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US5990980A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Detection of transitions in video sequences

Assignee: MediaTek Inc
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Filing: 1998-05-28
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Granted: 1999-11-23
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Expires: 2018-05-28
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Abstract

Abstract Frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) values are generated for pairs of frames in a video sequence that are separated by a specified timing window size, where each FDM value is the ratio of a net dissimilarity measure and a cumulative dissimilarity measure. In one embodiment, a first threshold condition is applied to identify peaks in the FDM data that could correspond to transitions between shots in a video sequence. A second threshold condition is applied to the FDM data adjacent to the detected peaks to identify frames at the start and end of the transition. The first threshold condition determines whether the FDM values exceed a first specified threshold level, while the second threshold condition determines whether the FDM values fall below a second specified threshold level. The net and cumulative dissimilarity measures may be based on histograms for the two frames. The present invention is effective in detecting gradual transitions between shots, such as wipes, dissolves, and fades, as well as abrupt transitions, such as cuts.

Inventors

  • 👤 Stuart Jay Golin

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-31 15:25
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N5/00; H04N5/14; H04N5/147; G; G06; G06V; G06V20/00; G06V20/40; H04N19/00; H04N19/10; H04N19/134; H04N19/142; H04N19/169; H04N19/179; H04N19/60; H04N19/85; H04N19/87; G11; G11B; G11B27/00; G11B27/10; G11B27/19; G11B27/28

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 30
Claim 1
Independent Claim 72 words
A method for identifying transitions in a video sequence, comprising the steps of: (a) generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size, wherein the FDM value is the ratio of a net dissimilarity measure and a cumulative dissimilarity measure; and (b) analyzing the FDM values to identify transitions in the video sequence.
Claim 2
Independent Claim 72 words
A method for identifying transitions in a video sequence, comprising the steps of: (a) generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size, wherein the FDM value is the ratio of a net dissimilarity measure and a cumulative dissimilarity measure; and (b) analyzing the FDM values to identify transitions in the video sequence.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 35 words
The invention of claim 1, wherein, for each pair of frames m and n, the FDM value is generated from histograms for two or more frames corresponding to the pair of frames m and n.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 72 words
The invention of claim 1, wherein: the net dissimilarity measure D net (m,n) is defined by: D.sub.net (m,n).tbd.Σ.sub.i |h.sub.i (m)-h.sub.i (n)|.sup.γ wherein: h 1 (m) is the i th bin of a histogram corresponding to frame m; h i (n) is the is bin of a histogram corresponding to frame n; and γ is a specified parameter; and the cumulative dissimilarity measure D net (m,n) is defined by: D.sub.cum (m,n).tbd.Σ.sup.n-1.sub.k-m D.sub.net (k,k+1).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 36 words
The invention of claim 1, further comprising the step of comparing the relative positions in the video sequence of start and end frames for each identified transition to discriminate against short-term anomalies in the video sequence.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 68 words
The invention of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises the steps of: (1) applying a first threshold condition to an FDM value to determine if a frame in the corresponding pair of frames corresponds to a transition; and (2) if the first threshold condition is satisfied, then applying a second threshold condition to one or more other FDM values to identify start and end frames for the transition.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 32 words
The invention of claim 5, further comprising the step of characterizing noise in the FDM values for the video sequence, wherein the first and second threshold conditions are functions of the noise.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 26 words
The invention of claim 6, wherein the noise is characterized by: (1) biasing the FDM values toward small values; and (2) filtering the biased FDM values.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 88 words
The invention of claim 6 wherein: the first threshold condition is satisfied when the FDM value for a frame n exceeds the maximum of a first threshold value T 1 and the product of a first threshold multiplier M 1 and the noise for frame n; and the second threshold condition is satisfied when the FDM value for a frame m falls below the maximum of a second threshold value T 2 and the product of a second threshold multiplier M 2 and the noise for frame m.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 19 words
The invention of claim 5, wherein the FDM values are filtered before applying the first and second threshold conditions.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 41 words
The invention of claim 5, wherein: the first threshold condition is satisfied when an FDM value is greater than a first threshold level; and the second threshold condition is satisfied when an FDM value is less than a second threshold level.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 17 words
The invention of claim 10, wherein the first threshold level is greater than the second threshold level.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 32 words
The invention of claim 5, wherein: the first threshold condition is used to identify peaks in the FDM values; and the second threshold condition is used to determine boundaries for the peaks.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 34 words
The invention of claim 1, wherein each frame is divided into two or more sub-frames and an FDM value is generated for each sub-frame in order to distinguish object motion from transitions between shots.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 104 words
The invention of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises the steps of: (1) applying a first threshold condition to an FDM value to determine if a frame in the corresponding pair of frames corresponds to a start frame for a possible transition; (2) if the first threshold condition is satisfied, then applying a second threshold condition to one or more other FDM values to determine if the possible transition is a probable transition; and (3) if the second threshold condition is satisfied, then applying the first threshold condition to one or more other FDM values to determine an end frame for the probable transition.
Claim 16
Independent Claim 73 words
An apparatus for identifying transitions in a video sequence, comprising: (a) means for generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size, wherein the FDM value is the ratio of a net dissimilarity measure and a cumulative dissimilarity measure; and (b) means for analyzing the FDM values to identify transitions in the video sequence.
Claim 17
Independent Claim 73 words
An apparatus for identifying transitions in a video sequence, comprising: (a) means for generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size, wherein the FDM value is the ratio of a net dissimilarity measure and a cumulative dissimilarity measure; and (b) means for analyzing the FDM values to identify transitions in the video sequence.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 101 words
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a method for identifying transitions in a video sequence, the method comprising the steps of: (a) generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size, wherein the FDM value is the ratio of a net dissimilarity measure and a cumulative dissimilarity measure; and (b) analyzing the FDM values to identify transitions in the video sequence.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 101 words
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a method for identifying transitions in a video sequence, the method comprising the steps of: (a) generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size, wherein the FDM value is the ratio of a net dissimilarity measure and a cumulative dissimilarity measure; and (b) analyzing the FDM values to identify transitions in the video sequence.
Claim 20
Independent Claim 95 words
A method for identifying transitions in a video sequence, comprising the steps of: (a) generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size; (b) applying a first threshold condition to an FDM value to determine if the corresponding pair of frames corresponds to a transition; and (c) if the first threshold condition is satisfied, then applying a second threshold condition to one or more other FDM values to identify start and end frames for the transition.
Claim 21
Independent Claim 95 words
A method for identifying transitions in a video sequence, comprising the steps of: (a) generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size; (b) applying a first threshold condition to an FDM value to determine if the corresponding pair of frames corresponds to a transition; and (c) if the first threshold condition is satisfied, then applying a second threshold condition to one or more other FDM values to identify start and end frames for the transition.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim 90 words
The invention of claim 17, wherein the FDM value is the ratio of a net dissimilarity measure and a cumulative dissimilarity measure, wherein: the net dissimilarity measure D net (m,n) is defined by: D.sub.net (m,n).tbd.Σ.sub.i |h.sub.i (m)-h.sub.i (n)|.sup.γ wherein: h i (m) is the i th bin of a histogram corresponding to frame m; h i (n) is the i th bin of a histogram corresponding to frame n; and γ is a specified parameter; and the cumulative dissimilarity measure D cum (m,n) is defined by: D.sub.com (m,n).tbd.Σ.sup.n-1.sub.k=m D.sub.net (k,k+1).
Claim 23
Dependent Claim 33 words
The invention of claim 17, further comprising the step of comparing the relative positions of the start and end frames in the video sequence to discriminate against short-term anomalies in the video sequence.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim 32 words
The invention of claim 17, further comprising the step of characterizing noise in the FDM values for the video sequence, wherein the first and second threshold conditions are functions of the noise.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim 54 words
The invention of claim 17, wherein: the first threshold condition is satisfied when an FDM value is greater than a first threshold level to identify peaks in the FDM values; and the second threshold condition is satisfied when an FDM value is less than a second threshold level to determine boundaries for the peaks.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim 81 words
The invention of claim 17, wherein: step (b) comprises the step of applying the first threshold condition to identify the start frame of a possible transition; step (c) comprises the step of applying the second threshold condition to determine if the possible transition is a probable transition; and further comprising the step of applying the first threshold condition to one or more other FDM values to determine the end frame for the probable transition, if the second threshold condition is satisfied.
Claim 27
Independent Claim 97 words
An apparatus for identifying transitions in a video sequence, comprising: (a) means for generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size; (b) means for applying a first threshold condition to an FDM value to determine if the corresponding pair of frames corresponds to a transition; and (c) means for applying a second threshold condition to one or more other FDM values to identify start and end frames for the transition, if the first threshold condition is satisfied.
Claim 28
Independent Claim 97 words
An apparatus for identifying transitions in a video sequence, comprising: (a) means for generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size; (b) means for applying a first threshold condition to an FDM value to determine if the corresponding pair of frames corresponds to a transition; and (c) means for applying a second threshold condition to one or more other FDM values to identify start and end frames for the transition, if the first threshold condition is satisfied.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim 124 words
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a method for identifying transitions in a video sequence, the method comprising the steps of: (a) generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size; (b) applying a first threshold condition to an FDM value to determine if the corresponding pair of frames corresponds to a transition; and (c) if the first threshold condition is satisfied, then applying a second threshold condition to one or more other FDM values to identify start and end frames for the transition.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim 124 words
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a method for identifying transitions in a video sequence, the method comprising the steps of: (a) generating a frame dissimilarity measure (FDM) value for each of a plurality of pairs of frames in the video sequence that are separated by a timing window size; (b) applying a first threshold condition to an FDM value to determine if the corresponding pair of frames corresponds to a transition; and (c) if the first threshold condition is satisfied, then applying a second threshold condition to one or more other FDM values to identify start and end frames for the transition.

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