stored in a data structure called an object track.
  • An animation created using methods and apparatuses disclosed herem includes at least one background track and zero or more object tracks.
  • the background track and object tracks are stored in a data structure called an animation object.
  • An animation may be manifested in either an animation object for storage in a memory or in an animation data stream for transmission from point to point in a communication network or between subsystems in a device.
  • Fig. 1 illustrates creation of an animation 14 and delivery of the animation 14 to a playback system 18.
  • the animation is created by an animation authoring system 12 using a video source 10. Either after or during creation, the animation 14 is converted to an animation data stream 15 and delivered via a communication network 20 to a playback system 18. Alternately, the animation 14 may be delivered to the playback system 18 on distributable storage media 21 that can be read by a subsystem in playback system 18 to display the animation. Examples of distributable storage media include, but are not limited to, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, compact disk read-only-memory (CD ROM), digital video diskette (DVD) and so forth.
  • distributable storage media include, but are not limited to, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, compact disk read-only-memory (CD ROM), digital video diskette (DVD) and so forth.
  • the playback system 18 may be a device that is specially designed for animation playback (e.g., a DVD or cassette player) or a general purpose computer system that has been programmed to obtain the animation 14 (e.g., via a communication network or distributable media) and to execute animation playback software to display the animation 14.
  • a web browsing application program may be executed on any number of different types of computers to realize an animation playback system (e.g., Apple Macintosh computers, IBM compatible personal computers, workstations, and so forth).
  • Program code for playing back the animation 14 may be included in the web browsing application itself or in an extension to the web browsing application that is loaded into the computer's operating memory when the web browsing application determines that an animation data stream 15 is to be received.
  • a server system 16 may be used to control delivery of animations to playback systems on the network 20.
  • the server system 16 may be used to give priority to animation download requests from playback systems that belong to certain classes of subscribers, or to restrict access to a menu of available animations based on a service arrangement or other criteria.
  • a World Wide Web site i.e., server computer
  • the site provider may wish to make at least one animation freely available to allow interested visitors to learn the usefulness of the service.
  • Animations may be made available for download on a pay-per-view basis.
  • the site provider may also sell subscriptions to the site so that subscribers are given full download access to all animations in return for periodic payments.
  • the server system 16 may be used to distinguish between download requests from these different classes of requesters and respond accordingly.
  • Another use of the server system 16 is to provide the animation 14 to the playback system 18 in one of a variety of different animation formats.
  • the particular format used may be determined based on transmission network bandwidth and playback system capabilities. For example, a given playback system 18 may require the animation 14 to be described in a particular format or language that the playback system 18 can understand (e.g., Java, dynamic hypertext markup language (D-HTML), virtual reality modeling language (VRML), Macromedia Flash format and so forth).
  • background and object frames in the animation 14 may need to be sent at a particular spatial and temporal resolution to avoid exceeding the bandwidth of the transmission network, which is usually limited by the download rate (e.g., modem speed) of the playback system 18.
  • the animation 14 is stored in a language and bandwidth independent format.
  • the server system 16 can then be used to dynamically create an animation data stream according to the format and bandwidth requirements of the playback system 18. This operation of the server system is described in greater detail below.
  • the playback system 18 may obtain an animation data stream either from the communication network 20 or by reading an animation object stored in a locally accessible storage medium (e.g., DVD, CD
  • the playback system 18 is a time-based controller which includes play, pause, forward, rewind and step functions. In another embodiment, the playback system 18 may be switched between animation and video playback modes to render either animations or videos onto a display. The playback system 18 may also include an interactive, non-time-based playback mode to allow a user to click on hot spots within an animation, pan and zoom within animation frames or download animation still frames. Additional embodiments of the playback system are described below.
  • Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an animation authoring system 12 according to one embodiment.
  • the animation authoring system 12 includes a background track generator 25, an object track generator 27 and an animation object generator 29.
  • the video source 10 is initially received in the background track generator 25 which analyzes the sequence of frames in the video source 10 to generate a background track 33.
  • the background track 33 includes a sequence of background frames and information that can be used to interpolate between the background frames.
  • the background track generator 25 outputs the background track 33 to the object track generator 27 and to the animation object generator 29 after the background track is completed.
  • the background track generator 25 outputs the background track 33 to the object track generator 27 and to the animation object generator 29 as each new background frame within the background track 33 is completed.
  • the object track generator 27 receives both the background track 33 from the background track generator 25 and the video source 10.
  • the object track generator 27 generates zero or more object tracks 35 based on the background track 33 and the video source 10 and forwards the object tracks 35 to the animation object generator 29.
  • Each object track 35 includes a sequence of object frames and transformation information that can be used to interpolate between the object frames.
  • the animation object generator 29 receives the background track 33 from the background track generator 25 and the zero or more object tracks 35 from the object track generator 27 and writes the tracks to an animation object 30.
  • the animation object 30 may be formatted to include multiple temporal and spatial resolutions of the background track and object tracks.
  • Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a background track generator 25 according to one embodiment.
  • the background track generator 25 includes a scene change estimator 41, a background frame constructor 43, a background motion estimator 45 and a background blending estimator 47.
  • the scene change estimator 41 compares successive frames of the video source 10 to one another to determine when a transformation of a scene in the video frames exceeds a threshold.
  • the effect of the scene change estimator 41 is to segment the sequence of frames in the video source 10 into one or more subsequences of video frames (i.e., video segments), each of which exhibits a scene transformation that is less than a predetermined threshold.
  • Each video segment can be processed by
  • the background motion estimator 45, background frame constructor 43 and background blending estimator 47 process each video segment identified by the scene change estimator 41 to generate a background frame and interpolation information for the video segment.
  • the predetermined threshold applied by the scene change estimator 41 defines the incremental transformation of a scene which results in construction of a new background frame.
  • background frames correspond approximately to the start and end of each video segment and the background frame that corresponds to the end of one video segment corresponds to the beginning of the next video segment. Consequently, each video segment is delineated by background frames and, except for the first video segment (for which a starting and ending background frame is constructed), one background frame is constructed for each video segment in the video source 10.
  • Fig. 4A illustrates a video segment 54 that has been identified by the scene change estimator 41 of Fig. 3.
  • the scene change estimator 41 operates by determining a transformation vector for each pair of adjacent video frames in the video segment 54.
  • a first frame is considered to be adjacent a second frame if the first frame immediately precedes or succeeds the second frame in a temporal sequence of frames.
  • the transformation vector for each pair of adjacent video frames is represented in Fig. 4A by a respective delta (i.e., the " ⁇ " symbol).
  • the transformation vector includes a plurality of scalar components that each indicate a measure of change in the scene from one video frame to the next in video segment 54.
  • the scalar components of a transformation vector may include measures of the following changes in the scene: translation, scaling, rotation, panning, tilting, skew, color changes and time elapsed.
  • the scene change estimator 41 applies a spatial low pass filter to the video segment 54 to increase the blockiness of the images in video segment 54 before computing the transformation deltas between adjacent frames.
  • the individual images in the video segment 54 contain less information than before filtering so that less computations are required to determine the transformation deltas.
  • the transformation delta computed for each pair of adjacent frames in the video segment 54 is added to transformation deltas computed for preceding pairs of adjacent frames to accumulate a sum of transformation deltas.
  • the sum of transformation deltas represents a transformation between the first video frame 54A in the video segment 54 and the most recently compared video frame in the video segment 54.
  • the sum of transformation deltas is compared against a predetermined transformation threshold to determine if the most recently compared video frame has caused the transformation threshold to be exceeded.
  • the transformation threshold may be a vector quantity that includes multiple scalar thresholds, including thresholds for color changes, translation, scaling, rotation, panning, tilting, skew of the scene and time elapsed.
  • the transformation threshold is dynamically adjusted in order to achieve a desired ratio of video segments to frames in the video source 10.
  • the transformation threshold is dynamically adjusted in order to achieve a desired average video segment size (i.e., a desired number of video frames per video segment).
  • a transformation threshold is dynamically adjusted to achieve a desired average elapsed time per video segment.
  • any technique for dynamically adjusting the transformation threshold may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
  • the scene is deemed to have changed and the video frame 54B that precedes the most recently compared video frame 54C is indicated to be the ending frame of the video segment 54. Consequently, if a predetermined transformation threshold is used, each video segment of the video source 10 is assured to have an overall transformation that is less than the transformation threshold. If a variable transformation threshold is used, considerable variance in the overall transformation delta of respective video segments may result and it may be necessary to iteratively apply the scene change estimator to reduce the variance in the transformation deltas.
  • the background track generator 25 invokes the background motion estimator 45 , background frame constructor 43 and background blending estimator 47 as each new video segment is defined (i.e., as each new scene change is detected).
  • the scene change estimator 41 is used to completely resolve the video into subsequences before any of the subsequences are processed by the background frame constructor 43, background motion estimator 45 or background blending estimator 47.
  • video frames within a given video segment continue to be selected and compared until an accumulation of transformation deltas exceeds a transformation threshold.
  • the last frame of a video is reached, the last frame is automatically considered to end a video segment.
  • the sum of transformation deltas is cleared.
  • the transformation deltas associated with each video segment are recorded for later use by the background motion estimator 45 and the background frame constructor 43.
  • Fig. 4B is a flow diagram 57 that describes the operations of the background motion estimator 45, background frame constructor 43 and background blending estimator 47 depicted in Fig. 3.
  • the background motion estimator inspects the video segment 54 indicated by the scene change estimator (i.e., the subsequence of video frames 54 bounded by BFi and BFi+1 in Fig. 4A) to identify a dominant motion of the scene depicted in those frames. This dominant motion is considered to be a background motion.
  • One technique involves identifying features in the video frames (e.g., using edge detection techniques) and tracking the motion of the features from one video frame to the next.
  • Features that exhibit statistically aberrant motion relative to other features are considered to be dynamic objects and are temporarily disregarded.
  • Motions that are shared by a large number of features (or by large features) are typically caused by changes in the disposition of the camera used to record the video and are considered to be background motions.
  • Another technique for identifying background motion in a video segment is to correlate the frames of the video segment to one another based on common regions and then determme the frame to frame offset of those regions. The frame to frame offset can then be used to determine a background motion for the video segment.
  • Still other contemplated techniques for identifying background motion in a video segment include, but are not limited to, coarse-to-fine search methods that use spatially hierarchical decompositions of frames in the video segment; measurements of changes in video frame histogram characteristics over time to identify scene changes; filtering to accentuate features in the video segment that can be used for motion identification; optical flow measurement and analysis; pixel format conversion to alternate color representations (including grayscale) to achieve greater processing speed, greater reliability or both; and robust estimation techniques, such as M-estimation, that eliminate elements of the video frames that do not conform to an estimated dominant motion.
  • the background frame constructor receives the background motion information from the background motion estimator in block 61 and uses the background motion information to register the frames of the video segment relative to one another. Registration refers to correlating video frames in a manner that accounts for changes caused by background motion. By registering the video frames based on background motion information, regions of the frames that exhibit motions that are different from the background motion (i.e., dynamic objects) will appear in a fixed location in only a small number of the registered video frames. That is, the regions move from frame to frame relative to a static background. These regions are dynamic objects.
  • the background frame constructor removes dynamic objects from the video segment to produce a processed sequence of video frames.
  • the background frame constructor generates a background frame based on the processed sequence of video frames and the background motion information.
  • construction of the background frame may involve compositing two or more processed video frames into a single background image or selecting one of the processed video frames to be the background frame.
  • the composite background frame may be a panoramic image or a high resolution still image.
  • a panoramic image is created by stitching two or more processed video frames together and can be used to represent a background scene that has been captured by panning, tilting or translating a camera.
  • a high resolution still image is appropriate when the subject of a processed sequence of video frames is a relatively static background scene (i.e., the disposition of the camera used to record the video source is not significantly changed).
  • One technique for creating high resolution still images is to analyze the processed sequence of video frames to identify sub-pixel motions between the frames.
  • Sub-pixel motion is caused by slight motions of the camera and can be used to create a composite image that has higher resolution than any of the individual frames captured by the camera.
  • high resolution still images are particularly useful because they can be displayed to provide detail that is not present in the video source 10.
  • the high resolution still images can be composited to form a still image having regions of varying resolution. Such an image is referred to herein as a multiple-resolution still image.
  • a user can pause animation playback to zoom in and out on different regions of such a still image.
  • a user can pause animation playback to pan about a panoramic image. Combinations of pan and zoom are also possible.
  • an animation may be cross-linked with its video source so that, during playback of the video source, a user can be prompted to pause video playback to view a high resolution still, a panorama or a zoomable still image. Cross- linking is discussed in greater detail below.
  • Fig. 5 illustrates a background image set 70 that has been generated by the background frame constructor 43 depicted in Fig. 3.
  • Background frame BFi refers to a background image 71 that is a processed video frame, and not a composite image. This type of background image typically results from scaling (i.e., zoom in or out) or abrupt cuts between successive video frames.
  • Background frame BFj + i refers to a high resolution still image 73 that has been composited from multiple processed video frames of essentially the same scene. As discussed above, this type of image is particularly useful for providing detail not perceivable in the video source.
  • Background frames BFi +2 , BFi + 3 and BFj + 4 each refer to a different region of a panoramic background image 75.
  • the panoramic image frame 75 has been generated by stitching a portion 76 of one or more processed video frames onto another processed video frame.
  • the camera may have been translated down and to the right, or panned right and tilted downward to incrementally capture more of the scene.
  • Other shapes of composite background images may result from different types of camera motions.
  • the background blending estimator (e.g., element 47 of Fig. 3) generates background blending information based on the background motion information and the newly constructed background frame at block 67. Operation of the blending estimator is discussed in greater detail below.
  • Fig. 6 is a block diagram of an object track generator 27 according to one embodiment.
  • the object track generator 27 receives a background track 33 generated by the background track generator (e.g., element 25 of Fig. 2) and the video source 10 as inputs.
  • the object track generator 27 identifies dynamic objects in the scene based on differences between the background track 33 and the video source 10, and records object frames (OF) containing the dynamic objects along with object motion (OM) and object blending (OB) information in an object track 35.
  • object frames OF
  • OM object motion
  • OB object blending
  • the object track generator 27 includes an object frame constructor 81, an object motion estimator 83 and an object blending estimator 85.
  • the object frame constructor 81 compares video frames in the video source 10 against background frames in the background track 33 to construct the object frames (OF).
  • object frames OF
  • each object frame constructed by the object frame constructor 81 contains a dynamic object.
  • at least one object frame is generated per dynamic object detected m a given video segment (i.e., per dynamic object detected in a subsequence of video frames identified by the scene change estimator 41 of Fig. 3).
  • the object motion estimator 83 tracks the motion of dynamic objects in a video segment to generate the object motion information (OM), and the object blending estimator 85 generates the object blending information (OB) based on the object frames and the object motion information generated by the object frame constructor 81 and the object motion estimator 83, respectively.
  • OM object motion information
  • OB object blending information
  • Fig. 7A and Fig. 7B illustrate the operation of the object track generator
  • Fig. 7A depicts a video segment 54 that has been identified by the scene change estimator 41 of Fig. 3.
  • the video segment 54 is bounded by background frames BFi and BFi + ⁇ and contains a dynamic object 56.
  • Fig. 7B is a flow diagram 100 of the operation of the object track generator 27.
  • the object frame constructor (e.g., element 81 of Fig. 6) compares background frame BFi to video frame VFj of the video segment 54 to generate a difference frame 91.
  • small differences between the BFj and VFj produce somewhat random differences (noise) in the difference frame 91.
  • a relatively concentrated region of differences 92 between BFj and VFj occurs where a dynamic object has been removed from the background frame BFi by the background frame constructor (e.g., element 43 of Fig. 3).
  • a spatial low pass filter is applied to the difference frame 91 to produce a filtered difference frame 93.
  • the object frame constructor performs a feature search (e.g., using edge detection techniques) to identify the concentrated region of differences 92 in the filtered difference frame 93.
  • the object frame constructor selects a region within video frame VF j that corresponds to the concentrated region of differences 92 in filtered difference frame 93 to be an object frame 56.
  • the object frame constructor selects the object frame 56 to be a rectangular region that corresponds (e.g., has similar x, y offsets) to a rectangular region of the filtered difference frame 93 which encompasses the concentrated region of differences 92. Alternate object frame shapes may be used. It will be appreciated that if there are no concentrated regions of differences in the filtered difference frame 93, no object frames will be selected by the object frame constructor. Conversely, multiple object frames may be selected if there are multiple concentrated regions of differences in the filtered difference frame 93. Each concentrated region of differences in the filtered difference frame 93 is considered to correspond to a dynamic object in the subsequence of video frames 54.
  • the motion of the dynamic object is determined by tracking positional changes in the object frame 56 through the frame progression in video segment 54.
  • the object motion estimator e.g., element 83 of Fig. 6 tracks the motion of the dynamic object identified and framed by the object frame constructor from one video frame to the next in the video segment 54.
  • object motion tracking is performed by feature searching within each successive video frame of the video segment 54 to determine the new position of the dynamic object of interest.
  • the motion estimator uses the frame to frame motion of the dynamic object, the motion estimator generates motion information that can be used to interpolate between successive object frames to approximate the motion of the dynamic object.
  • the object blending estimator (e.g., element 85 of Fig. 6) generates object blending information based on the object motion information and the object frames.
  • the operation of the object blending estimator is the same as the operation of the background blending estimator.
  • alternative techniques for generating information for blending successive object frames may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
  • At least one object frame is generated for each dynamic object identified within a video segment by the object frame constructor 81. If the object motion estimator 83 determines that a motion of a dynamic object in a video segment is too complex to be adequately represented by interpolating between object frames that bound the video segment, the object motion estimator 83 may indicate the need for construction of one or more additional object frames for the video segment. Using the techniques described above, the object frame constructor will then generate the additional object frames at the juncture within the video segment indicated by the object motion estimator. As discussed above in reference to background frame construction, object frames may include image data drawn from a region of a composite image. If one or more additional object frames are constructed to represent a dynamic object that is undergoing a complex motion, the additional frames may be organized in the animation object to cause the dynamic object to overlay other features in a scene during animation playback.
  • Dynamic objects occasionally eclipse one another in a scene.
  • the object track generator 27 when dynamic objects that are represented by separate object tracks eclipse one another, the object track for the eclipsed dynamic object is ended and a new object track is generated if the eclipsed object re-emerges. Consequently, if dynamic objects repeatedly eclipse one another, a large number of discrete object tracks may be produced.
  • information may be associated with object tracks to indicate which of two dynamic objects is to displayed on top of the other if their screen positions should converge.
  • images of dynamic objects may be composited from a plurality of video frames.
  • Composite object images include, but are not limited to, panoramic object images, high resolution still object images, and multiple-resolution still object images.
  • any compositing of images that can be used to produce a composite background image may also be used to produce a composite object image.
  • Fig. 8 is a diagram of an animation object 30 according to one embodiment.
  • the animation object 30 includes a background track 33 and a plurality of object tracks 35A, 35B, 35C.
  • the number of object tracks depends on the number of dynamic objects identified in the scenes depicted in the video source and, if no dynamic objects are identified, there may be no object tracks in the animation object 30.
  • the animation object 30 is implemented by a linked list 121 of a background track and object tracks.
  • the background track is itself implemented by a linked list of a background track element BT and a sequence of background frames BFI-BFN-
  • Each of the object tracks are likewise implemented by a linked list of an object track element OTi, OT 2 , OTR and a respective sequence of object frames (OFII-OFIM, OF2I-OF2 , OFRi-OFRj).
  • the background track element BT and the object track elements OTi, OT 2 , OTR also include pointers to implement the animation object linked list 121.
  • the background track element BT includes a pointer to the first object track element OT ⁇
  • the first object track element OTi includes a pointer to the next object track element OT 2
  • object track OTR is reached.
  • the end of the animation object linked list 121 and the individual background and object track linked lists are indicated by respective null pomters in their final elements. Other techniques for indicating the end of the linked lists may be used in alternate embodiments.
  • the animation object 30 may include a data structure that includes a head pointer to point to the background track 33 and a tail pointer to point to the final object track 35C in the animation object linked list 121.
  • the background track element BT and each of the object track elements OTi, OT2, OTR may include respective tail pointers to indicate the ends of their respective linked lists.
  • flags in the elements of a linked list may be used to indicate the end of the list.
  • data structure 123 is used to implement a background frame according to one embodiment.
  • the members of the background frame data structure 123 include a next pointer (NEXT PTR) to point to the next background frame in the background track 33, a previous pointer (PREV PTR) to point to the preceding background frame in the background track 33, an image pointer (IMAGE PTR) to point to the location of the image data for the background frame, an interpolation pointer (INTERP PTR) to point to an interpolation data structure and a timestamp (TIMESTAMP) to indicate a relative playback time for the background frame.
  • the background frame data structure 123 may further include one or more members for cross-linking with frames of the video source.
  • the image pointer in background frame data structure 123 may itself be a data structure that indicates the location of the background image in a memory, the offset (e.g., row and column) within the background image from which to obtain the image data for the background frame and a pointer to the video segment used to generate the background frame.
  • the pointer to the video segment is used to link an animation and a video source.
  • the pointer to the video segment is a pointer to at least the first video frame in the video segment.
  • Other techniques for linking the background frame to the video segment may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
  • the background interpolation data structure 125 includes data for interpolating between a given background frame and its adjacent background frames.
  • the information for interpolating between a background frame and its adjacent succeeding background frame i.e., the next background frame
  • the information for interpolating between a background frame and its adjacent succeeding background frame includes forward background motion information (BM FORWARD) and forward background blending information (BB FORWARD).
  • the information for interpolating between a background frame and its adjacent preceding background frame includes reverse background motion information (BM REVERSE) and reverse background blending information (BB REVERSE).
  • the background motion information in a given direction i.e., forward or reverse
  • the forward background motion information includes members which indicate translation of the background scene in the X and Y direction (i.e., horizontally and vertically in the image plane) to reach the next background frame, a scale factor in the X and Y direction (i.e., to indicate camera zoom in/out and changes in aspect ratio), a rotation factor, a pan factor, a tilt factor and a skew factor. It will be appreciated that more or fewer motion parameters may be used in alternate embodiments.
  • Reverse background motion information (BM REVERSE) may be indicated by a similar set of motion parameters.
  • each of the individual object frames are implemented by an object frame data structure 127 that is similar to the above described background frame data structure 123.
  • object frame data structure 127 includes a pointer to the next object frame in the object track (NEXT PTR), a pointer the previous object frame in the object track (PREV PTR), an image pointer (IMAGE PTR), an interpolation pointer (INTERP PTR) and a timestamp (TTMESTAMP), each of which performs a function similar to the functions of the same members within the background track data structure 123.
  • the image pointer in the object frame data structure 127 indicates object image data instead of background image data and the interpolation pointer indicates object interpolation data instead of background interpolation data.
  • an exemplary object interpolation data structure includes members indicating both forward and reverse object motion (OM FORWARD and OM REVERSE, respectively) and both forward and reverse object blending information (OB FORWARD and OB REVERSE, respectively).
  • each blending data structure 135A, 137A includes a blending operator in the form of coefficients of a polynomial expression (A, B, C, D), an interval fraction (INTV) which indicates the portion of an interval between two successive background frames over which the blending operator is to be applied and a pointer to a next blending data structure to allow an interval between successive background frames to be represented by multiple blending operators.
  • A, B, C, D coefficients of a polynomial expression
  • INTV interval fraction
  • forward background blending data 135A for background frame BFi and reverse background blending data 137A for background frame BFi + i are depicted along with a graph 139 which illustrates the manner in which the blending data is applied to blend the background frames BFi and BFi+1.
  • the blending operation depicted in the graph is known as a cross- dissolve operation because the background frame BFi is effectively dissolved into background frame BFi + i during the blending interval (i.e., the time between the background frames).
  • the background frame BF is transformed in the forward direction based on the forward background motion information for frame BFi and the background frame BFj + ⁇ is transformed in the reverse direction based on the reverse background motion information for frame BFj + i.
  • Respective weights i.e., multipliers
  • the weight for frame BFi is based on the forward blending information for background frame BFi and the weight for background frame BFi + i is based on the reverse blending information for frame BFi+1.
  • the weights for frames BFi and BFi + ⁇ are then applied respectively to the transformed versions of background frames BFi and BFi + i and the resulting transformed, weighted images are combined (e.g., using pixel by pixel addition), to generate the interpolated frame.
  • the blending operator is implemented by storing the coefficients of a polynomial expression and the portion of the blending interval over which the polynomial expression is to be applied.
  • interval fractions of less than one are used where the overall blending function includes discontinuities that cannot be adequately represented by a limited order polynomial expression.
  • the multiplier for BFj starts at 1 and decreases linearly to 0 at the end of the blending interval.
  • Fig. 9B illustrates a discontinuous blending function 141.
  • the blending interval between background frames BFi and BFi + ⁇ is divided into three interval fractions 146, 147 and 148.
  • the weight applied to background frame BFi is held steady at one and the weight applied to background frame BFi + ⁇ is held steady at zero.
  • a linear cross-dissolve occurs and during a third fraction 148 of the blending interval, the multipliers of frames BF, and BFi + i are again held steady, but at values opposite those of the first fraction 146 of the blending interval.
  • the discontinuous blending function 141 is mdicated by a linked list of blending data structures 135B, 135C, 135D, with each blending data structure in the list indicating the fraction of the blending interval over which it is to be applied in its respective INTV parameter.
  • the value of T is assumed to be normalized to range from 0 to 1 during each interval fraction. Other representations are of course possible and considered to be within the scope of the present invention.
  • a discontinuous blending function of the type shown in Fig. 9B is to reduce the distortion associated with blending successive keyframes.
  • operator input is received in the animation authoring system (e.g., element 12 of Fig. 1) to select a fraction of a blending interval over which to hold steady the contribution of a given keyframe.
  • a measure of image sharpness e.g., image gradients
  • linear cross-dissolve operations are described above, other types of cross-dissolve operations may be defined by different polynomial expressions.
  • polynomial coefficients instead of using polynomial coefficients to indicate the type of blending operation, other indicators may be used. For example, a values indicating whether to apply a linear, quadratic, transcendental, logarithmic or other blending operation may be stored in the blending data structure.
  • background blending has been described primarily in terms of cross-dissolve operations, other blending effects may also be used to transition from one background frame to another, including, but not limited to, fading and a variety of screen wipes.
  • Fig. 10 illustrates the manner in which a background track 33 and object tracks 35A, 35B of an exemplary animation object 30 may be used to synthesize an interpolated frame IF t during animation playback.
  • the interpolation frame IFt is generated based on respective pairs of adjacent frames in the background track 33 and object tracks 35A, 35B.
  • the pair of adjacent background frames BFi, BFi + i are each transformed and weighted using the background motion and background blending information associated with those background frames.
  • the background frame BFi is transformed according the forward background motion information (BM) associated with frame BF, and then weighted according to the forward background blending information (BB) associated with frame BFi.
  • BM forward background motion information
  • BB forward background blending information associated with frame BFi.
  • the effect is to transform pixels in the background frame BFi to respective positions based on the forward motion information (e.g., translation, rotation, scaling, pan, tilt or skew) and then to decrease the intensity level of each of the pixel values by weighting the pixel values based on the blending operator.
  • the pixels in the background frame BFi + i are likewise transformed and weighted by the reverse motion and blending information (BM, BB) for frame BFi + i.
  • the resulting transformed images are then combined to create an interpolated background frame 151A that represents the background scene at time t.
  • Object frames OFlj and OFlj + i are likewise transformed using forward and reverse object motion information (OM), respectively, weighted using forward and reverse object blending information (OB), respectively, and then combined.
  • OM forward and reverse object motion information
  • OB forward and reverse object blending information
  • Object frames OF2i and OF2j + ⁇ are also transformed, weighted and combined using object motion and blending information associated with those object frames (OM, OB) and then overlaid on the interpolated background.
  • the result is a completed interpolated frame 151C.
  • Successive interpolated frames are likewise created, using different values of the time variant blending operator and progressive transformation of the background and object frames based on the motion information.
  • the net effect of the animation playback is to produce video effects that approximate the original video used to create the animation object 30.
  • a sound track obtained from the original video may also be played back with the animation.
  • Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 illustrate techniques for providing multiple resolutions of animations in an animation object.
  • Fig. 11 illustrates a technique for providing multiple temporal resolutions of animation keyframes
  • Fig. 12 illustrates a technique for providing multiple spatial resolutions of animation keyframes.
  • an animation object is structured to provide both types of multiple playback resolutions, spatial and temporal. This provides a playback system user with the option of increasing or decreasing the resolution of the animation sequence in either spatial or temporal dimensions or both. If the playback system has sufficient download bandwidth and processing power, then maximum temporal and spatial resolution may be selected to present a highest resolution animation playback.
  • the playback system may automatically reduce either the spatial or temporal resolution of the animation being played back based on a user-selected criteria. For example, if the user has indicated a desire to view maximum spatial resolution images (i.e., larger, more resolute images), even if it means less keyframes and more interpolation frames, then a maximum or near maximum spatial resolution keyframe may be chosen for display while a keyframe track (i.e., a background track or object track) having fewer keyframes per unit time is selected.
  • a keyframe track i.e., a background track or object track
  • a maximum or near maximum temporal resolution keyframe track may be chosen, but with each keyframe being displayed with reduced spatial resolution.
  • a user can signal a temporal multiplier (e.g., 2X, 5X, 10X and so forth) in a request to view the animation at a faster rate.
  • a temporal multiplier e.g., 2X, 5X, 10X and so forth
  • the request for rapid scanning is satisfied by using the temporal multiplier together with the playback system's bandwidth capabilities to select an appropriate temporal resolution of the animation.
  • the spatial resolution of the animation can also be reduced.
  • a temporal multiplier may similarly be used to slow animation playback to a slower than natural rate to achieve a slow motion effect.
  • Fig. 11 depicts a multi-temporal level background track 161.
  • An object track may be arranged similarly.
  • a first level background track 35A a maximum number of background frames (each labeled "BF") are provided along with background motion and blending information for interpolating between each successive pair of background frames.
  • the number of background frames per unit time may range from a video frame rate (in which case the motion and blending information would indicate no information — just a cut to next frame) to a small fraction of the video frame rate.
  • a second level background track 35B has fewer background frames than the first level background track 35A
  • a third level background track 35C has fewer background frames than the second level background track and so forth to an Nth level background track 35D.
  • the blending and motion information (BM 2 , BB 2 ) for interpolating between each successive pair of background frames in the second level background track 35B is different from the blending and motion information (BMi, BB ) for the first level background track 35A because the transformation from background frame to background frame at the different level tracks is different.
  • the third level background track 35c likewise has fewer background frames than the second level background track 35B and therefore different motion and blending information (BM 3 , BB 3 ) from frame to frame.
  • the ascending levels of background tracks are incrementally less temporally resolute until the least resolute background track at level N is reached.
  • the background track levels above the first level 35A do not actually contain a separate sequence of background frames. Instead, pointers to background frames within the first level background track 35A are provided.
  • the first background frame 62B in the second level background track 35B may be indicated by a pointer to the first background frame 62A in the first level background track 62A
  • the second background frame 63B in the second level background track 35B may be indicated by a pointer to the third background frame 63A in the first level background track 35A and so forth.
  • the respective pointers to background frames in the level one background track 35A may be combined in a data structure with motion and blending information that indicates transformation to the next background frame and with motion and blending information that indicates transformation to the previous background frame. Further, a linked list of such data structures may be used to indicate the sequence of background frames. Other data structures and techniques for indicating the sequence of background frames may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
  • each of the background track levels 35A, 35B, 35C, 35D is formed by a number of reference values that select background frames from a set (or pool) of background frames.
  • the reference values used to form a background track of a given level effectively define a sequence of keyframes having a temporal resolution that is determined by the number of reference values.
  • a reference value used to select a background frame may be a pointer to the background frame, an index that indicates the location of the background frame in a table or any other value that can be used to identify a background frame.
  • blending and motion information for higher level background tracks in the multi-level background track 161 may be obtained by combining multiple sets of motion and blending information from a lower level background track.
  • the background motion and blending information (BM2, BB2) used to transition between background frames 62B in background track level two may be created by combining the background motion and blending information used to transition between background frames 62A and 64 with the background motion and blending information used to transition between background frames 64 and 63A.
  • background motion and blending information for a higher level background track may be produced based on the background frames in the track and without using blending and motion information from a lower level background track.
  • Fig. 12 illustrates a multi-spatial resolution background frame.
  • Each of the background frames in a background track of the multi- temporal resolution background track may include the various resolution background frames BFi, BF2 through BFN.
  • the background frame BFi is a maximum spatial resolution background frame and, in one embodiment, includes the same number of pixels as an original video frame.
  • the background frame BF2 has a lower spatial resolution than BFi, meaning that BF 2 either has fewer pixels than BFi (i.e., is a smaller image) or has a larger block size.
  • Block size refers to size, usually in pixels, of the elemental unit of visual information used to depict an image. A smaller block size yields a more spatially resolute image because finer elemental units are used to depict features of the image. A larger block size yields a less spatially resolute image, but requires less overall information because a single pixel value is applied to a group of pixels in a pixel block.
  • Fig. 13 illustrates the use of a server system 16 to control the content of animation data streams being delivered to playback systems 18A, 18B, 18C.
  • the server system 16 receives requests to download various animation objects 14A, 14B, 14C stored in a computer- readable storage device 170.
  • the server system 16 may first query the playback system 18A, 18B, 18C to determine the system's capabilities. For example, in response to a request from playback system 18A to download animation object 30C, the server system 16 may request the playback system 18A to provide a set of playback system characteristics which can be used by the server system 16 to generate an appropriate animation data stream. As shown in Fig.
  • the set of playback system characteristics associated with a given playback system 18A, 18B, 18C may include, but is not limited to, the download bandwidth of the playback system or its network access medium, the processing capability of the playback system (e.g., number of processors, speed of processors and so forth), the graphics capability of the playback system, the software application in use by the playback system (e.g., the type of web browser), the operating system on which the software application is executed and a set of user preferences.
  • User preferences may include a preference to sacrifice temporal resolution in favor of spatial resolution and vice-versa. Also, user preferences may be dynamically adjustable by the user of the playback system during animation download and display.
  • the animation objects 14A, 14B, 14C are stored in a multi-temporal resolution and multi-spatial resolution formats and the server system 16 selects background and object tracks from an animation object (e.g., animation object 30C) having temporal and spatial resolutions best suited to the characteristics provided by the target playback system.
  • an animation object e.g., animation object 30C
  • the server system 16 may select different temporal /spatial resolution versions 174 A, 174B, 174C of the same animation object 30C for download to playback systems 18A, 18B, 18C based on their respective characteristics.
  • the server system may dynamically adjust the temporal /spatial resolution of the animation provided to a given playback system 18A, 18B, 18C based on changes in playback system's characteristics.
  • Fig. 13 illustrates use of a server system to control the content of an animation data stream via a communication network
  • similar techniques may be applied within a playback system to dynamically select between multiple temporal and spatial resolution animation tracks.
  • selection logic within a playback system may provide an animation data stream to display logic within the playback system that has a temporal /spatial resolution appropriate to the characteristics of the playback system.
  • a DVD player may be designed to reduce the temporal or spatial resolution of an animation playback based on whether one or more other videos or animations are also being displayed (e.g., in another region of a display).
  • the user is informed during video playback when a sequence of video frames is linked to a still image that forms part of the animation.
  • the still image may have a higher or more variable resolution, a wider field of view (e.g., a panoramic image), a higher dynamic range, or a different aspect ratio than the video frames.
  • the still image may contain stereo parallax information or other depth information to allow stereo three- dimensional (3D) viewing.
  • the user may provide input to switch, on the fly, from the video presentation to an animation presentation to achieve the attendant advantages of the animation (e.g., higher resolution image).
  • the user may pause the video presentation to navigate within a panoramic image of the animation or to zoom in or out on a still image of the animation.
  • the user may playback an animation and a video in a picture in picture mode or switch from a presentation of an animation to a cross-linked video.
  • cross-linking involves generating still images from a video and then creating cross-links between the still images and frames of the video.
  • the still images may be generated using a video other than the video to which they are cross-linked. Techniques for creating still images from a video are described below. It will be appreciated that other similar techniques may be also be used to create still images without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
  • a still image having higher spatial resolution than frames of the video source can be achieved by integrating multiple video frames over time. Images in video frames that are temporally close together usually exhibit small positional shifts (e.g., sub-pixel motion) as a result of camera panning, zooming or other movement. The shift allows multiple video frames to be spatially registered to create a higher resolution image. High resolution still images can then be created by interpolating between adjacent pixels in the spatially registered video frames.
  • positional shifts e.g., sub-pixel motion
  • still images can be extracted from a second video source which exhibits higher resolution than the video to which the still images are linked.
  • Motion pictures typically are recorded on films that have many times more resolution than the NTSC video format commonly used for video tapes.
  • a still image can also have a wider dynamic range than a video frame to which it is cross-linked.
  • Dynamic range refers to the range of discernible intensity levels for each color component of a pixel in an image. Because the exposure setting of the camera may be changed from frame to frame to adapt to varying lighting conditions (e.g., auto iris), a sequence of video frames may exhibit subtle changes in color that can be integrated into a still image having increased dynamic range relative to the individual video frames.
  • a still image may be created from a video source (e.g., film) that has a wide dynamic range and then cross-linked with a video having narrower dynamic range.
  • a still image may also have a different aspect ratio than a video frame to which it is cross-linked.
  • Aspect ratio refers to the ratio between the width and height of an image.
  • a still image may be created from a video source having a relatively wide aspect ratio, such as film, and then cross-linked with a different video source having a narrower aspect ratio, such as NTSC video.
  • a typical aspect ratio for film is 2.2 by 1.
  • NTSC video by contrast, has a 4 by 3 aspect ratio.
  • Video frames that result from panning a camera can be registered and composited to create panoramas.
  • Video frames that result from zooming a camera can be registered and composited to create a large still image that has different resolutions in different regions (i.e., a multi-resolution image).
  • the region of a multi-resolution image where camera zooming has occurred will contain higher resolution than other regions of the multi-resolution image.
  • Panoramas and multi-resolution still images are a class of images referred to herein as navigable images.
  • a navigable image is any image which can be panned or zoomed to provide different views or that contains three dimensional images which can be used .
  • panoramic and multi- resolution still images may be represented by composite images
  • a panoramic image or multi-resolution still image may also be represented by discrete still images that are spatially registered.
  • Stereo image pairs can be obtained from a sequence of video frames that exhibit horizontal camera tracking motions. Two video frames recorded from separate viewpoints (e.g., viewpoints separated by an inter-pupiary distance) may be selected from the video sequence as a stereo image pair. Stereo images can be presented using a number different stereo viewing devices, such as stereo 3D displays, stereo glasses and so forth.
  • stereo images can be analyzed using, for example, image correlation or feature matching techniques to identify corresponding pixels or image features in a given stereo image pair.
  • the corresponding pixels or image features can then be used to establish the depth of the pixels and thus create a 3D range image.
  • Range images can be used in a number of applications including constructing 3D models and the creation of novel views or scenes from images and interpolating between images to create novel views.
  • Fig. 14A illustrates the use of a cross-link generator 203 to establish cross-links between a video source 10 and an animation 14 that has been created from the video source 10 by an animation authoring system 12.
  • the video source may be compressed by a video encoder 201 (e.g., a vector quantizer) before being received in the cross-link generator 203.
  • the cross-link generator 203 generates a cross-linking data structure which includes respective pointers to keyframes in the animation to which frames in the video source correspond.
  • Fig. 14B illustrates the use of the cross-link generator 203 to establish cross-links between a video source 10 and an animation 205 that has been created from a separate video source 204.
  • the separate video source 204 may have been used to produce the video source 10, or the two video sources 10, 204 may be unrelated. If the two video sources 10, 204 are unrelated, operator assistance may be required to identify which images in the animation 205 are to be cross-linked with frames of the video source 10. If the two video sources 10, 204 are related (e.g., one is a film, the other an NTSC-formatted video), then temporal correlation or scene correlation may be used by the cross-link generator to automatically cross-link images in the animation 205 and frames of the video source 10.
  • Fig. 15 illustrates a cross linking data structure 212 according to one embodiment.
  • Each data element in the cross-linking data structure 212 is referred to as a video frame element (VFE) and corresponds to a respective frame of a video source.
  • VFEi, VFE 2 , VFE3, VFEi, and VFEi + i correspond to frames VFi, VF 2 , VF3, VFi and VFi + i (not shown) of a video source.
  • the cross-linking data structure 212 is implemented as a linked list in which each video frame element includes a pointer to the next video frame element and also a pointer to a background frame 215, 216 in an animation.
  • the cross-linking data structure 212 may be implemented as an array of video frame elements rather than a linked- list.
  • the cross-linking data structure 212 may be implemented as a tree data structure instead of a linked-list. Tree data structures are useful for establishing associations between non-adjacent video segments and for searching to find particular video frames.
  • the cross-linking data structure may be represented by any type of data construct without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
  • the background frames in an animation are represented by background frame data structures 215, 216 that each include a pointer to the next background frame data structure (NEXT PTR), a pointer to the previous background frame data structure (PREV PTR), an image pointer (IMAGE PTR), a pointer to interpolation information (F TERP PTR), a timestamp and a pointer to one or more elements in the cross-linking data structure 212 (VF PTR).
  • NEXT PTR next background frame data structure
  • PREV PTR a pointer to the previous background frame data structure
  • IMAGE PTR image pointer
  • F TERP PTR pointer to interpolation information
  • VF PTR cross-linking data structure 212
  • the VF PTR in a particular background frame data structure 215, 216 and the pointer to the background frame data structure in a corresponding element of the cross-linking data structure 212 form a cross-link 217.
  • the background frame data structure and the video frame element include respective references to one another.
  • the reference may be a uniform resource locator, a memory address, an array index or any other value for associating a background frame data structure and a video frame element.
  • the VF PTR may include separate pointers to each of the video frame elements which point back to it.
  • the VF PTR may be a data structure that includes separate pointers to each of video frame elements VFEi, VFE 2 , VFE 3 .
  • the VF PTR may be a data structure that includes a pointer to a video frame element (e.g., VFEi) and a value indicating the total number of video frame elements to which the background frame data structure 215 is linked.
  • Other data constructs for cross- linking a background frame data structure and a sequence of video frame elements may be used in alternate embodiments.
  • the image pointer (IMAGE PTR) in each background frame data structure 215, 216 includes an image type member that indicates whether the background image from which the image data for the background frame is obtained is, for example, a non-composite still image (i.e., a video frame from which dynamic objects, if any, have been removed), a high resolution still image, a panorama or other composite image.
  • the image pointer also includes members indicating the location of the background image in memory and the offset within the background image at which the image data for the background frame is located.
  • a text descriptor may also be included as part of the background frame data structure 215, 216.
  • the text descriptor is a pointer to a text description (e.g., a character string) that describes the portion of the animation that is spanned by the background frame.
  • the text description may be displayed as an overlay on the animation or elsewhere on the display (e.g., a control bar).
  • appropriate default values may be assigned to respective text descriptions based on the type of motion that is identified. Referring to Fig. 16., for example, the default text descriptions for each of the three depicted animation segments 221, 223, 225 might be "Camera Still", “Camera Pan” and “Camera Zoom", respectively.
  • the text descriptor (TEXT DESCR) in the background frame data structures 215, 216 is not a pointer but an index that can be used to select a text description from a table of text descriptions.
  • a corresponding video frame element of the cross- linking data structure 212 may be referenced to identify a cross-linked background frame data structure 215, 216 in the animation.
  • the image pointer in the background frame data structure 215, 216 may then be referenced to determine whether the background frame is drawn from a composite or non- composite image.
  • a user may be notified (e.g., by a visual or audio prompt) that a composite image is available during playback of the video. The user may then select to playback the animation or to view and navigate within the background image.
  • the user may view the panorama using a panorama viewing tool (i.e., a software program that can be executed on a general purpose computer to render user-selected portions of a composite image onto a display).
  • a panorama viewing tool i.e., a software program that can be executed on a general purpose computer to render user-selected portions of a composite image onto a display.
  • the user may wish to view the image as a still frame to discern detail that may have been unavailable or difficult to discern in the video source.
  • zoomable still image the user may with to zoom in and out on the still frame.
  • Other animation-enabled activities may also be performed, such as selecting designated hot spots within the animation, isolating a dynamic object within the animation, directmg object or background motions and so forth.
  • Fig. 16 is a diagram of a cross-linked relationship between a sequence of video frames 230 in a video source and background images 231 from an animation that has been created using the animation authoring techniques described above.
  • the sequence of video frames includes four video segments 222, 224, 226, 228 each of which is associated with a respective background image 221, 223, 225, 227 via cross-links 217.
  • Video segment 222 depicts a stationary scene (i.e., stationary within some motion threshold) and is cross linked to a corresponding still background image 221.
  • Video segment 224 depicts a scene that is caused by camera panning and is cross-linked to a corresponding panorama 223 that has been created by processing and stitching two or more frames from the video segment 224.
  • Video segment 226 depicts a scene that is caused by camera zooming and is cross-linked to a high- resolution, zoomable still image 225.
  • Video segment 228 depicts a scene that is caused by moving a camera around one or more 3D objects and is cross-linked to a 3D object image.
  • high resolution still images and 3D object images are created by processing and compositing frames from a video segment (e.g., video segments 222, 224, 226, 228).
  • Fig. 17 depicts a display 241 that has been generated by a playback system.
  • the playback system is capable of rendering either a video or an animation onto the display 241.
  • the playback system is rendering a video on the display 241.
  • a control bar 242 is presented that includes rewind, play, pause and stop buttons.
  • the cross link between the corresponding video frame element and a background frame in an animation is followed to determine if the background frame is drawn from a high resolution still image, panoramic image or zoomable image. If the background frame is, for example, drawn from a panoramic image, the icon indicated PAN in Fig. 17 is displayed, highlighted or otherwise indicated to be active.
  • An audible tone may also be generated to indicate the availability of a panoramic image.
  • the user may click on or otherwise select the PAN icon (e.g., using a cursor control device such as a mouse or other handheld control device) to cause display of the video to be paused and to cause the panoramic image to be displayed.
  • program code for navigating the panoramic image may be automatically loaded into the playback system's operating memory, if not already resident, and executed to allow the user to pan, tilt and zoom the perspective view of the panorama.
  • the PAN icon when the still or zoom icons STILL, ZOOM become active, the user may click the appropriate STILL or ZOOM icon to view a high resolution still image or a zoomable image.
  • the video also can be linked to one or more three-dimensional objects or scenes related to the video.
  • a link to a three-dimensional object is invoked during the playback of the video, in a manner similar to that described above, a particular view of the three-dimensional object is displayed.
  • Program code is executed to allow the user to change the orientation and position of a virtual camera in a three-dimensional coordinate system to generate different perspective views of the object.
  • control bar 242 also includes an icon ANIM/VTDEO that can be used to toggle between presentation of a video and presentation of an animation that has been cross-linked to the video.
  • an icon ANIM/VTDEO that can be used to toggle between presentation of a video and presentation of an animation that has been cross-linked to the video.
  • the video frame element that corresponds to the currently displayed video frame is inspected to identify a cross-linked frame in the animation.
  • the time stamp of the cross-linked frame in the animation is used to determine a relative starting time within the background and object tracks of the animation and the playback system begins rendering the animation accordingly. If, during playback of the animation, the user clicks the ANIM /VIDEO icon again, the current background track data structure is inspected to identify a cross-linked frame in the video. Video playback is then resumed at the cross-linked frame.
  • Fig. 18 depicts an alternate display 261 that has been generated by a playback of an animation in a playback system.
  • a control bar 262 within the display 261 includes icons for rewinding, playing, pausing and stopping the animation playback (i.e., icons REWIND, PLAY, PAUSE,
  • the control bar 262 also includes a resolution selector in the form of a slide bar 264 to allow the playback system user to indicate a relative preference for temporal and spatial resolution in the animation playback.
  • a resolution selector in the form of a slide bar 264 to allow the playback system user to indicate a relative preference for temporal and spatial resolution in the animation playback.
  • An ANIM/VTDEO icon is present in the control bar 262 to allow the user to toggle between presentation of a video and an animation that have been cross-linked.
  • the cross-linked video is concurrently displayed within a sub-window 268 according to a picture-in- picture format.
  • the ANIM /VIDEO icon is clicked by a user, the video is presented in the primary viewing area of display 261 and the animation is presented in the sub-window 268.
  • T e picture-in-picture capability may be enabled or disabled from a menu (not shown) presented on display 261.
  • Cross-linking between an animation and a video can be used to provide a number of useful effects. For example, by cross-linking a navigable image of a marketplace to frames of a video that include a storefront, a user viewing the video may be prompted to switch to the panoramic image to shop for goods and services depicted in the marketplace. Transactions for the goods and services may be carried out electronically via a communication network.
  • Cross- linking a navigable image and a video would be particularly effective where the navigable image is a panorama or other composite image of a location in a scene of the video. For example, if a video included a navigable environment (e.g., an airplane, spaceship, submarine, cruise ship, building and so forth). Imagine, for example, a video scene in which a character on a cruise ship walked past a souvenir shop. The viewer could stop the video and browse the souvenir shop in a spontaneous and intuitive manner.
  • a navigable environment e.g., an airplane, spaceship, submarine, cruise ship, building and so forth.
  • cross-linking Another useful application of cross-linking would be to allow a user to configure a video.
  • a user could link animation sequences to the video so that the animation sequence is automatically invoked when a cross-linked frame of the video is reached.
  • display of the video may be resumed at another cross-linked video frame.
  • a user could selectively add out-takes to scenes in a video or replace portions of the video with animation sequences.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Computer Graphics (AREA)
  • Processing Or Creating Images (AREA)

Abstract

Dispositif et procédé servant à créer et à mémoriser une animation et à associer cette animation à une vidéo. On inspecte une séquence d'images vidéo afin d'identifier une première transformation d'une scène illustrée dans la séquence d'images vidéo. On obtient une première image et une deuxième image à partir de la séquence d'images vidéo, la première image représentant la scène avant la première transformation et la deuxième image représentant la scène après la première transformation. On génère une information indiquant la première transformation et pouvant être utilisée afin d'effectuer une interpolation entre la première image et la deuxième image, de manière à produire un effet vidéo s'approchant de l'affichage de la séquence d'images vidéo. En ce qui concerne la mémorisation d'une animation, on mémorise un ensemble d'images clef créées à partir d'une vidéo dans un objet d'animation. On mémorise une ou plusieurs valeurs indiquant une première séquence d'images clef sélectionnées à partir de l'ensemble d'images clef dans l'objet d'animation avec l'information servant à effectuer l'interpolation entre les images clef de la première séquence. On mémorise également dans l'objet d'animation une ou plusieurs valeurs indiquant une deuxième séquence d'images clef sélectionnées depuis l'ensemble d'images clef avec l'information servant à effectuer l'interpolation entre les images clef de la deuxième séquence. Le nombre d'images clef de la deuxième séquence est moins important que le nombre d'images clef de la première séquence. En ce qui concerne l'association d'une vidéo et d'une animation, on génère une structure de données contenant des éléments correspondant à des images respectives d'une première vidéo. On mémorise l'information indiquant qu'une image d'animation a été créée à partir d'une deuxième vidéo dans un ou plusieurs des éléments de cette structure de données.
PCT/US1999/013081 1998-06-11 1999-06-09 Creation d'une animation a partir d'une video WO1999065224A2 (fr)

Priority Applications (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP2000554125A JP2002518723A (ja) 1998-06-11 1999-06-09 ビデオからのアニメーションの創出
EP99928542A EP1097568A2 (fr) 1998-06-11 1999-06-09 Creation d'une animation a partir d'une video
AU45588/99A AU4558899A (en) 1998-06-11 1999-06-09 Creating animation from a video
HK02100130.9A HK1038625A1 (zh) 1998-06-11 2002-01-08 自視頻產生動畫的方法

Applications Claiming Priority (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US09/096,726 US6081278A (en) 1998-06-11 1998-06-11 Animation object having multiple resolution format
US09/096,726 1998-06-11
US09/096,720 US6278466B1 (en) 1998-06-11 1998-06-11 Creating animation from a video
US09/096,487 US6268864B1 (en) 1998-06-11 1998-06-11 Linking a video and an animation
US09/096,720 1998-06-11
US09/096,487 1998-06-11

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WO1999065224A2 true WO1999065224A2 (fr) 1999-12-16
WO1999065224A3 WO1999065224A3 (fr) 2000-04-27

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US7050498B2 (en) 2001-02-06 2006-05-23 Monolith Co., Ltd. Image generating method, apparatus and system using critical points
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WO2013113985A1 (fr) * 2012-01-31 2013-08-08 Nokia Corporation Procédé, appareil et produit-programme informatique pour la génération d'images de mouvement
GB2566930A (en) * 2017-09-06 2019-04-03 Fovo Tech Limited A method for preserving perceptual constancy of objects in images
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CN113496537B (zh) * 2021-07-07 2023-06-30 网易(杭州)网络有限公司 动画播放方法、装置及服务器

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AU4558899A (en) 1999-12-30
WO1999065224A3 (fr) 2000-04-27
EP1097568A2 (fr) 2001-05-09
HK1038625A1 (zh) 2002-03-22
JP2002518723A (ja) 2002-06-25

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