JP2004234683A - Information processor and information processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor capable of efficiently working and presenting information required by a user by a simple operation out of a large amount of various information. <P>SOLUTION: An evaluation value relating to presented information inputted by the user in parallel to the presentation of the information is recorded. When there is the one changed to be within a prescribed range and recorded since the level of the inputted evaluation value exceeds the range, the evaluation value is automatically estimated and compensated, or the recorded evaluation value is corrected by the instruction of the user. Further, the summary of the information is presented according to the numerical value of the level of the evaluation value compensated/corrected in such a manner. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a multimedia information processing apparatus that integrally displays, records, reproduces, and edits information such as video, audio, and documents.

  It is well known that the performance of microprocessors mounted on personal computers (PCs) has been remarkably improved, and an environment in which a large amount of information can be processed at high speed by a popular PC has been established. In addition, due to the recent development of optical communication technology and communication control technology, as well as memory devices such as magneto-optical disks and high-density integrated circuits, the capacity of information transmission lines has increased in the former, and the capacity of information storage devices has increased in the latter. Has been realized, and a large amount of information can be electronically obtained at low cost in homes and offices.

  In addition, since information can be transmitted with simple operations, the privilege of information transmission, which was previously limited to broadcast stations and newspaper companies, has been expanded to general users, and a large amount of information will be exchanged. It is becoming. This can be learned from the current spread of personal computer communication, e-mail, and electronic news. Terminals capable of exchanging information in this way are not limited to PCs, but are in the form of various devices such as electronic organizers, mobile phones, and facsimile machines. The types of information that they can handle have expanded from conventional character information (text data) only to voice / music information, still image information, and moving image information, and their quality has dramatically improved. I have.

  However, in the case of information classification, there are many cases where the old method is used. For example, in the case of the electronic news world, for example, there are hundreds of newsgroups (= “cuts” for each topic), In addition, dozens of posts are made to each newsgroup a day. And the user has to spend considerable time searching for news that he needs or is interested in. This is because each news is handled in a very simple layer structure such as “newsgroup → news”, which a user cannot usually define by himself. Even on music tapes and video tapes, the start position of each song / program can be determined by detecting a silent portion or an index signal for starting recording, etc., but the content of the song / program, or a scene or portion of particular interest Cannot be recorded, and the user has no other way than to write the information indicating them on their labels or the like.

  Development for automating the classification of these pieces of information or the extraction of a characteristic part from a plurality of pieces of information is still being actively conducted. However, many of them are aimed at replacing human judgment mechanisms, require advanced artificial intelligence, and are too costly at this time, both in terms of development time and cost I have to say. In addition, such an automatic classification system requires the user to indicate what he or she wants, and it is difficult for a user whose vision is not clear, such as what to see or what information to obtain, to be handled. Such an unfamiliar user can be assumed to increase dramatically in an era when information is full.

  Rather, what is needed is information indicating that "the place where you find interesting" is not necessarily required to describe its contents. For example, when an attractive actor appears only in one scene in a movie, it is not always necessary to know who the actor is, whether it is a man or a woman, and whether the object (subject) is a human. However, the requirements are often satisfied if the device simply points to the scene. Nevertheless, in the current flow of information classification, the procedure is as follows: "The device scrutinizes the information → extracts the characteristic part as a candidate → collates with the request information entered by the user → classifies and presents” For this reason, the information content must be analyzed carefully.

  On the other hand, now that general users are becoming information transmission sources, demands for information processing tools are increasing. Conventional processing tools include a word processor for document information, a CAD (Computer Aided Design) for graphic information, and drawing software. However, there are very few general-purpose tools that are easy to operate, especially for video and audio. A user connects two decks, searches for a target location on one deck, plays it back, and records it on the other deck, thereby performing "cutting" editing. At least two decks are required to perform "cutting" editing, and the operation is complicated, so that ordinary users tend to avoid editing work. Some of the currently proposed editing methods temporarily store video / audio information in a storage medium such as a computer memory or a hard disk, and then process the information in a computer editing environment. Since a storage medium having a large capacity is required, the cost is high, and since the editing is basically "cutting", no particular improvement in operability can be expected.

  As described above, the lack of a simple and efficient information automatic classification mechanism and information processing means may greatly hinder the spread of the multimedia integrated environment in the future.

  As described in detail above, in the conventional information processing apparatus, there is no means for classifying and organizing a wide variety of information efficiently across types of information and reflecting the intention of the user. For this reason, the user must spend time and effort on the processing of the information, and even if this is performed automatically as a device, there is a drawback that the processing cannot always be adapted to individual users. Was. Conventionally, the information processing method is complicated, and there is a disadvantage that the cost is likely to be high for realizing the method.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an information processing apparatus and an information processing method capable of efficiently processing and presenting information required by a user from a large amount of information by a simple operation. The purpose is to:

  In order to achieve the above-described object, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention provides a presentation unit that presents at least one of image information and audio information to a user, and an arbitrary section of information presented by the presentation unit. Input correction means for inputting and correcting desired evaluation values, respectively, and average value calculation means for calculating an average value of evaluation values of a plurality of persons for the same information input and corrected by the input correction means. Features.

  In the information processing method according to the present invention, a presentation step of presenting at least one of image information and audio information to a user, and inputting a desired evaluation value to an arbitrary section of the information presented by the presentation step are input. , An input correcting step of correcting, and a calculating step of calculating an average value of evaluation values of a plurality of persons for the same information input and corrected by the input correcting step.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus and an information processing method capable of processing and presenting information required by a user efficiently with a simple operation from a large amount of various kinds of information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

  In this embodiment, as a method of inputting an evaluation value of “important / unimportant” of a user, the user's line of sight is detected and the evaluation value (hereinafter referred to as an importance level) is determined based on the movement of the viewpoint. ) Will be described. The method of calculating the importance level from the movement of the viewpoint will be described in detail in the third embodiment.

  Information read from the recording medium 107 via the read control unit 105 is displayed on the presentation unit 106, and the viewpoint of the user at that time is detected by the detector 101. In the determination unit 102, the viewpoint information is recorded for a certain period of time and processed. This process is performed, for example, by detecting a user's viewpoint for 5 seconds every 1/30 seconds, and performing an importance estimation calculation every time 150 data are collected. The determination unit 102 calculates the importance level within the recording time from the sent viewpoint data. In this example, the importance level of the previous 5 seconds is output every 5 seconds. Here, the importance level calculation is not limited to the case where the calculation is performed in the same cycle as the recording interval. For example, the viewpoint data of the past 2.5 seconds in the data of 5 seconds transmitted this time and the data of the current side 2.5 seconds in the data of 5 seconds transmitted last time are important together. By inserting the process of calculating the degree level, the importance level can be output at intervals of 2.5 seconds. Of course, the output interval can be further reduced by the same method.

  The importance level sent from the determination unit 102 at a constant output interval is stored in the importance information temporary storage unit 110 over the entire presentation information, and is recorded on the recording medium 107. The entire presentation information referred to here is a section corresponding to a group of stories, such as one program, one movie, one photo album trip, etc. Usually, these sections are already clearly separated by a conventional method. (VTR index signal, one volume of movie software, title of album, one file of computer data, etc.). The recording medium 107 may be the same medium on which the presentation information is recorded or a different medium. For example, the importance level information on the image information read out from the magneto-optical disk and presented may be stored on the original magneto-optical disk, or a memory IC for storing the importance level may be used. Alternatively, importance level information relating to information (for example, video-on-demand) read out and presented from a remote recording device connected via a communication network may be recorded back to the original recording device via the network. Alternatively, the information may be recorded on a computer used as a terminal by the user. In this example, the case where the importance information is temporarily stored in the importance information temporary storage unit 110 over the entire presentation information has been described. However, even during the information presentation, the determination unit 102 sequentially performs the importance determination and stores the original information in the recording medium 107. Under the condition that the information presentation and the importance information recording can be performed at the same time, the importance information may be recorded on the recording medium 107 in parallel with the information presentation.

  Next, when the importance information is to be changed, the recorded importance level is read from the recording medium 107, and the entire presentation information is corrected. This correction may be performed automatically by the device by the correction calculation unit 104, or may be performed in accordance with a user operation. First, the correction automatically performed by the correction calculation unit 104 will be described.

  When sequentially inputting the importance level, the level input later in time has a lower degree of freedom. For example, when inputting an importance level from 0 to 100 while watching a two-hour movie, suppose that a level of 100 was given with the highest interest after 55 minutes. However, after one hour and 40 minutes, even if they feel more interested than before, they can no longer give the highest level above. Therefore, when the maximum level of the input limit is maintained by the following method, it is considered that the level has actually exceeded the input limit, and the actual maximum level is estimated.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an algorithm for correcting the importance level in the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

  This operation is actually performed while the correction operation unit 104 in FIG. 1 exchanges importance level information with the importance information temporary storage unit 110. In the following description and FIG. 2, DATA is the number of data to be corrected, tn is the n-th (n starts from 0) sampling time, and In is the importance level at time tn. (Tave, k, Iave, k) is the k-th coordinate when (tn, In) is smoothed. thold, Ihold, n, k are temporary variables used only in this algorithm. Imax is the maximum value of the permissible importance level. For example, if the importance level is to be input in the range of 0 to 100, Imax is 100.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, only a portion for smoothing the time transition of the importance level is shown. The smoothed level Iave has the same initial value and end value as the original importance level I, as shown in steps S201 and S218. Further, when the state in which the importance level is the maximum value Imax continues for three samples, it is estimated that a level exceeding Imax may exist in this section (hereinafter referred to as an overflow section) (steps S206 and S211), and the overflow section Are matched with the original importance level (steps S213 to S217). An overflow section is detected in the post-processing, and a virtual highest level in the section is estimated. In other sections, the middle point between the local maximum value and the local minimum value is set as the coordinate point of the smoothed level (steps S207 and S212).

  Next, the change in the importance level in the overflow section is estimated using the smoothed level (tave, k, Iave, k), which will be described with reference to FIG.

In the overflow section 301, a quadratic or cubic function is assumed to have the same value and the same slope as the change outside the section at the entrance 302 and the exit 303 of the section (boundary condition). For example, if the times of the entrance 302 and the exit 303 of the overflow section 301 are ts and te, respectively, the slope of the smoothed level at the entrance is A, and the slope at the exit is (-B), it is estimated within the overflow section 301. The expression of the importance level I ′ (304) at the time t

It becomes.
Next, on the continuous curve 304 thus drawn, the one at the original time ti is replaced with a new Ii. The above process can be performed sequentially as soon as necessary data is prepared. Therefore, the process is performed in parallel with the input of the importance level data, and at the end of the input, Ii for which the overflow section has been estimated can be determined.

By the way, in the Ii determined so far, the data may have a value equal to or more than Imax in the overflow section. Therefore, it is necessary to compress the entire data within the range of 0 to Imax. Therefore, Ii is converted by the following equation.

  Here, Wmax is the highest value among all the importance level data. However, this conversion is not performed if Wmax does not exceed Imax. In this conversion, the larger the value, the more strongly the data is compressed, so that the data which was originally within the range of Imax is less affected. Also, the magnitude relationship of the original data is not lost by this conversion. Furthermore, since the overflow section is estimated based on the smoothed data, the influence of the local steep / slow rise of Ii immediately before the entrance and immediately after the exit of the overflow section is small.

  In the above, the correction in the case where the importance level has reached the maximum of the range of the specified value has been described. However, the correction may be performed in the same manner when the importance level has reached the minimum of the specified value. .

  Next, an example in which the importance level is changed / corrected by a user's operation will be described with reference to FIG.

  This operation is processed as follows in FIG. First, the user gives an instruction to the information processing apparatus of the embodiment by diverting an input device such as a mouse or the previously-used gaze detector as a pointing device. This instruction is received by the operation interface 109, and the operation interface 109 sends a signal to the address generation unit 112 to output a screen / voice change (this will be described later) according to the user's input. The address generation unit 112 outputs the position of the original information to be displayed as a storage location (address) on the recording medium 107 and sends it to the read control unit 105. The read control unit 105 mechanically controls the recording medium 107 and extracts original information from an appropriate position on the medium. The extracted original information is sent to the original information temporary storage unit 113 and becomes a graphical user interface in the screen creation unit 114 together with the already input importance information, and is transmitted to the user via the image presentation unit 106 and the voice presentation unit 116. To be presented.

  On the other hand, the user corrects the importance level while viewing this screen, and the change in the importance level accompanying this operation is performed via the correction calculation unit 104. The already input importance level is accumulated in the importance information temporary storage unit 110, corrected by the correction operation unit 104 by this operation, and returned to the importance information temporary storage unit 110 again. When the correction is completed, the temporarily stored importance level information is output to the recording control unit 103, and is recorded on the recording medium 107 in an appropriate storage location designated by the address generation unit 112. Naturally, the operation of dividing the importance information into several parts, storing one of the divisions in the importance information temporary storage unit 110, and modifying, returning, recording, and temporarily storing the next division may be repeated. .

  Here, returning to FIG. 4, the actual processing will be described.

  After inputting the importance level by the above-described method, the information processing apparatus of the present invention enumerates the maximum value and the minimum value of the importance level and the time at which each was recorded. Then, the images 402 in which the maximum values are recorded are presented on the screen in order from the one having the largest maximum value (FIG. 4A). The number of images presented here can be set arbitrarily, such as three, five, or ten (FIG. 4 shows an example of three). Also, the image 402 to be presented does not necessarily have to be the image at the moment when the local maximum is shown, and may be the top screen of a cut (between two consecutive scene changes) including the local maximum. By clicking on the screen with the mouse, the entire cut including the maximum value may be reproduced.

  From the presented screen 402, the user can know how the present apparatus has estimated the user's own importance level. When there is a sense of incongruity in the presented estimated importance level, the user instructs the apparatus to correct the order by rearranging the images. For example, if the user feels that the scene 403 estimated as second by the apparatus is more important than the scene 404 actually estimated as first, the user replaces the second screen 403 with the first screen. Instruction to change to above. The rearrangement operation is performed by the input device 108 in FIG. 1. An image (second screen 403 in the above example) to be corrected is selected by a keyboard, a button, a keypad of a remote controller, or the like. Select a place (the position 405 on the first image). Alternatively, the same operation may be performed using a mouse. Further, the selection may be performed by gazing at the screen using the gaze detection device 101.

  When the correction of the order is instructed, the apparatus determines to which value the importance level before and after the instructed screen should be changed. For example, when the correction is made to the middle between the second and third places, the correction value becomes an intermediate value between the second and third importance levels. Alternatively, when the correction is made to a level higher than the first place, the value becomes higher than the first place importance level by the same amount as the difference between the first and second place importance levels. For example, if the 1st place level is 80, the 2nd place level is 78, and the 3rd place level is 70, if the 1st place part is corrected between the 2nd and 3rd place, the change of the 1st place part The prior importance level is 74. Also, in the same example, if the second place is corrected to the first place, the importance level of the change destination becomes 90 (the second place = 78 which is a movement target is not used in the calculation, and therefore, 82 No). The result of the correction is displayed again on the screen (for example, as shown in FIG. 4B), and the user can know the result of the correction.

  The change procedure when the importance level of the change destination is determined as described above will be described below with reference to FIG.

  First, when the importance level is changed downward (FIG. 5A), the range between the maximum values (504, 505) before and after the maximum value 503 to be changed is changed. Assuming that the maximum value before the change is Ip and the importance level of the change destination is Iadj, between the maximum value (504, 505) before and after the maximum value to be changed and the minimum value (506, 507) before and after (504 to 506). And 507 to 505) multiply the function that linearly changes from I to Iadj / Ip to the original importance level. In the section (between 506 and 507) sandwiched between the preceding and following minimum values, a new importance level is obtained by multiplying by a constant value Iadj / Ip. The lower part of FIG. 5A is an outline of the function to be multiplied. On the other hand, when the importance level is to be changed upward (FIG. 5B), the value between the local minimum values (509, 510) before and after the local maximum value 508 to be changed is changed. When Ip and Iadj are defined in the same manner as in the case of changing downward, a function that linearly changes from I to Iadj / Ip from the preceding and following minimum values (509, 510) to the maximum value 508 to be changed is represented by the original function. Multiply by importance level. Similarly, the lower part of FIG. 5B shows the outline of the function to be multiplied.

  If, as a result of this change, the importance level exceeds the preset maximum value Imax of the importance level, correction is made to a range within Imax by the same method as described above with reference to FIG. This correction may be performed after all rank changes are completed, or may be performed for each rank change as needed.

  Finally, a method of automatically processing and presenting the original information using the importance levels input and corrected as described above will be described.

  In this case, in FIG. 1, both the original information and the importance level information are read from the recording medium 107 via the read control unit 105 and stored in the original information temporary storage unit 113 and the importance information temporary storage unit 110, respectively. However, a part to be presented in the original information is selected by the presented part selection unit 111 based on the importance level information in the importance information temporary storage unit 110. This will be described in detail later. The address generation unit 112 receives information on the selected portion from the presentation portion selection unit 111, and outputs a location where information to be presented on the recording medium 107 is recorded as an address. The read control unit 105 selectively accesses the recording medium 107 based on the address information, and sends the original information portion to the original information temporary storage unit 113. The subsequent process is the same as the screen display method described above.

  Here, of course, the address generation unit 112 may control the read location from the original information temporary storage unit 113 instead of controlling the read location from the recording medium. In this case, it is generally desired to improve the reading speed (currently, the semiconductor memory element used for the original information temporary storage unit 113 is more common than the access speed of a magneto-optical disk or the like generally used for the recording medium 107 at present. early). Hereinafter, a process of performing the partial selection of the original information in the presentation part selection unit 111 will be specifically described.

  The processing / presentation method described here is based on the semantic division of information (scene change of moving image, sentence / paragraph unit of voice / document, music phrase = development pattern composed of about 4 to 16 measures) Is detected by another method such as existing image recognition and voice recognition, and the delimiter is used.

  First, a case where a break is not used will be described with reference to FIG.

  The user inputs a desired time length in the presentation information generated as a result of the information processing. This may be done by something like a volume knob or by directly inputting “minutes and seconds” using a keyboard. In other words, any generally used method may be used as long as the method inputs a time length. In this apparatus, the threshold value 601 is gradually lowered from the specified importance level maximum value Imax 602, and the total of the time sections 604 exceeding the threshold value 601 in the time transition 603 of the importance level is calculated. I do. Until the calculation result exceeds the input desired presentation time, the process of lowering the threshold 601 is continued. When the threshold 601 immediately before exceeding the desired presentation time is thus determined, the present apparatus sequentially presents only the time section 604 exceeding the threshold 601. Alternatively, information at the moment of the maximum value 605 that is equal to or more than the threshold value of the importance level is listed on the screen, and when the screen is selected by a mouse or gaze, the time including the maximum value and exceeding the threshold value is included. There is also a method of presenting a section. As a result, the user can selectively view only a particularly important portion of the entire time of the information.

  Next, a case where the semantic separation of information is known and used will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, a case where the information is a moving image will be described.

  Assume that an importance level 701 is assigned to a moving image, and a scene change 702, which is a semantic break of the moving image, is known. A time section between two scene changes 702 that are temporally adjacent to each other will be referred to as a cut 703. Within one cut 703, the importance level is matched with the maximum value 704 of that cut 703. By doing so, the same method can be used as in the case where the information delimiter is not used.

  That is, the threshold 705 is gradually lowered, and the threshold 705 immediately before the total of the time sections exceeding the threshold 705 exceeds the set desired presentation time is obtained. At this time, a time section exceeding the threshold value 705, that is, cuts is sequentially presented, so that a summary can be created in cut units.

  Also, instead of using the maximum value of the importance level in the cut 703 as the maximum value in the cut, the “importance level density” 706 obtained by dividing the integral value of the importance level in the cut 703 by the length of the cut 703 is used. And the same cut selection as described above can be performed.

  The difference between the two selection methods is that the former (the importance level in the cut 703 is the maximum maximum value 704) evaluates the cut 703 with the instantaneous maximum impression strength, The latter (the importance level in the cut 703 is the average value 706 in the cut 703) means that the evaluation is made based on the strength of the impression given by the entire cut 703.

  An example of the operation of the address generation unit 112 when performing "sequential presentation" will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the line graph in FIG. 8, the graph on the right ((b)) is obtained by rotating the graph in FIG. 6 by 90 degrees. Portions selected by the method described with reference to FIG. 6 are indicated by hatching. In such a case, when sequentially presenting the selected portions, the address generation unit 112 outputs an address as shown on the left ((a)) of FIG. When the original information is recorded in an arrangement having no causal relationship with the passage of time, the vertical axis of the left graph in FIG. Shown). That is, at the time of presentation of the summary, the reproduction is performed at the normal operation speed in the selected time section, and the other places are skipped. The operation is the same even when the selected portion is a cut unit as described above.

  As the cut selected as described above, there is a method of sequentially presenting the selected cuts from the one that is earlier in time, and a method of presenting the cuts in order from the one with the highest importance level of the cuts. In addition, there is also a method in which only the first screen of the selected cut is listed on the screen as a small screen, and when the user selects the small screen with a mouse or a line of sight, a moving image of the cut is presented. Here, the screen representing the cut does not need to be the top screen of the cut, and the screen at the moment when the highest importance level is shown in the cut may be displayed. Alternatively, only the places to be presented are selected by the method described above, and the presentation time, direction, order, etc. of each section can be freely changed by the user's operation. You may. In this way, for example, when 30 still images presented every 10 seconds are the original information, only 10 particularly important images are selected using the threshold of the importance level, and the 10 It is possible to view each one of the images for a desired time.

  Next, an example in which the information is music (song) and the break of the information is known will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the song 801 shown in the example is composed of ten phrases. The part with a dash (') is a modification of the part without the dash with the same symbol. A is a part commonly referred to as a prelude (intro), D is an interlude, F is a part (ending), and the song part is BB'C (No. 1 = 1 chorus), B'CEC '(No. 2 = 2) Chorus eyes). By replacing the phrases A, B, etc. with the cut 703 in the description using FIG. 7 and performing the same processing, and extracting the phrase 802 with a high importance level, only the most impressive part without listening to the entire song You can hear When searching for the desired song, listening to the summary of the song created in this way one after another can save time until reaching the impressive part, so the search time can be shortened. Can be expected.

(Second embodiment)
Next, as a second embodiment, processing performed by the user in the information processing apparatus of the present invention and display on the presentation unit will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that a mouse is used as a pointing device for input. However, in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, any pointing device can be used.

  First, the operation of the user when the user presents a moving image using the importance level and the display on the presentation unit will be described.

  When the user presents the moving image, the presenting unit performs, for example, a display as shown in FIG. 10 or FIG. FIG. 10 shows a large moving image to be displayed, while FIG. 11 clearly shows the importance level assigned to the moving image in the same screen. These display methods can be selected by the user depending on the application. Here, reference numeral 1000 denotes a lever for adjusting the threshold of the importance level when displaying a moving image using the importance level. When the lever is raised, only a portion of the moving image having a high importance level is displayed. Will be presented, and conversely, if it is lowered, even parts with low importance levels will be presented. This is the same as that described in the first embodiment with reference to FIGS.

  Reference numeral 1001 denotes a presentation time display window. When the threshold of the importance level is set by the lever 1000, the total of the portions to which the importance level exceeding the threshold is given in one moving image is determined. It is an indication of how long it will take. In the example of this figure, it is 12 minutes and 41 seconds. When the user wants to see the rough contents of the moving image within a certain time, the user may adjust the lever 1000 while watching the time in the window 1001. Of course, as described in the first embodiment, it is also possible to set the threshold value of the importance level by directly inputting time into the window 1001. At this time, the user positions the mouse cursor on the window 1001 and clicks it, and then inputs time from an input device such as a keyboard. When the desired time is set, by pressing the “play from beginning” button of the operation buttons 1008, only the portion of the moving image having a high importance level can be viewed within the desired time. In this case, the moving image can be presented by the same procedure regardless of whether the semantic division of the information described in the first embodiment is used or not used.

  Reference numeral 1003 denotes an importance level display window, in which an importance level 1004 assigned corresponding to the time axis of the moving image is displayed. Reference numeral 1009 denotes a threshold level set by the importance level threshold setting lever 1000. Usually, a part of the whole moving image is displayed in the window 1003, and which part of the whole moving image is displayed in the window 1006. In the example of FIG. 11, while the entire moving image is 65 minutes, the time displayed in the importance level setting window is about 15 minutes from about 20 minutes to 35 minutes. The user can adjust the threshold of the importance level by moving the lever 1000 while watching the importance level displayed in the window 1003. For example, if you're very interested in the frame near the currently displayed frame in your video and want to see more around it, you may want to temporarily (such as pausing playback) After lowering the value, the moving image is reproduced, and when a part of interest is seen, the threshold of the importance level can be returned to the original level again.

  The above operations can be performed not only for moving images but also for still image groups and audio. The still image group referred to here is a group of still images in some order. For example, a photograph taken when traveling is a group of still images in the order in which they were taken. When presenting a group of still images, the horizontal axis of the window 1003 does not indicate time but indicates the order of the still images. In addition, the sound having no video may be such that a sound waveform is displayed on the display window 1002 or information on / off of a specific sound is displayed in a bar chart format. In the case of a waveform, a waveform is displayed over the time before and after the time corresponding to the position of the cursor on 1003. When displaying the on / off information of the sound, the display of the instantaneous state corresponding to the position of the mouse cursor or the display of the on / off state over the preceding and following time is performed as in the case of the waveform.

  Further, in any case of a moving image, a still image group, and a sound, when reproducing a portion selected by the threshold value of the importance level set by the user, the reproduction speed or the reproduction time can be freely selected by the user. You may do so. For example, in the case of a moving image or audio, the video is displayed at the normal playback speed, the playback speed is changed by a magnification determined by the importance of the portion, and a method of presenting a single scene (audio In the case of, a break of one bar or the like) is selected and reproduced from a method such as controlling the reproduction speed so as to be displayed at the same time. In the case of a group of still images, from the method of not displaying the next still image until the user's instruction, the method of displaying a single still image for a fixed time, or the method of displaying only a time determined by importance etc. You can choose.

  Up to this point, the description has been made on the assumption that only one type of importance level is assigned to one moving image. However, a plurality of importance levels can be assigned. For example, it is possible to prepare an importance level for each user even for one moving image, audio, or still image group, and it is also possible to assign several importance levels according to purposes. Specifically, for example, when the moving image is a drama, different importance levels can be given for the purpose of watching an action scene or the purpose of watching a scene that makes a person cry.

  An importance level selection button 1005 displays the name of the importance level prepared for each button. For example, a name of the user, a purpose-specific name such as an action scene, a crying scene, and the like are displayed. To present a moving image using another importance level, the button 1005 may be selected again. When another importance level is selected in the window 1003, the display is changed to display the importance level corresponding to the designated button.

  As a type of the importance level, a history of the user can be provided. This is to make the part of the moving image which the user has already seen and the part which has not been seen yet be specified as the importance level. By assigning a high importance level to a part that has not been seen yet and a low importance level to a part that has already been seen, each classification can be clearly understood by looking at a graph of the importance level. Of course, it is also possible to adjust the threshold level setting lever 1000 of the importance level to select and present only the part that has not yet been viewed. In this case, the importance level must be updated every time the user views the moving image.

  In addition to selecting one importance level from among a plurality of importance levels and using it when playing a video, selecting a plurality of importance levels and performing a predetermined operation on the selected importance level to create a new You can also define and use importance levels. For example, if two importance levels are selected and one of the two importance levels exceeds the threshold value set by the user is to be selected and displayed, the logical sum of the two importance levels may be calculated. . More specifically, when the importance level of "thrill" and the importance level of "beautiful woman" are prepared, it is possible to select only scenes with thrills or scenes where a beautiful woman appears I do. Then, it is assumed that the importance level of “thrill” is as shown in FIG. 12A and the importance level of “beautiful woman” is as shown in FIG. The user selects importance levels of “thrill” and “beautiful”, further instructs to perform “presentation of a part of which exceeds the threshold”, and inputs a threshold of the importance level. The importance information is read from the recording medium 107 when the user selects an importance level or when source information such as a moving image, a sound, or a group of stopped images is selected, and the importance information temporary storage unit 110 Is stored in Then, in order to calculate the two pieces of importance information, the respective pieces of importance information are sent to the correction calculation unit 104.

  In order to select and present a scene in which “thrill” or “beauty” appears, the correction calculation unit 104 first determines the importance level input from the operation interface 109 for each importance level. 1 is assigned to a portion exceeding the threshold and 0 is assigned to a portion below the threshold, and binarized ((c) and (d) in FIG. 12). Then, a logical OR of the binarized importance levels is calculated for each corresponding frame (FIG. 12E).

  At this time, the frame in which 1 is obtained as the operation result is the frame to be presented. The importance level newly created by the calculation of the two importance levels is sent to the importance information temporary storage unit 110. If necessary, the newly created importance level is recorded on the recording medium 107 via the recording control unit 103. The new importance level recorded in the importance information temporary storage unit 110 is sent to the presentation part selection unit to determine the part to be actually presented to the user, and as a result of comparison with the threshold, the presentation part Is determined.

  As the operation between the two importance levels, a logical product can be used in addition to the logical sum described above. This can be used when you want to see only the scenes where both of the two importance levels exceed the specified threshold. In the above example, it can be used to see a scene where there is "thrill" and "beauty" also appears. In order to obtain the logical sum of the two importance levels, the two importance levels sent to the correction operation unit 104 are binarized by comparing the two importance levels with a threshold value in the same manner as described above. Then, a logical product of the binarized importance levels is taken as a new importance level, and the new importance level is sent to the importance information temporary storage unit 110. Subsequent processing is the same as that of the logical sum.

  In addition, the average (sum) of the two importance levels can be used as another operation. For example, when multiple people assign importance levels to the same video, the user wants to use objective importance levels as much as possible. This is convenient when it is desired to use the overall importance level for a video to which a level has been assigned. To determine the average importance level, first, two importance levels are sent from the importance information temporary storage unit 110 to the correction operation unit 104 as in the case of performing the logical sum. The correction operation unit calculates the average of the two importance levels and sets the average as a new importance level. The new average importance level is sent back to the importance information temporary storage unit 110, and is recorded on the recording medium 107 if necessary, as before. Then, to determine the presentation part, the new average importance level is sent to the presentation part selection unit, and the presentation part is selected by comparison with the threshold value input to the operation interface 109.

  The method of calculating a new importance level by performing an operation between importance levels is not limited to only two importance levels. It is also possible to select more importance levels, combine multiple operations between them to determine and use a new importance level.

  In addition to the presentation methods shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the presentation methods shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 can be selected.

  In FIG. 13, the setting lever 1000 of the importance level and the time display window 1001 are the same as those in FIG. 10 and FIG. However, when the lever 1000 is set, a representative frame is selected from the portion where the assigned importance level exceeds the threshold, and is presented (1100). As the representative frame, it is preferable to select only the number of frames that can display a high importance level, but a predetermined time width is provided so that only temporally adjacent frames are not displayed, and one frame is set within the time width. If only the image is displayed, the representative frame is selected from the entire moving image, which is convenient. Further, when the threshold value of the importance level is set to be low, the time of the presented moving image becomes long, and the number of representative frames to be displayed increases accordingly. In such a case, the representative frame may be displayed over a plurality of pages.

  When the mouse cursor is placed on the representative frame and clicked and specified, a window 1101 for displaying a moving image is displayed as shown in FIG. 15, and the moving image is reproduced from the specified frame.

  The display of FIG. 14 simultaneously displays the display of the representative frame and the graph of the importance level as shown in FIG. Since the representative frame clearly indicates which part of the moving image corresponds, performing such display makes it possible for the user to clarify which part of the moving image he or she sees.

  In the case of a group of still images, a still image selected by the importance level is also displayed on the display window 1100. However, the horizontal axis of the importance level display window 1003 does not indicate time but indicates the order of still images. In the case of voice, the display window 1100 displays a voice waveform and a bar chart indicating the on / off state of a specific sound, similarly to the display window 1002.

  With the above procedure, the user can selectively present only a portion of the moving image that is likely to be of interest by using the already assigned importance level.

  Next, the user's procedure when the user manually assigns an importance level to a moving image, a still image group, or audio, and when the already assigned importance level is modified (different from the first embodiment) , And presentation to the presentation unit will be described.

  FIG. 16 is an example of a screen presented on the presentation unit when the importance level of the moving image is assigned manually or the importance level of the already assigned moving image is corrected by manual input.

  Prior to inputting or modifying the importance level, an importance level to be input or modified is selected by the importance level selection button 1005. An importance level setting window 1200 is used to input or correct an importance level. Reference numeral 1006 denotes a time portion displayed in the importance level setting window 1003. The entire window corresponds to the entire moving image, and the hatched portion corresponds to the time portion displayed in the window 1002. Reference numeral 1201 denotes a display frame position mark for displaying which part of the frame currently displayed in 1002 is present.

  The importance level setting window 1200 corresponds to the time of the moving image in the left-right direction, and a time scale is displayed above the importance level setting window. When the mouse cursor 1007 enters the importance level setting window, a frame at a time corresponding to the position of the mouse cursor is automatically displayed on 1002. Also, when the mouse cursor goes out of the importance level setting window 1200, the video at the time corresponding to the cursor position at the moment when the mouse cursor comes out remains displayed. When editing the importance level assigned to the still image group, the horizontal axis of the importance level setting window 1200 indicates the order of the number of still images in the same manner as when reproducing the still image group. Represent. When the mouse cursor is within the importance level setting window, still images in the order corresponding to the horizontal position of the mouse cursor are always displayed on the display window 1002. On the other hand, when editing the importance level given to the voice, the display window 1002 shows a waveform of a section extending before and after the time centered on the time corresponding to the horizontal position of the cursor in the importance level setting window 1200. Is displayed. Instead of a waveform, a bar chart indicating on / off of a specific sound may be displayed. Then, when the mouse cursor is moved in the importance level setting window 1200, a sound for a time corresponding to the speed at which the mouse cursor is moved is output. Moving the mouse cursor slowly produces a slow sound, while moving it quickly produces a fast sound. At this time, since the pitch of the sound changes depending on the speed at which the mouse cursor is moved, a process for suppressing this may be performed. In order to set the importance level, an operation as shown in FIGS. 17 to 19 is performed, which will be described below.

  When the importance level has not been given yet, the reference level importance level has been given in all parts. Therefore, the importance level display in the importance level setting window is flat only for the reference level. First, the mouse cursor is moved in the importance level setting window so as to display the first frame of the part to which the importance level is to be given. When the first frame is displayed on the display window 1002, the mouse button is pressed (FIG. 17). While holding down the mouse button, move the mouse cursor (drag), and move the mouse cursor to display the last frame to which the importance level is to be assigned. At this time, the movement of the mouse cursor in the importance level setting window is such that the horizontal direction corresponds to the time of the moving image and the vertical direction corresponds to the importance level. Therefore, while moving the mouse cursor left and right so as to display the last frame of the portion to which the importance level is given, the mouse cursor is also moved up and down to match the desired importance level (FIG. 18). When the display of the target frame and the importance level to be given are simultaneously obtained, release the mouse button (FIG. 19). By the above operation, the importance level which was initially flat is changed only in the designated portion as shown in FIG.

  The same importance level value is assigned to a portion where a plurality of importance levels are set by one operation. Also, here, first, the first frame of the section to which the importance level is to be assigned is designated, and then the last frame is designated by the mouse, but first, the last frame of the section to which the importance level is to be given is designated, and the next frame is designated. It is also possible to specify the first frame and the importance level at the same time.

  In FIGS. 17 to 19, the importance level is set higher than the reference level, but it is also possible to specify a lower importance level than the reference level and set a negative importance level. If the moving image includes a portion that the user does not want to display, a negative importance level may be set. To assign an importance level to a portion where the importance level is not set, the above operation may be repeatedly performed.

  To change the importance level once set (enlargement / reduction of the importance level within the specified range at a fixed magnification), first move the mouse cursor to the first part of the part to be changed in the importance level setting window. Move the mouse cursor. After confirming that the frame displayed in the display window 1002 is the first frame of the correction start portion, the mouse button is pressed (FIGS. 21 and 21). If you move the mouse cursor while holding down the mouse button, specify the range to change the importance level by moving left and right, and specify the enlargement / reduction level of the importance level within the change range by moving up and down (Fig. 22). At this time, the enlargement / reduction magnification is set so that the maximum importance level within the change range corresponds to the vertical position of the mouse cursor. That is, when the maximum value of the importance level of the change section is Imax and the importance level corresponding to the vertical position of the mouse cursor is Ic, all the importance levels within the change range are multiplied by Ic / Imax. When the change range and the change value are determined, release the mouse button to finalize the change (FIG. 23). At this time, when the mouse cursor is dragged to a position lower than the reference value of the importance level while dragging the mouse, the positive importance level within the change range can be changed to the negative importance level. Of course, the negative importance level can be changed to positive by the same operation (FIGS. 24A to 24C).

  Finally, if the mouse button is released in accordance with the position of the reference level, the entire change range is reset to the reference level, and can be used when canceling the importance level.

  In the above description, the procedure for newly setting the importance level and the procedure for correcting the set importance level are the same. Whether a new setting or a correction is made is determined by whether or not a previously set importance level exists in a time range designated by dragging the mouse left and right. If all the importance levels within the specified time range are reference levels, a new importance level is set. If the specified time range includes an importance level other than the reference level, correction is performed.

  Further, the setting and correction of the importance level can be performed only within the time range displayed in the importance level setting window 1200. To change the time range in the importance level setting window, a display range designation window 1006 is used (FIGS. 25 to 27). The entire display range designation window represents the entire moving image, and the hatched portion of the window is the time range displayed in the importance level setting window. The corresponding time is displayed above the display range designation window. To change the display time range in the importance level setting window, move the mouse cursor to the shaded area in the display range specification window, move it left and right while dragging, release the mouse button at an appropriate place and confirm the destination Let it. By moving the hatched portion in this way, the display time range can be moved without changing the length of the displayed range. On the other hand, when the start or end of the hatched portion is dragged and moved, the dragged start or end moves with the mouse cursor. At this time, the size of the hatched portion in the display range designation window changes with the movement of the mouse cursor, and accordingly, the length of the time range displayed in the importance level setting window also changes.

  The change of the time range displayed in the importance level setting window (in the case of a still image group, the range from the order of what number) is performed in the display range designation window, and the change of the time range shown in 1202 and 1203 in FIG. It can also be done by clicking the button with the mouse. Reference numeral 1202 denotes a left / right scroll button. By moving the mouse cursor to this button and pressing the mouse button, the time range displayed in the importance level setting window moves in the direction displayed on the button. Along with the movement of the display time range, the shaded portion in the display range designation window 1006 also moves. FIG. 25 is a display example when the scroll button to the right (forward direction of time) is pressed. During scrolling, the display frame position mark 1201 does not move with respect to the importance level designation window. Therefore, during scrolling by pressing the scroll button, the frame displayed in the image display window 1002 changes every moment according to the time pointed by the display frame position mark 1201. Therefore, it is preferable to arrange the scroll buttons at the right and left ends of the importance level setting window as shown in FIG. This is because, when scrolling rightward, displaying the rightmost image in the importance level display window makes it easy to determine how far to scroll. Therefore, if the right scroll button is set at the right end of the importance level setting window, the position where the mouse cursor exits the importance level setting window is naturally close to the right end. As a result, the display frame position mark is also fixed to the right end, and the displayed frame is also the right end portion of the importance level setting window. The scroll button to the left (toward the time) is preferably at the left end of the importance level setting window for the same reason.

  Reference numeral 1203 denotes a display time range magnification change button. When a button indicated by “2” is clicked, the display details in the time section displayed in the importance level setting window are doubled. . In other words, although the range displayed in the importance level setting window is halved, the range is enlarged and displayed in detail. At this time, the frame corresponding to the display frame position mark 1201 is displayed without changing its position in the importance level setting window. FIG. 26 is a display example before the magnification change button 1203 is pressed, and the display changes to the display of FIG. 27 after the “2” of the magnification change button is pressed. After pressing “2” of the magnification change button 1203, the display time range on the left and right of the display frame position mark is halved. “1/2” of the display magnification change button 1203 is a button for halving the display details and doubling the displayed time range, contrary to “2”. Also, when the magnification is changed, the frame of the display frame position mark is displayed so as not to change its position in the importance level setting window. Regarding any change in the display magnification, the size of the hatched portion in the display position designation window 1006 becomes twice or half after the change is designated. The display magnification change button 1203 is desirably arranged near the center of the importance level setting window 1200. This is for the same reason as the arrangement of the scroll buttons. That is, when changing the magnification of the display, it is often desired to display the central portion in the importance level setting window 1200 even after the magnification is changed. For this purpose, it is necessary to place a display frame position mark at the center of the importance level setting window 1200. Therefore, the position where the mouse cursor goes out of the importance level setting window 1200 must be set at the center, and if the magnification change button 1203 is set at the center, such operation can be performed naturally. Because.

  In this embodiment, only two types of magnifications, ie, twice and 倍 times, can be changed. However, more magnifications may be prepared or the user may be able to specify the magnification.

  When the importance level is selected, newly set, changed, and the range in which the importance level is assigned is changed, the importance level can be set for a moving image, a sound, and a still image group.

  Next, a description will be given of a preview operation for once confirming whether or not there is a change after assigning the importance level.

  After assigning the importance level, the operation of confirming whether or not the appropriate level has been assigned is the preview. The preview is performed under the display as shown in FIG. The display in FIG. 28 is the same as the display in FIG. 11 except for a part on the right side. Therefore, the same operation as in normal reproduction can be performed by using the same parts as those in FIG. Here, the video is played by setting the threshold value of different importance levels several times, and if the importance level setting is satisfactory, the setting of the importance level is finished without any change. do it.

  However, there may be a case where some parts having an unsatisfactory importance level or a part to be corrected are found and need to be corrected. In such a case, the marking button 1300 and the jump button 1301 are used. The marking button is effective when marking a portion to be corrected and correcting it collectively later. Playback is performed in preview, and the marking button 1300 is pressed each time a place to be corrected is found. When the reproduction by the preview is completed, the display returns to the screen for assigning and modifying the importance level by manual input again (FIG. 29). At this time, a mark 1302 indicating the marking is displayed at the marked position. Therefore, it is sufficient to find this part and correct the importance level. The correction operation is as described above, but when the importance level of the marked position is changed, the marking is automatically erased. If a marked portion exists in the moving image, a jump button 1303 for marking is displayed. When this button is pressed, the time range in the window for specifying the importance level is changed so that the part that is marked temporally ahead of the currently displayed frame position is displayed and that part is displayed. Is done. By using this button, it is possible to jump to the marking points one after another and to perform the correction efficiently.

  The jump button 1301 is used when it is desired to correct the importance level immediately during the preview. When the jump button is pressed during the preview, the assignment of the importance level and the display of the correction by the manual input in FIG. 16 are immediately performed. The range in the importance level setting window is set so as to center on the frame displayed in the preview when the jump button is pressed. Therefore, the importance level near the frame when the jump button is pressed can be immediately corrected.

  The above-described preview and correction are repeated, and when there is no longer any portion to be corrected, the work of assigning and correcting the importance level ends.

(Third embodiment)
Next, an example using eye movement observation as a method of estimating the importance level in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 30 is a graph illustrating a method of estimating the importance level from the viewpoint movement in the information processing apparatus according to the third embodiment.

  The process of importance level estimation described below is a portion corresponding to the internal processing of the determination unit 102 described in the first embodiment. The data output from the eye movement measuring device is subjected to appropriate correction and arithmetic processing, and is converted into viewpoint data which the user actually sees on the screen. The process until the viewpoint data is output from the eye movement measuring device may be any method. At present, the eye movement measurement device has a built-in one that irradiates the eye with infrared rays to observe the reflected light intensity from the sclera, one that attaches electrodes around the eyes to observe the potential difference in the eye, and a built-in electromagnet There are known those which detect a magnetic field by wearing a contact lens, and those which photograph an eye image and calculate a viewpoint by image processing.

  The time difference (differential) of the viewpoint data obtained as described above is obtained, and the viewpoint moving speed 901 at each time is obtained. The saccade, which is the fastest movement among human eye movements, mainly occurs when the visual target is moved between 20 to 50 milliseconds. In the information processing apparatus of the embodiment, the viewpoint movement speed 901 is low. A portion exceeding the threshold value 902 is regarded as a saccade period 903. It is known that the resolution input to the vision is low during the saccade due to fast eye movements, but from tens of milliseconds before the saccade (904) to about 200 ms after the saccade (905). It has been clarified that the image becomes unclear. Therefore, during a series of before saccade 904, saccade period 903, and after saccade 905, the amount of information obtained by the user from the screen can be regarded as small. Therefore, for the period 906 in which the importance level is desired to be obtained, the ratio of the “time when the user has efficiently obtained information from the image”, that is, the sum of the high information density time 907 to the importance level measurement period 906 indicates the high importance. It can be used as an index of the degree. The importance level measurement period 906 has been described as a unit of 5 seconds, a unit of cut, and the like in the first embodiment. Here, the threshold value 902 is a value of about 10 to 50 [degrees / second].

  FIG. 31 shows the result of an experiment in which the importance level was estimated from the line-of-sight analysis by the method of the embodiment. In this experiment, the subject was presented with 15 still images, and was allowed to see each image for free time. Therefore, the time until the subject completes the inspection may be used as one scale for evaluating the importance of the subject. In the figure, the horizontal axis represents the inspection time, and the vertical axis represents the importance level estimated by the method of the present invention. An approximately 80% correlation was found between the two. If the saccade occurs at a constant frequency irrespective of the image content, the importance level becomes constant because the number of saccades also increases in proportion to the presentation time. That is, in the figure, the dots should be aligned on the horizontal line, but as shown in FIG. 31, a relatively high importance level is estimated in an image viewed for a long time (= considered to have high importance), This supports the possibility of the method of the embodiment.

  As described above, the importance level of the user can be estimated from the eye movement which is a natural reaction of the user who is unconscious and natural when watching the image.

  As described in detail above, according to the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to add and modify additional information, for example, an importance level, to multimedia information. The extraction can be realized in a format reflecting the user's intention and without requiring advanced knowledge processing.

  In this way, it is possible to shorten the time for users to access information by facilitating feature extraction of information, thereby contributing to reducing the load on the network and forcing users to have specialized knowledge. It can provide an easy-to-use information access interface without using.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying constituent elements in an implementation stage without departing from the scope of the invention. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Further, components of different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an algorithm for correcting the importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a method of estimating a change in importance level of an overflow section of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when changing or modifying the importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a change procedure method when the change destination importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment is determined. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a processing / presentation method that does not use a semantic break of information of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a processing / presentation method using semantic division of information of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation principle of the address generation unit when performing “sequential presentation” of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation principle when information of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment is music (song) and a break of information is known. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a presentation unit of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a presentation unit of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a processing method using a plurality of importance levels of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a presentation unit of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a presentation unit of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a presentation unit of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a presentation unit of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when setting an importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when setting an importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when setting an importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when changing the importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when changing the importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when changing the importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when changing the importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when changing the importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when setting and correcting the importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when setting and correcting the importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation method when setting and correcting the importance level of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. Conceptual diagram for explaining a preview operation of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. Conceptual diagram for explaining a preview operation of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. 7 is a graph showing a method for estimating an importance level from a viewpoint movement state of the information processing apparatus according to the third embodiment. The figure which shows the result of the experiment which estimated the importance level from the gaze analysis by the method shown in the 3rd Example.

Explanation of reference numerals

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Detector, 102 ... Judgment part, 103 ... Recording control part, 104 ... Correction calculation part, 105 ... Readout control part, 106 ... Image presentation part, 107 ... Recording medium, 108 ... Input device, 109 ... Operation interface, 110 ... Importance information temporary storage unit, 111... Presentation part selection unit, 112... Address generation unit, 113... Original information temporary storage unit, 114... Screen creation unit, 115. Section, 302: Entrance of overflow section, 303: Exit of overflow section, 304: Estimated importance level, 402: Screen recording the maximum value of importance level, 403: Screen to change rank, 405 ... Rank Change destination position, 601: threshold value, 603: time transition of importance level, 604: selected time section, 605: selected 702: scene change, 703: cut, 704: maximum value for each cut, 705: threshold value, 706: importance level density, 802: phrase with high importance level, 902 ... Saccade threshold, 904: low information period before saccade, 905: low information period after saccade.

Claims (5)

Presentation means for presenting at least one of image information and audio information to a user;
Input correction means for inputting and correcting each desired evaluation value for an arbitrary section of the information presented by the presentation means,
An information processing apparatus comprising: an average value calculation unit that calculates an average value of evaluation values of a plurality of persons for the same information input and corrected by the input correction unit. The calculating means calculates an evaluation value of each user in a time section between the semantic breaks based on the evaluation value between the semantic breaks of the information indicating a cut in the image information or a phrase break in the audio information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an average value of the evaluation values of the plurality of persons is calculated for each time section. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when calculating the evaluation value of each user, the calculation unit sets the maximum value of the evaluation values in each time section as the evaluation value of the time section. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when calculating the evaluation value of each user, the calculation unit sets an average value of the evaluation values in each time section as an evaluation value of the time section. A presentation step of presenting at least one of image information and audio information to a user;
An input correction step of inputting and correcting a desired evaluation value for each section of the information presented by the presentation step,
A calculating step of calculating an average value of evaluation values of a plurality of persons for the same information input and corrected by the input correcting step.

Images