GB2546468A

GB2546468A - Video system

Info

Publication number: GB2546468A
Application number: GB1520066.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Oliver De Min David
Original assignee: Velapp Ltd
Current assignee: VELAPP LIMITED
Priority date: 2015-11-13
Filing date: 2015-11-13
Publication date: 2017-07-26
Also published as: WO2017081486A1; GB201520066D0

Abstract

A device and method for associating frames of a live video stream with concurrently received user rating information. The user rating information preferably being input by a physical user interface comprising a virtual or real button, pressure sensor, slider or wheel. Also disclosed is a device and method for automatically editing video data, where video data and user rating data are received before the rating data is used to select video or image data sequences that satisfy a predetermined or user defined rating criterion and/or that provide a desired playtime for the video. Preferably the original video data is stored alongside selection data that identifies the selected video or image data sequences. Preferably the selection data is updated in response to the additional received user rating data. Preferably when selecting video/image data sequences, video/image data sequences that have a user rating exceeding a predetermined or user defined rating value are selected as well as sequences contiguous with and before and/or after the selected sequences. Video data not selected is excluded from display in the edited video, or made subject to fast forwarding.

Description

Video System

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention described herein relate generally to associating video data with rating values.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Rating video files can be a time consuming process. Moreover, it may be necessary for a video stream to be rated repeatedly before a desired rating accuracy can be achieved.

The present invention seeks to address, overcome or mitigate at least one of or other disadvantages associated with what is currently a laborious procedure of rating a video file.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a device configured to receive a live video stream and user rating information and to associate frames of the video stream with concurrently received rating information.

Said user may be the person who is taking the live video stream (i.e. recording the video), such that the rating is done by the person who is taking the video. The user input of the device may comprise a user input which comprises a physical user interface enabling a user to input rating information.

The physical interface may be a virtual or real button, pressure sensor, slider or wheel for activation by a user.

The pressure sensor may be configured to collect numerical rating data reflecting the user’s rating of the video according to a rating scale which corresponds to predetermined ranges of pressure sensed by the pressure sensor.

The use of a pressure sensor to reflect the user’s rating enables the user to actively rate the video being recorded in a natural and intuitive manner. Where the pressure sensors are embedded in various parts of the video recording device or a device that the video recording device is connected to (e.g. handle of a bike), the user does not need to separately rate the video whilst holding the video recording device, and/or without being distracted from performing other activities.

Furthermore, where the user is able to rate live recordings whilst recording the video, it is enables the user to rate the video without having to watch the video again separately after the video has been recorded. Additionally, as the rating is an active user input, it is possible to collect reliable rating data that reflects the user’s opinion of the relevant video. Rating the video simultaneously in real time as the video is being recorded means that accurate rating data can be collected whilst it is very clear to the user (as the user is recording it in that moment) which part of the video recording should be rated higher or lower. For example, the user may not be able to remember as accurately which part of the video was the most exciting if he is rating a video after it has been recorded.

The device may perform a re-scaling operation on the rating data values when a large amount of high or off the score rating values has been received, such that rating data values are adjusted.

Re-rating could be used/offered to the user in situations where the user rates a start of the video with high scores or where the user, later on during the rating of a video, realises that the later part of the video is better than earlier parts, and wants to re-scale the rating. Again, a reliable rating of the video can be achieved according to the present invention.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a device for automatically editing a video configured to receive user rating data and video data; using the user rating data to select video or image data sequences that satisfy a predetermined or user defined rating criterion and/or that provide a desired playtime for the edited video.

The desired playtime for the edited video refers to the overall playtime duration of the edited video.

Simply editing data based on data automatically collected from sensors may not be reliable, but the present invention enables active user participation in rating and hence editing based on such user rating ensures that a more reliable editing may be output by a device according to the present invention.

The editing device may store the original video data alongside the selection data that identifies the selected video or image data sequences.

The editing device may be configured to create updated selection data on the basis of the selection data and received additional user rating data.

As such, not only is it possible for the device of the present invention to output a reliably edited video which reflects a single user’s opinion, but any number of users’ opinions. The rating data may be an average of all the rating data collected from various users.

The device may be configured to, when selecting said video or image data sequences, select video or image data sequences that have a user rating exceeding a predetermined or user defined rating value and to include in said selection video or image data sequences contiguous with and before and/or after selected sequences extending over a predetermined amount of time.

This ensures that the final edited video is not too jumpy and takes the user’s reaction time in response to an exciting moment into account. As such, even where the user may have reacted a little too slowly to the exciting moment that they consider worthy of a high rating, these moments are included in the final edited video output by the device.

The device may consider the time length of continual highest rating data value when video data are selected based on playtime of the video. This is to say, where there are a number of highly rated video data, the device may select the video data in the order of highest rating data. Where the total playtime of the most highly rated video data is longer than a selected video playtime (i.e. the video playtime that the final edited video must correspond to), the editor may choose the video data corresponding in the order of where rating data are continually the highest.

Any video data not selected may be excluded from a display of the edited video data or, during such display, made subject to fast forwarding.

Deleting any unselected data may save memory space. Fast forwarding the video data by, for example, playing unselected data at low frame rate means that the original video is maintained and hence when additional rating data are collected resulting in unselected data to be selected, the users can bring back any parts of the video that were previously less appreciated.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system which enables the user to rate or score a video either live or after it has been recorded, wherein the rating value is tagged to (i.e. associated with) the video data.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system which uses the rating data collected as in the above mentioned aspect of the present invention and is configured to receive an editing condition set by the user to automatically filter out the video data and hence edit according to the requested condition.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of rating live video stream, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a live video stream and user rating information and associating frames of the video stream with concurrently received rating information.

In the method, the user rating information may be received from a user input comprising a physical user interface enabling a user to input rating information.

In the method the physical interface may be a virtual or real button, pressure sensor, slider or wheel for activation by a user.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of automatically editing video data, the method comprising the steps of: receiving user rating data and video data; and using the user rating data to select video or image data sequences that satisfy a predetermined or user defined rating criterion and/or that provide a desired playtime for the edited video.

In the method, the original video data may be stored alongside selection data that identifies the selected video or image data sequences.

The method may comprise further steps of: receiving additional user rating data; and creating updated selection data on the basis of the selection data and received additional user rating data.

In the method, in the step of selecting said video or image data sequences, video or image data sequences that have a user rating exceeding a predetermined or user defined rating value and to include in said selection video or image data sequences contiguous with and before and/or after selected sequences extending over a predetermined amount of time may be selected.

In the method, any video data not selected are excluded from a display of the edited video data or, during such display, may be made subject to fast forwarding.

In the method, all of the originally recorded video data may be received alongside rating data values and video data are edited in real time.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer storage medium comprising code for execution by a processor, the code, when executed by a processor causing the processor to perform any of the methods mentioned above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows a schematic of an editing system according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 shows a graphical user interface displayed to a user during rating;

Figures 3a and b show graphical user interfaces displayed to a user after rating and/or editing; and

Figures 4a and 4b illustrate a scroll wheel for rating, which can also act as a video recording control button.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 illustrates an embodiment of video system according to the invention. Various further components may be removed or added to the video system as necessary. The system comprises a live video data receiver, a recorded video data receiver and a rating input data receiver connected to a video data and rate data associator. The system further comprises a rating visualiser and an editor connected to the video data and the rate data associator.

The live video data receiver is configured to collect and/or receive video data whilst it is being recorded. The recorded video data receiver is configured to receive video data of an existing video file. The rating input data is configured to collect and/or receive user rating over the duration of the live or recorded video data. The video data and rate data associator is configured to receive the video data and the rating input data and associate the video data with the corresponding rating input data. The rating visualiser is configured to receive the rating data associated to the video data to visualise the video rating against the time frame of the video file. The user edit criteria is configured to receive an edit criteria selected by the user. The editor is configured to receive the video data associated with (or tagged with) rate data and the user edit condition data, and rearrange the video data according to the edit condition data selected. Each of the components in the editing system will be described in further detail below.

There are two main modes in which the system can be run in, one is rating a live video being recorded and the other is rating a video file that has already been recorded.

In the present invention, rating a video means to assign video data with values of a scale corresponding to the user’s opinion or analysis of the video content at a particular point during its play. An example would be a scale of 0 to 10, wherein the user assigns higher value in the scale during the parts where they find the video more interesting.

The user may continuously rate the video, this is to say continuously as the video is being recorded or played back. For example, where the user stops any input the scale may automatically be returned to zero.

The user rating may be input in various different ways, wherein the user interface of an input sensing device of the rating input data receiver (not shown in Figure 1) may be virtual or mechanical.

In one embodiment, the input sensing device is a pressure sensor. This pressure sensor can take the form of a physical pressure sensor provided specifically for the purpose of sensing pressure or at least and activation. Alternatively a virtual rating button 20 could be displayed on a display device/screen, wherein activation of this button 20 can be sensed using a touch screen layer overlying the display. A graphical user interface displayed to the user in this way during rating is as illustrated in Figure 2.

In this embodiment, as illustrated in Figure 2, the graphical user interface displayed to the user during rating comprises the main screen in which the video being recorded is displayed, a recording controller 10 and a rating button 20. The recording controller 10 is used to start, pause or stop recording of the video. The user can press the rating button 20 to input their rating of the video that is being recorded.

As can be seen in Figure 2, on the top left hand corner total play time of the video may be displayed during recording, and in the lower region of the video a visualisation of the rating data collected up to the point may be displayed.

Touch screen layers that can sense not only touch in a binary form but that can determine how much pressure has been applied to the screen are known. The purpose of using the input sensing device is to determine how highly the user rates a particular part of a video that is being displayed at any given moment in time. For this purpose the user’s interaction with his environment is sensed. This can be done, as in the above example, by measuring a pressure exerted by the user on a pressure sensor. The user may be asked to input his/her rating of a video scene presently playing on a display device by applying the appropriate pressure to the pressure sensor. That said, based on excitement felt by the user in seeing the video scene the user may in any case apply a varying amount of tension to any device he/she is holding. By placing the pressure sensor in a location that is likely to touched by the user when viewing the video scene such natural fluctuations in tension can be exploited. If a virtual button is used, for example, then the virtual button may be displayed on a part of a touch sensitive display screen that the user would touch when holding the display device (say a tablet computer, for example) in any case or that is convenient for the user to touch. Any such virtual button may, for example, be provided in a lower right-hand or left-hand corner of the display device, so that it can easily be reached by a thumb of a user when holding the device.

Other input methods may include a mechanical slider or scroll wheel provided on the device, a virtual slider displayed on a touch screen for activation by the user. For example, a mechanical scroll wheel which also acts as a button when pushed down is illustrated in Figures 4a and 4b. Rating data can be collected by the user scrolling the scroll wheel, and the scroll wheel can also be pushed down where it would then act as a recording control button of the video recording device. The mechanical scroll wheel may also have a rubber grip to prevent the user’s finger slipping off the mechanical scroll during rating.

In one embodiment a virtual button that changes its size according to the pressure sensed may be used. In this manner the pressure the user asserts at a parrticular point in time is visualised, providing feedback to the user. More specifically, the button grows in size when the user asserts more pressure. In addition, the button may also change in colour to illustrate the level of pressure.

The scale is set to correspond to a specific range of pressure values sensed by the device. The maximum pressure sensed may not correspond to the highest point of the scale. For example, the scale may be configured in such a way that some pressure level sensed corresponds to a level higher than the highest point of the scale. Using the example of the scale used above, this is to say that no pressure sensed may correspond to 0 on the scale, medium pressure level to 5 on the scale, and high pressure level to 10 on the scale, wherein a pressure level higher than that corresponding to 10 exists. In essence, the system would have a hidden scale not visible to the user, for example a scale of 11 which corresponds to pressure level above that corresponding to scale of 10. Nevertheless, a scale of up to 10 would be visible to the user, and the hidden scale of 11 would be represented to the user as being off the scale level.

Where the user enters above mentioned hidden scale, which is presented to the user as off the scale level, the multimedia device may alert the user in a number of different ways, such as haptic feedback, beeping or flashing. The entering of the hidden scale or going off the scale may be considered as the device entering a “pressure play mode”.

When the device is activated so that it indicates a rating value that is higher than the normal rating scale (0 .. 10 in the above example) such rating input is taken as relating to a video sequence that is of particular interest to the user. The recording of such video sequence may then be changed from normal recording at 30 frames per second to high speed recording at a higher frame rate (say at 120 frames per second, 240 frames per second or even higher, for example). Making video data recorded with a high frame rate available in this manner allows playing the video sequence in question at different speeds, so that display speeds ranging from slow motion to normal display speed (i.e. the speed at which the video data has been recorded) are possible. It will be appreciated that playing in slow motion is particularly attractive as it allows viewing exciting video footage in great temporal detail.

Alternatively, data recording may take place at high frame rate (say 120 frames per second) regardless of the rating value input. In an embodiment, play of the thus recorded video sequence may then be played at a frame rate that re-produced those parts of the video that have been associated with a rating value within the normal rating range in real-time in any manner described herein but that play of video sequences rated higher than the standard rating scale is in slow motion in the manner described above. In this manner it is ensured that all data is available for playing in slow motion. This allows to, for example, extend particularly interesting scenes for play in slow motion, say to accommodate a situation where a user has, inadvertently, delayed rated at a desired high or of the scale rating value until after the start of a particularly interesting video sequence.

The rating values received may also be made the subject of a scaling operation. This can be performed, for example, in situations in which a large amount of high or off the score rating values has been received. Such re-scaling may take the form of a multiplication of the received rating values with a value that emphasises any (small ) differences between the high ration received. The scaling may, for example, be performed so that a value at the top of the range is multiplied by one (i.e. so that this value remains unchanged) but a value in the middle of the possible rating range (be that at a point in the rating range that is predetermined or one that is user selected) or indeed the lowest rating value received is multiplied by a lower value, such as zero. Received rating values between these two points may be multiplied by values that change from the highest to the lowest multiplicator described above in a step-wise or continuous, preferably a linearly continuous fashion. Re-rating in this fashion could be used/offered to the user in situations where the user rates a start of the video with high scores or where the user, later on during the rating of a video, realises that the later part of the video is better than earlier parts, and wants to re-scale the rating.

Device that are aware of the touch location and pressure of up to five touch points on the screen and that provide relevant touch screen sensing data at 120Hz are available. In an embodiment, the rating input data receiver receives and processes such rating input data continuously. When processing such input data the rating input receiver, however, only provides a time stamp that includes the received rating value and timing information, such as the amount of time that has passed in the video in total, when the received input rating value changes. In other words, non-uniform sequences of time stamped pressure data are collected by the rating input data receiver. The embodiment treats those frames that are not directly associated with a rating value by having a time stamp of this nature associated with it as having the same rating value as provided by the last received time stamp. In this manner the computational complexity of processing the rating data is reduced and the amount of rating data that needs to be stored is minimised.

In the mode of rating the video live as it is being recorded, the video data and rate data associator tags the video data as it is being collected with the rate data received from the rating input data receiver.

In the mode of rating a recorded video, the relevant video file is opened and played. As the video is being played, the user inputs their rating, wherein the rating input data receiver collates rating input value and the time data associated with this input value.

In both cases, known video standards that associate time based data with other information (in this case the rating data) are used. For example, the video data may be converted to an encoded video file, the encoded video file having the video temporal identifier such as time codes, and similarly the rating data may be converted to a data markup language file such as an Adobe’s extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) file, having the data temporal identifier associated therewith. The encoded video file and the XMP data file may be merged, which may involve aligning the video temporal identifier and the rating data temporal identifier.

The rating visualizer outputs a visual record of the rating provided by the user as illustrated in Figures 3a and 3b. In this embodiment, the visualisation is in the form of a curve located within or below the area in which the video is displayed and plotted in a graph that comprises a horizontal axis of time versus a vertical axis of rating. In the example illustrated in Figure 3, the visualisation is located below the area in which the video is displayed. It will be appreciated that time sequences of rating values can be visualised without using a curve. It is, for example, envisaged that, instead of or in addition to the use of the curve displayed in Figures 3a and b, the rating values could be displayed by associating individual colour values with the rating values received, so that a user can, based on a change in the colour displayed, appreciate the rating values. The curve itself, or an area under it, may, of course, be coloured in this manner, as is shown in Figures 3a and b. The curve may be displayed alongside the video as the rating takes place, so that new rating values are added to the curve as rating progresses, or only after rating has been completed.

As shown in Figures 3a and 3b, the vertical position of the slider 30 on the display screen influences the vertical position of a horizontal line crossing the rating curve below the display area. In Figure 3a the slider is at its topmost limit, causing the horizontal line being at the lowest possible position in the curve. This means that no video sequences are excluded from the video, so that the video plays in it originally recorded length. The play time for the video is shown next to the slider in Figure 3a.

In Figure 3b the slider has been moved down, from the topmost position (in which the video is played completely) to a lower position along the slider. This has caused the horizontal line below the display area to move upward. As only the video sequences that have a rating value higher than the threshold value defined by this line are included in the edited video the total play time of the edited video is shorter than the originally recording time, as shown next to the slider in Figure 3b.

Once the video has been rated, the rating information can be used to edit the video. For this purpose, in one embodiment, an edit criteria input 30 is provided. This input is used to allow the user to indicate to the system of the embodiment according to which criteria or condition the video is to be edited. It is, for example, envisaged that the video is to be edited so that only those parts of the video that have a rating higher than a predetermined threshold are shown. The edit criteria input 30 can, in this example, take the form of the (virtual) slider displayed in Figure 3 on the display screen to the right-hand side of the video display area. By manipulating the value of this slider the user can select the threshold value used for editing and/or re-playing the video. To aid the user in selecting an appropriate threshold value a horizontal line indicating the currently chosen threshold value in the rating curve below the video display area (as shown in Figure 3, wherein the threshold value is currently at 10 and thus the horizontal line touches the highest peaks of the visualisation curve, the peaks corresponding to a rating of 10) may be displayed. In this fashion the user can judge which fraction of the total recorded video would be displayed using the currently chosen threshold. The total duration of the video that would be played using this selection can consequently be estimated by the user in this manner, as can the scenes/rating peaks that will be included in such re-play. Additionally the display may display the total duration of the video sequences that will be displayed using the currently selected threshold value.

Where the user sets the editing condition using the rating data, the editor then filters out the video data that has a rating value which is equivalent to or higher than the rating value set by the user. For example, where the user selects an editing condition of rating over 5 by sliding the pointer on the rating scale, the editor then selects the video data that has a rating of 5 to 10 and any off the scale values for play.

The user may select to either exclude from play any video data with rating values below the selected threshold (rating values of 0 to 4 in the above example), or to fast-forward through such low-rated video data parts of the video. For example, the fast forwarding is achieved by showing the video data with lower rating values by increasing the frame rate used for displaying or by simply omitting frames when displaying at the normal frame rate. Fast-forwarding may be preferred, as it results in a smoother edited video when compared to a video that simply omits frames. It is, however, envisaged that both editing mechanisms can be employed, for example in situations where long video sequences are rated low, so that, for example, a fast forwarding type re-play follows the play of a highly rated sequence to provide a type of fade out, followed in turn by the omission of a video sequence and an accelerated play of a lowly rated video sequence to provide fade in for the next highly rated video sequence. It is moreover envisaged that, if video sequences that have been given a low rating are played at an enhanced speed, the play speed is not constant and instead accelerates from the normal play speed to a maximum play speed and back to the normal play speed for phasing out of an into the respective immediately preceding and following high rated video sequences.

Alternatively to the slider in the embodiment the user may be prompted to input the desired length of the final video. For example, if a video has a total playtime duration of 10 minutes, the user may be able to select an editing condition of 2 minutes as the desired length of the final edited video. The final total playtime may be input by the user with a slider with a scale of time which reflects the duration of the video to be edited. This may be done by allowing the user to manually input a desired time value for the length of the edited video. The user input may be bounded by a minimum time requirement to ensure that the resulting video is not too short and of course cannot exceed the duration of the originally recorded video. Should the user choose to or accidentally input a time value that does exceed the original play length (for example, 11 minutes when the total playtime duration of the original video is 10 minutes) the time value may be reduced to the original recording length of the video. In this case the user is warned that the editing will have zero effect and input of a reduced play duration is requested.

Further alternatively the user may be presented with a choice of possible play back durations for selection of a desired one of the suggested durations. Such selection can, for example, be facilitated by displaying appropriate radio buttons for user activation.

In a scenario in which an originally recorded video comprises a total duration of video data that has been ranked at the highest level (be that at the maximum ranking level or at the maximum level off the ranking scale) and in which the user selects a period of play time for the edited video that is lower than this most highly ranked play duration then it will become necessary for some of the most highly ranked video data to be deselected alongside less highly ranked video data. In one embodiment sections of highest ranked video data are simply selected until the selected total play time is reached. This means that regardless of the video content, the earlier content of the video data with highest score rating are selected. Alternatively, the editor may select the longest continuous period of most highly ranked video content, follow by the second, third, fourth, and so on longest continuous periods of most highly ranked video content until the total selected play time is reached. This does of course not mean that the thus selected video sequences would then be played out of turn/in the order in which they have been selected. Instead the video sequences are merely selected in this fashion and then played in their original recording order. In another embodiment the video sequences that are to be played are selected so that the length of the selected sequences are synchronised to a pre- or user selected sound track. In this embodiment it is not necessary to play entire continuous sequences of the most highly rated video data. Instead, fractions of such sequences may be extracted from the originally recorded video data in a manner that they allow for synchronisation to the soundtrack whilst still being played in sequence.

It will be appreciated that, when selecting video data for retention as part of an editing process (and consequently also de-selecting the video sequences that are not to be displayed) interfaces between selected video sequences are created. In one embodiment a short period (in the order of no more than two seconds, preferably no more than one second) of the end of a video sequence is retained and played prior to a selected video sequence. This ensures that video data that would have been highly rated by the rating user had it not been for a natural delay in the rating user’s reaction to the video content is also displayed when the highly rated video content is played.

It will be appreciated that, in one embodiment the sound data associated with recorded image data is edited in the same manner as the image data. Alternatively and/or additionally different sound data may be cut into/onto the image data so that it mixes with originally recorded sound data or replaces the same. It is moreover envisaged that added sound data, such as sound track, is added to the edited image data so that poignant sections of the sound data fit, in length and/or character, the length and/or character of the edited image/video data. It is moreover envisaged to provide a user interface for a user to select sound data/a sound track for adding to edited video data, wherein the video data is edited such that the length of individual continuous selected sections of the video data corresponds to a selected poignant section of the sound track. In other words, the image data is edited such that the cuts between scenes are synchronised with changes in the sound track. When referring to video data herein, reference is made to the combination of moving image data and any associate sound data that has been recorded alongside it, unless the context in which such reference is made dictates otherwise.

Once the video data has been edited it can be stored so that it replaces the original video data. More preferably, however, the edited video data is stored as a separate file in situations in which de-selected video sequences are not stored as part of the edited video data. It is equally possible to, in one embodiment, simply store the entirety of the edited video data alongside the rating data and to, upon playing of the video data, only play the selected parts of the video data and skip de-selected parts of the video data. In appearance a thus played video stream is indistinguishable from a stored video stream that no longer contains de-selected data.

Not physically excluding de-selected data from edited video data has several advantages. Firstly physically retaining de-selected video data allows re-editing of the video data. In a situation in which, for example, a recorded video stream is to be edited for mass appeal it is desirable for a large number of users to rate the video stream. Once the user has provided his rating he or she may be presented with a re-play of the edited video stream. Such rewards are commonly offered in crowd sourcing scenarios and may be expected from users if they were to engage in the editing process. At the same time, however, the original video data is to be retained to allow other users to independently rate the video data. In this manner several rating data streams can be created (in a crowd sourcing scenarios these may well number into the hundreds or thousands). These rating data streams (an individual one of which is displayed in Figure 2 below the display area) may be stored alongside the original video data as separate data sets or in a data base. Alternatively the rating data streams may be sent one by one to a central data collection point/server, for future processing. Such future processing may simply take the form of, for each video frame, averaging of all rating values applicable to the frame, so that an averaged rating data stream is created that reflects the average view of the reviewers. It will be appreciated that more complex ways of extracting a final rating value from sets of rating values may be used.

The present invention may be deployed on the user’s device entirely, such as on a camera, smart phone, tablet computer or any other type of device configured to record, rate and/or edit video data. Alternatively the above described rating and editing steps may be performed in a client server configuration where a client, such as a web browser is used for interfacing with a user, whereas some or all of the computational steps associated with associated rating data with video sequences, editing video sequences or preparing video sequences for reproduction take place on the server side of any such configuration. The client/web browser may, for example, be used to upload any video data and rating data collected by/from the user or to receive or retrieve any video data and rating data available from other devices through a distributed data communication network such as the internet. For example, a Hypertext Markup Language document may be retrieved from a web server executing at the user’s device, wherein the document may direct the device to retrieve a multimedia stream from a server and display the video on the user’s device. As such, a user who may not have recorded the video may be able to rate the video to add further rating data to be associated with the video data and even edit the video if they wish.

As discussed above, the user recording the video may have rated it as he or she was recording the video, a user may have rated an already recorded video during its playback, or a user may be re-rating a video that has already been rated. In each case, after a set of rating data has been obtained, the device is able to output a single rating data value to represent the overall rating of the video. This single rating data value may be an average of all the rating data value collected, for example where the scale was 0 to 10, the overall rating may output a value from 0 to 10. Where the video is then edited, the overall rating may be calculated by only taking the data values associated with the selected video data into account. Such overall rating value may be re-calculated each time a new set of rating data is obtained or after the video has been edited.

According to the present invention, therefore, the video creator may rate a video either live as it is being recorded or after it has been recorded, wherein the rating value is tagged to (i.e. associated with) the video data, which in turn enables the user to set an editing condition to filter out the video data and hence edit according to the requested condition. Thus, editing of a video is simplified, and an overall opinion of the viewers may be used to edit the video, rather than just a single editor’s opinion being reflected in the edited video.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed the novel methods and apparatus described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of methods and apparatus described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms of modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A device configured to receive a live video stream and user rating information and to associate frames of the video stream with concurrently received rating information.

2. A device according to claim 1, comprising a user input which comprises a physical user interface enabling a user to input rating information.

3. A device according to Claim 2, wherein the physical interface is a virtual or real button, pressure sensor, slider or wheel for activation by a user.

4. A device for automatically editing video data configured to: receive user rating data and video data; using the user rating data to select video or image data sequences that satisfy a predetermined or user defined rating criterion and/or that provide a desired playtime for the edited video.

5. A device according to claim 4, wherein the original video data are stored alongside selection data that identifies the selected video or image data sequences.

6. A device according to claim 4 or 5, configured to create updated selection data on the basis of the selection data and received additional user rating data.

7. A device according to any one of claims 4 to 6, configured to, when selecting said video or image data sequences, select video or image data sequences that have a user rating exceeding a predetermined or user defined rating value and to include in said selection video or image data sequences contiguous with and before and/or after selected sequences extending over a predetermined amount of time.

8. A device according to any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein any video data not selected are excluded from a display of the edited video data or, during such display, made subject to fast forwarding.

9. A video player comprising an editing device according to any of claims 4 to 9, the player configured to receive all of the originally recorded video data alongside rating data values and to edit the video data in real time.

10. A method of rating live video stream, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a live video stream and user rating information and associating frames of the video stream with concurrently received rating information.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein user rating information is received from a user input comprising a physical user interface enabling a user to input rating information.

12. A method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the physical interface is a virtual or real button, pressure sensor, slider or wheel for activation by a user.

13. A method of automatically editing video data, the method comprising the steps of: receiving user rating data and video data; using the user rating data to select video or image data sequences that satisfy a predetermined or user defined rating criterion and/or that provide a desired playtime for the edited video.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the original video data are stored alongside selection data that identifies the selected video or image data sequences.

15. A method according to claim 13 or 14, the method comprising steps of: receiving additional user rating data; creating updated selection data on the basis of the selection data and received additional user rating data.

16. A method according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein in the step of selecting said video or image data sequences, video or image data sequences that have a user rating exceeding a predetermined or user defined rating value and to include in said selection video or image data sequences contiguous with and before and/or after selected sequences extending over a predetermined amount of time are selected.

17. A method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein any video data not selected are excluded from a display of the edited video data or, during such display, made subject to fast forwarding.

18. A method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein all of the originally recorded video data are received alongside rating data values and video data are edited in real time.

19. A computer storage medium comprising code for execution by a processor, the code, when executed by a processor causing the processor to perform any of the methods of claim 10 to 18.