JP2004214786A - Editor for moing picture digital information, editing program, and its editng method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the need of such a troublesome work for editing digital data of moving pictures, sounds, etc., on a personal computer that a plurality of identical files having stored the data are prepared in a memory and required portions are picked out of the respective files and joined into one file. <P>SOLUTION: Index regions corresponding to digital data are provided and indexes are recorded on the regions so that an edition work is automatically made by referring to the indexes in edition. Specified indexes are recorded e.g. on the start and end points of a desired moving picture in advance.In edition, moving picture information on regions shown by the start and end indexes are read and written in a specified edition file. Thus, a plurality of moving pictures can be automatically edited. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to editing of moving picture digital information, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a program for editing moving picture digital information stored in a storage device in accordance with index information recorded in association therewith. And its method.
[0002]
[Prior art]
There is a need to delete unnecessary portions of moving image digital information recorded (downloaded) via a television broadcast, a video camera, the Internet, a DVD, or the like and edit the digital information into a desired format. For example, a file in which a television program is converted into digital data and stored in a storage device contains various information such as the program itself and commercials (CM) attached thereto, and only a desired program is collected from the file. There is a request or a request to edit only a commercial file.
[0003]
In order to edit a video tape on which an analog signal is recorded, it has been generally performed to stop recording at an unnecessary portion and record only a necessary portion while reproducing and recording the video tape.
[0004]
On the other hand, in order to edit a file in which a moving image is recorded in the form of digital information, only a necessary portion of the file is collected and only those pieces of digital information are combined to create one edited file.
[0005]
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a conventional procedure for editing a file A in which a television program is recorded in the form of digital information into a file B in which only commercial portions have been deleted.
File A is generally stored in a mass storage device such as a hard disk. In the file A, a part of the program itself and a commercial part other than the part are recorded. The program is recorded in the moving image from time t1 to t2, in the moving image from time t3 to t4, and in the moving image 3 from time t5 to t6. CM1 and CM2 between them indicate portions where commercials are recorded.
[0006]
To perform editing except for a commercial part, first, the same files A1, A2, and A3 as the file A are created on the hard disk. For the file A1, in order to leave only the moving image 1, the digital information of the portion from the time t2 to the time t6 is deleted, and the file B1 is created. Next, in order to create a file of only the moving image 2, a portion of the file A2 from the time t1 to the time t3 when the moving image 1 and the CM1 are recorded is deleted, and then a time t4 to delete the CM2 and the moving image 3 is deleted. From time t6 are erased. By performing such processing, a file B2 including only the moving image 2 is created. Further, in order to cut out the moving image 3, the digital information from the time t1 to the time t5 in the file A3 is deleted. Thus, a file B3 having only the moving image 3 is created. When the files B1, B2, and B3 are created on the hard disk, respectively, these files are combined to finally create a file B in which a series of moving images 1 to 3 is recorded and stored on the hard disk. You.
[0007]
Further, there is a system that edits an MPEG file, creates a virtual MPEG file without using an actual MPEG file, and rewrites an index, which is positional information of a moving image, after editing (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0008]
Furthermore, there is a means for editing and reproducing a moving image using scene information (for example, see Patent Documents 2 and 3).
[0009]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-9-266562 [Patent Document 2]
JP-A-11-146333 [Patent Document 3]
JP-A-11-126266
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the method described above, it is necessary to prepare a plurality of duplicated original files before starting the editing operation. In general, a moving image file has a large capacity and a capacity of several hundred megabytes or more, and an extremely large storage capacity is required to create a plurality of duplicate files of the file. For example, it is necessary to secure a capacity on the order of gigabytes on a hard disk, which is economically problematic, and if such a capacity cannot be secured, there is a problem that editing cannot be performed.
[0011]
In addition, when clipping a desired moving image and then combining those pieces of digital information, the respective image formats and compression rates must be the same. If they are different, it is necessary to re-encode to a predetermined format in order to unify the format of the digital information, which results in consuming a lot of time for the re-encoding.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
Therefore, in order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention creates an index file for storing index information together with a file of digital information in which a moving image is recorded, and according to the index information, creates an index file for the moving image digital information file. Automate editing.
[0013]
More specifically, index information indicating a desired moving image is given to an index file, and when editing, desired moving image digital information is extracted (read) and combined based on the index information.
[0014]
Also, the order of editing is given to a desired moving image, and when editing, the moving images are combined in the order of the order.
[0015]
【Example】
The present invention provides only necessary moving picture information from a file stored as moving picture digital information (hereinafter referred to as “moving picture information”) recorded (downloaded) via a television broadcast, a video camera, the Internet, a DVD, or the like. The file is extracted or extracted, a new file is generated on the computer, and stored in a storage device such as a hard disk. The moving picture information is recorded as an image format such as MPEG, AVI, WMV, etc., but is not limited to these formats, and conforms to any format. In this specification, the moving picture information includes not only moving pictures but also audio ( Sound) information is also included.
[0016]
First, a procedure for editing moving image information according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Hereinafter, a case where a television broadcast is received, and a commercial (CM) portion of moving image information converted into digital information is deleted and edited will be described. A file 1 storing moving image information recorded in a storage device such as a hard disk in a digital format is divided into a moving image portion in which a television program is recorded and a commercial portion, and the moving image 1 is recorded in a portion from time t1 to time t2. From t2 to t3, a commercial CM1 is recorded. In addition, the moving image 2 as the next program is recorded from time t3 to t4, and thereafter, CM2 is recorded from time t4 to t5. Further, the moving image 3 is recorded from time t5 to t6 after CM2. As described above, the file 1 records the moving images 1 to 3 and the CM 1-2, but may record more moving images and commercials.
[0017]
Next, a case will be described in which commercials are removed from moving image information in which a television program or a commercial is recorded in the above-described configuration, and only the television program is reproduced. The moving image information recorded in the file 1 is basically composed of a large number of still image information (for example, frames). By reproducing these still image information at high speed, the afterimage effect of the eyes is utilized. To reproduce moving images on the display screen. Therefore, it is possible to distinguish between a program portion and a commercial portion by adding index data (information) having a temporal relationship to the still image information, for example. Therefore, by newly creating an area for giving index data as shown in FIG. 2 and recording information on the moving image information in that area, it is possible to control the reproduction of the moving image information according to the index data. it can. The association may not be temporal, and may be related by the number of counters from a predetermined position.
It is also possible to add index data focusing on the content of the moving image information.
[0018]
To provide the index data, first, the moving image information recorded in the file is reproduced, and data corresponding to the moving image information is recorded from a predetermined button while watching the reproduced moving image information. For example, data indicating a start point and an end point of a television program are input and recorded as index data. In FIG. 2, an index S indicating the start of the moving image 1 is input at a time t1 at which the moving image 1 starts, and an index E indicating the end is provided at a time t2. Also, indexes S and E are assigned to the start time and the end time of the moving image 2, respectively. Further, the indexes S and E are similarly recorded for the moving image 3.
[0019]
As described above, after the index data for the file 1 is given, the moving image information recorded in the file 1 is reproduced. At the same time, it also reads the index data and determines what instruction the current index data indicates. That is, it is confirmed that the index data indicates S at the same time as the reproduction of the moving image 1 starts at time t1. Then, the reproduction of the moving image 1 is continued, and when the index E is detected at the time t2, the reproduction of the moving image 1 is stopped and skipped until the time t3 when the next index S is added. When the next index S is detected, the reproduction is started. Thereafter, the same control as the operation for the moving image 1 is performed, the reproduction is stopped when the index E is detected, and the reproduction is started when the index S is detected. By continuing such processing, commercials recorded in the file 1 can be cut and the moving images 1 to 3 can be reproduced.
[0020]
Next, the index data can be recorded in a table format shown in FIG. 3 as a recording format. This table 30 can be stored in the recording device together with the file 1, and stores numerical information on the start point and the end point of the moving image information in the file 1 for each moving image number. The numerical information may be any numerical value that specifies the position of the moving image information. For example, the numerical information may be a count number from a specific position in the file 1 or time information. The reproduction of the moving image information can be controlled with reference to the index data on the start point and the end point shown in FIG. That is, when reproducing the moving image information included in the file 1, the reproduction is started from the start point C1 of the moving image 1 recorded in the file 1, and when reaching the end point C2, the reproduction to the next moving image 2 is continued. The moving image information stored in the file 1 is skipped until the start point C3.
Then, the reproduction of the moving image 2 is continued, and when the moving image reaches the end point C4, the reproduction is advanced to the starting point C5 of the moving image information in order to skip to the moving image 3. As described above, it is possible to reproduce only the program information while referring to the start point and the end point in the table shown in FIG. Although the table of FIG. 3 shows a case where numerical information indicating the start point and the end point of the moving image information is recorded as an index table, an area for storing other control information may be provided. For example, a number indicating the reproduction order of the moving image information may be recorded. Further, information for individually prohibiting the reproduction of the moving image information may be recorded.
[0021]
As described above, the processing at the time of reproducing the moving image information has been described. Next, processing for editing and storing only desired moving image information in accordance with the index data will be described. It is assumed that the index data has already been recorded in the format shown in FIGS. First, when the index data is recorded in the format shown in FIG. 2, the index data is referred to to determine where in the file 1 the image information of the moving images 1 to 3 exists. That is, when the index S is detected, the moving image information of the moving image 1 is read, and writing to a predetermined position in the storage device is started. Then, the writing of the moving image 1 continues until the index E is detected. Upon detection of the index E, reading of the moving image 1 is stopped, and reading of the moving image information is skipped to the position of the next index S. Upon detection of the index S, reading of the moving image 2 is restarted, and writing is performed following the moving image 1. As described above, the moving image information is read with reference to the indexes S and E, and the information is written at a predetermined position in the storage device at high speed. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, the moving image 2 is stored after the moving image 1, the moving image 3 is stored after that, and CM1 and CM2 included in the original moving image information shown in FIG. 2 are deleted. Editing is performed. Of course, when the format of the moving image information is different, it is automatically converted to a predetermined format, and the editing operation is continued.
[0022]
As described above, by referring to the predetermined index data recorded at the locations corresponding to the start and end of the television program, the editing operation can be completed at a very high speed and with a simple operation.
[0023]
The above-described editing operation of the moving image information can be achieved by the hardware configuration 50 shown in FIG. Such a configuration can generally be realized with a personal computer, which is at least sufficient. The program according to the present invention is stored in the hardware 51, but is transferred to an execution RAM (not shown) in the control unit 52 when the program is executed. A moving image information file such as a television program is stored in the hard disk 51. The editing operation is performed using a RAM or the like in the control unit 52. The edited file is transferred to the hard disk 51 again and stored. The reproduction of the moving image information is executed by the processing of the control unit 52, and the video is displayed on the display unit 53. When inputting index data, predetermined index data is input with reference to the video displayed on the display unit 53. For example, when moving image information such as a television program starts, an input can be made by pressing a button S (a keyboard of a personal computer can be used, but a dedicated button may be attached). When the end point of each moving image is reached, index data can be input by pressing button E. After the index data is recorded by the above method, when the reproduction is skipped in the forward direction during the reproduction of the moving image (for example, when skipping from the moving image 1 to the CM 1), the forward skip button 56 is pressed. In the case of skipping in the reverse direction (for example, in the case of skipping from the moving image 2 to the CM 1), this can be achieved by pressing the reverse direction skip button 57. Thus, the functions achieved by the program according to the present invention can be controlled using the keyboard of the personal computer 50 or using a dedicated input device.
[0024]
Next, a procedure for selecting moving image information from the moving image information stored in a plurality of files and editing the selected moving image information into one file will be described. FIG. 6 shows three files A, B, and C before editing the files stored in the storage device. These files are divided into a television program part and a commercial part, as in the case of the file 1 shown in FIG. 2, but this is merely a convenient division for explaining the procedure of editing work. It is possible to envision any type of division regardless of such classification. The file A in FIG. 6 illustrates a format in which moving images A1, A2, and A3, which are program portions, and CMa1, CMa2, which are commercial portions, are recorded between the moving images. In files B and C, similarly to file A, a program portion and a commercial portion are respectively recorded.
[0025]
FIG. 6 exemplifies a case having an index area as in FIG. The index data is provided by the same operation as described with reference to the input of the index data in FIG. Indexes S and E are recorded at the start and end points of the moving image information, respectively. In order to select and edit only the moving image portion, this is achieved by detecting the indexes S and E recorded in the index area, reading the moving image portion recorded between them, and storing it in a file for editing. it can.
[0026]
FIG. 7 exemplifies a table for files A, B and C, similarly to the table shown in FIG. The difference from the table of FIG. 3 is that an area in which the moving image selection order can be stored is shown. The moving image selection order indicates which moving image information is to be edited, and indicates the order of editing moving image information stored in the editing file.
For example, in FIG. 7, the order 1 is recorded in the moving image A3 of the file A, the order 2 is recorded in the moving image B1 of the file B, and the order 3 is recorded in the moving image C2 of the file C. This instructs that the moving images A3, B1, and C2 be stored in the editing file in this order.
FIG. 8 shows the file D edited in the order shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, a file D in which the moving images A3, B1, and C2 are recorded in the order specified by the moving image selection order is created.
[0027]
The procedure for creating a file D edited from the files A, B, and C in the moving image selection order specified in the table of FIG. 7 will be described in more detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
[0028]
First, at block 91, the moving image selection counter N is set to 1. Proceeding to a block 92, a moving image number having a moving image selection order of 1 is selected, and a moving image A3 is selected from the table of FIG. Then, the moving image information of the moving image A3 stored from the start point Ia5 to the end point Ia6 of the file A is read. As described above, the start point / end point may be any value that can specify the location where the moving image information is stored, and may be a counter or time information. When the moving image A3 is read, in block 93, the data is stored in an editing file created in the storage device. Next, proceeding to block 94, the moving image selection counter N is incremented by one, and here N = 2 is set. At block 95, since all the moving image information to be edited has not been read yet, the process returns to block 92, and the moving image B1 having the moving image selection order of 2 is read at block 93. The read moving image information of the moving image B1 is sent to the editing file and stored in the storage device. Further, the processing proceeds to block 94, where the moving image selection counter is incremented to N = 3, the same processing as described above is continued, and the moving image C2 is stored in the file for editing. When the moving image selection counter is set to N = 4, all the moving images have been edited in block 95, and the editing process ends.
The flow illustrated in FIG. 9 illustrates an example of performing an editing operation. The flow is not limited to this flow as long as moving image portions recorded in a plurality of files can be selected and a combined file can be created. .
[0029]
As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to easily edit desired moving image information by recording the index indicating the start of the moving image and the index indicating the end as the index data. -By giving various information to data, it is possible to easily perform various editing processes. For example, by classifying video contents (sports, news, music programs, movies, etc.) and providing them to the index data, an index representing desired content is selected, and only the selected video is automatically selected. You can also edit it.
[0030]
Alternatively, the index data may be searched using a well-known search technique, and a desired moving image may be selected before starting the editing process.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, by giving index information corresponding to moving image digital information, editing can be automated by referring to the index information at the time of editing, so that the editing work becomes much easier. At the same time, the processing time can be reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional procedure for editing a file in which only a commercial part is deleted from a file in which a television program is recorded in the form of digital information, in which only a commercial portion is deleted.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for editing moving image digital information according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a table for storing index data according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a storage state of edited moving image digital information.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of hardware for implementing the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a storage state of three moving image digital information files to be edited.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a storage state of index data in the moving image digital information file shown in FIG. 6;
8 shows a configuration of an edited file created in accordance with the moving image selection order specified in the table of FIG.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for creating the editing file of FIG. 8;
[Explanation of symbols]
30: Table 50: Processing device 51: Hard disk 52: Control unit 53: Display unit

Claims (12)

Storage means for storing moving image digital information;
Index storage means for storing index information having a relationship with the moving image digital information in the storage means,
Information processing means for processing the moving image digital information in response to the index information;
A data editing device, comprising: 2. The data editing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising index input means for writing desired index information at a predetermined position in said index storage means. The desired index information is a reproduction instruction command for instructing the start of reproduction of the moving image digital information, and a skip instruction for instructing to stop reproduction of the moving image digital information and skip reproduction until the reproduction instruction instruction. 3. The data editing device according to claim 2, wherein: 2. The data editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving image digital information includes audio information. A computer for editing moving image digital information stored in the storage device,
Means for inputting index information having relevance to the moving image digital information and storing the index information in a predetermined index storage area of the storage device;
Means for extracting the predetermined moving image digital information selected by the index information, and means for storing the extracted predetermined moving image digital information in the storage device;
A data editing program characterized by functioning as: 6. The data editing program according to claim 5, wherein the index information indicates a start point and an end point of the moving image digital information. 7. The data editing program according to claim 6, wherein the selected predetermined moving image digital information is the moving image digital information sandwiched by the index information indicating the start time and the end time. 6. The data editing program according to claim 5, further comprising: means for inputting information indicating a selection order to be extracted with respect to the predetermined moving image digital information selected by the index information. 9. The data editing program according to claim 8, further comprising: means for extracting the selected predetermined moving image digital information and combining them in accordance with the selection order. In a method of editing moving image digital information stored in a storage device,
Reading the moving image digital information and reproducing the information, reading the index information stored in the storage device in association with the moving image digital information,
At the stage of reading the predetermined index information, skipping the reading of the moving image digital information until the next predetermined index information is detected,
A method characterized by comprising: In a method of editing moving image digital information stored in a storage device,
Reading index information stored in advance in the storage device in association with the moving image digital information,
Extracting the moving image digital information specified by the index information;
Storing the extracted moving image digital information in a predetermined area of the storage device;
A method characterized by comprising: 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the extracting comprises extracting the video digital information according to a selection order in the index information.

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