JP2002199345A - Animation retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an animation retrieving device for facilitating retrieval in the case of fast-forwarding regardless of the length of a scene in an encoded animation. SOLUTION: A video data retrieval processing part 6 retrieves more than one picture from video data which is stored in a video data storage part 1 and a reproducing part 2 reproduces video data based on the picture. The animation retrieving device is provided with an operation input part 5 such as a fast-forwarding reproduction button or a jog dial for changing a fast-forwarding speed. The representative picture of each scene is displayed when the scene is retrieved concerning video data the reproduction part 2 performs reproduction from any retrieved representative picture. The scene is retrieved in the case of fast-forwarding and, then, normal speed or double speed reproduction is performed for seconds to make an indication possible in accordance with the rotation angle of the jog dial from the time point of every change-over of the scene. Thus display is surely performed for fixed time regardless of the length of the scene and it is eliminated that the short scene is more hardly discovered compared with the long scene.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a moving image search device, and more particularly to a moving image search device for searching for a moving image composed of coded moving image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a moving image search device is generally configured as a moving image search device for searching for a moving image.

[0003] As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-247602, the video data search means can automatically select and display a plurality of screens for the video data selected by the video title selection means. . For this reason,
The user can search for the video data without playing the video data selected by the video title selecting means from beginning to end. In addition, a search can be performed in a short time. Further, since the reproducing means reproduces the video data based on the searched screen, the user can reproduce the video data from a desired screen.

[0004] A client reads out video data stored in a server via a network,
The screen on which the video data has been searched can be displayed on its own monitor. For this reason, the client can use the video data shared by the server as if the client owns the video data.

As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-247602, images are conventionally stored in a magnetic storage medium such as a video tape or a magnetic disk, or a storage medium such as an optical disk. An image reproducing apparatus or an image recording / reproducing apparatus which can reproduce a video has been developed. These storage media have a large capacity, and can store several hours of video. However, in order to make more effective use of the storage medium, there is also a type in which an image is compressed and stored in the storage medium.

[0006] The image information stored in these storage media is reproduced by a single image reproducing apparatus, is reproduced on a personal computer connected to a personal computer, or is reproduced on a workstation by being connected to a network. Or When searching for a desired image, the user fast-forwards and reproduces the image information stored in the storage medium.

[0007]

However, according to the above-mentioned prior art, as described above, when a specific screen (scene) is to be searched, image information is reproduced from the beginning by, for example, fast forward, and a desired specific screen is reproduced. Must find
There is a problem that it takes time and effort. In addition, since the playback speed is simply fast-forwarded, short scenes end in a short time when fast-forwarding compared to long scenes,
There is a problem that can easily be overlooked. Furthermore, there is a problem that only the first few seconds are displayed during fast forward, and the latter part is not displayed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a moving image search apparatus which facilitates a search at the time of fast forward regardless of the length of a scene of an encoded moving image.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a moving image search apparatus according to the present invention, which reproduces and searches video data stored in advance in response to a user request, comprises: Video data storage means for storing data, video data search means for searching a plurality of screens from the selected video data, and playback means for playing back video data based on the screen searched by the video data search means. Have or
A video data search system comprising: a server having means for storing video data; a network connecting the server and the client; and a client connected to the network. Means and a reproducing means for reproducing the video data based on the screen searched by the video data searching means on the client side, and having an operation portion such as a fast-forward playback button and a jog dial for changing the fast-forward speed, and The video data displays a representative screen of each scene at the time of the scene search, and the reproducing means enables reproduction from any of the searched representative screens. In this function, a scene search is performed at the time of fast forward, and normal speed or double speed playback is performed for a number of seconds that can be instructed according to the rotation angle of the jog dial from the switching point for each scene, and the next scene It is characterized in that a display method for shifting to a change is made possible.

In the above-mentioned double-speed reproduction, fast-forwarding is performed by repeating the display for only a few seconds after the scene change, and the reproduction speed of the portion reproduced and displayed from the scene change is changed according to the rotation angle of the jog dial. It is preferable that the apparatus further includes a multifunction device to skip a silent section of the audio when determining the display start position from the scene change of the fast-forward reproduction, and to simultaneously reproduce the composite audio during the fast-forward reproduction.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a moving picture search apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 show an embodiment of the moving image search device of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Here, the international standard method of video coding, M
A description will be given of a video search from video coded data compressed by PEG1 (ISO / IEC 11172). However, the present invention is not limited to searching for a moving image compressed by the MPEG1 compression method.

One embodiment of the present invention uses a hard disk for storing video data, a playback board for playing back compressed moving images, and an operating device such as a jog dial.
Has been realized.

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram showing the functions of this embodiment in a block configuration. Also, FIG.
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram in which a server 11 and clients 12a, 12b, and 12c are connected and configured via a network 13.

The data storage unit 1 shown in FIG. 1 corresponds to a hard disk, and various video files A, B,... Are stored in the data storage unit 1 in advance.

The reproduction unit 2 decodes and reproduces the video file a which is a compressed moving image read from the data storage unit 1 described above, and corresponds to the above-mentioned reproduction board.
The reproducing unit 2 sends the decoded video data b to the display data buffer 7.

The control unit 3 is constituted by a CPU or the like and executes control software. The screen display unit 4 displays a video file or the like decoded by the playback unit stored in the data storage unit 1. It also controls various control buttons, a jog dial, and the like. The operation input unit 5 corresponds to an operation device such as a button or a jog dial.

When an image search instruction is given according to an operation procedure from the operation input unit 5 by the operator, the search processing unit 6 converts the specified video file from the various video files stored in the data storage unit 1. Take it out and search for video scenes. The search processing unit 6 sends the screen information of the search result to the reproduction unit 2 and sends information f accompanying the search screen such as the screen time code to the display data buffer 7. The display data buffer 7 temporarily stores data to be displayed on the screen display unit 4.

Further, the leading screen of the video data can be used as the representative screen. The representative screen can be created by creating a representative screen file in advance using a format such as GIF, JPEG, or MPEG1.
There is a method of randomly accessing the original video data compressed by the above and displaying only that screen. As a method of random access when the latter randomly accessed screen is displayed as a representative screen, there are a method using a time code and a method using a frame flag.

Each access position can be obtained by the following formula. , When using a time code: (total capacity × access time / total time) −α byte (1), and when using a frame flag: (total capacity × access frame / total frame) −α byte (2)

The above-mentioned symbol α is an arbitrary integer, and by using a positive value, the access position can be made slightly closer. As a result, it is possible to monitor the playback time code by performing playback from a little before, pause at the corresponding time code, and display the corresponding screen.

In the scene search, a scene switching point (cut point) of a video is automatically detected, and a representative screen and a time code of each scene are displayed. The leading screen of each scene can be used as the representative screen. This cut point detection is performed, for example, by using a "cut point image detection apparatus and method for moving images" by Ujihara et al., Information Processing Society of Japan 51S
-9 (1995), Japanese Patent Application No. 7-263681, Japanese Patent Application No. 5-216895, or Japanese Patent Application No. 6-46.
The technology disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 561 can be used.

This technology includes, for example, a reduced image creating means for creating a reduced image from screen data of an input moving image,
The luminance difference between the screen of interest n (where n is a positive integer) and the reduced images of the screens (n-1) and (n + 1) separated by one or more frames before and after the screen of interest The inter-frame luminance difference calculation means for obtaining the inter-frame luminance difference for each frame and the histogram of the color difference signals between the reduced images of the screens (n-1), n, and (n + 1) collectively show a color difference signal between frames. And a color difference histogram correlation calculating means for obtaining a histogram correlation value, and the screen (n-
1), temporal change with respect to the inter-frame luminance difference of (n + 1), and temporal change of the color difference histogram correlation value of the noted screen n with respect to the color difference histogram correlation values of the screens (n-1) and (n + 1). Furthermore, the cut point is detected by providing cut screen determining means for determining the cut screen of the target screen n.

The above is the basic description of the basic configuration and operation of the present invention. In the present invention, the following processing is added in this portion.

(Embodiment 1) In response to a fast-forward instruction given from the operation input unit 5, the search processing unit 6 searches for the next scene change portion (step S1). When a scene change is found, the reproduction unit 2 is instructed to reproduce from that position. At this time, the reproduction time to be instructed to the reproduction unit 2 is instructed according to the rotation angle of the jog dial of the operation input unit 5 (S2 to S5). When the reproduction of the reproduction unit 2 is completed (S5 /
YES), the next scene change portion is immediately performed using the search processing unit 6. By repeating the above operation (S
6), the operation of the first embodiment is completed.

According to the first embodiment, since a fixed time is reliably displayed regardless of the length of a scene, the problem that a short scene is harder to find than a long scene is solved.

(Second Embodiment) In addition to the operation of the first embodiment, the operation of the second embodiment requires the following. When the control unit 3 instructs the playback unit 2 to play back when the search processing unit 6 finds a scene change position, the playback speed is instructed according to the rotation angle of the jog dial of the operation input unit 5 in the same manner as the playback time. . By repeating this operation for each scene change as in the first embodiment, the operation of the second embodiment is completed.

The configuration of the second embodiment is basically the same as the configuration of the first embodiment, and the operation is such that the reproduction speed of the portion reproduced and displayed from the scene change is changed according to the rotation angle of the jog dial. In the second embodiment, the latter half can be displayed as much as possible. In the first embodiment, only the first few seconds are displayed at the time of fast-forward, so that there is a problem that the latter part is not displayed. However, in the second embodiment, the reproduction speed of the part to be reproduced and displayed is increased according to the rotation angle of the jog dial. By doing so, as a result, the length of the fast-forward playback portion is lengthened, and the above problem is solved.

(Embodiment 3) In addition to the operation of the second embodiment, the operation of the third embodiment requires the following. Add a sound playback function to the playback unit. Based on the result of the output of the sound reproducing function of the reproducing section 3, a silent section is detected, and while the section is a silent section, it is stopped from being passed to the display data buffer 7 and the section is skipped. Then, when the silent section ends, the transfer to the display buffer 7 is started, and the measurement of the reproduction time is started. Thus, the operation of the third embodiment is completed.

According to the third embodiment, in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment, a voice data multifunction device is provided. For this reason, when determining the display start position from the scene change in the fast-forward playback of the first embodiment, the silent section of the audio is skipped.
Then, the combined sound is also reproduced at the time of the fast forward reproduction. For this reason, in the first embodiment, the audio data at the time of the search is not used. However, according to the third embodiment, since the fast forward is performed while the audio is reproduced, the audio can be used, and the audio data can be effectively used.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description, the moving image search device of the present invention plays back video data based on the screen searched by the server, and provides a fast forward play button,
The video data has an operation part such as a jog dial for changing the fast-forward speed. The video data displays a representative screen of each scene at the time of a scene search, and can be reproduced from any of the searched representative screens. Furthermore, a scene search is performed at the time of fast-forwarding, and from the time of switching each scene, normal speed or double speed playback is performed for the number of seconds that can be instructed according to the rotation angle of the jog dial, and the next scene switch again. Move on. This ensures that a fixed time is displayed irrespective of the length of the scene, and that a short scene is less difficult to find than a long scene.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an embodiment of a moving image search device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing a network configuration example.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Data storage part 2 Reproduction part 3 Control part 4 Screen display part 5 Operation input part 6 Search processing part 11 Server 12 Client 13 Network

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A moving image search apparatus for playing back and searching video data stored in advance in response to a user request, comprising: a video data storage unit for storing the video data;
Video data searching means for searching a plurality of screens from the selected video data, and reproducing means for reproducing the video data based on the screen searched by the video data searching means, or storing the video data A server having means for performing the above, a network connecting the server and the client, and a client connected to the network; a video data search means for searching the video data for a plurality of screens on the server side; A reproduction means for reproducing the video data based on the screen searched by the video data search means on the client side, comprising an operation portion such as a fast-forward playback button and a jog dial for changing a fast-forward speed; Video data is displayed on a representative screen of each scene during scene search. In the function of enabling playback from any of the searched representative screens, the playback means performs a scene search at the time of fast-forwarding, and can instruct from the switching point for each scene according to the rotation angle of the jog dial. A moving image search apparatus characterized in that a display method of performing normal speed or double speed reproduction for only a few seconds and switching to the next scene switching again is enabled. 2. The double-speed playback includes fast-forwarding by repeating display for only a few seconds after a scene change, and changing a playback speed of a portion that is played back and displayed from the scene change according to a rotation angle of the jog dial. The moving image search device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. An audio data synthesizing apparatus, further comprising: when determining a display start position from a scene change of the fast-forward reproduction, skips a silent section of the audio, and simultaneously decodes the audio combined at the time of the fast-forward reproduction. The moving image search device according to claim 1, wherein the moving image search device reproduces the moving image.