US6956573B1 — Method and apparatus for efficiently representing…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 113 words

A method for comprehensively representing video information in a manner facilitating indexing of the video information, comprising the step of: segmenting a video stream into a plurality of scenes, each of said scenes comprising at least one video frame; dividing, using intra-scene motion analysis, at least one of said plurality of scenes into at least one scene foreground layer and a scene background layer; representing each scene background layer as a mosaic, said background layer mosaic defining a key frame of a respective scene; and representing each of said at least one video frames forming said scene as a difference between initial video frame imagery and a respective portion of said key frame.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 113 words

A method for comprehensively representing video information in a manner facilitating indexing of the video information, comprising the step of: segmenting a video stream into a plurality of scenes, each of said scenes comprising at least one video frame; dividing, using intra-scene motion analysis, at least one of said plurality of scenes into at least one scene foreground layer and a scene background layer; representing each scene background layer as a mosaic, said background layer mosaic defining a key frame of a respective scene; and representing each of said at least one video frames forming said scene as a difference between initial video frame imagery and a respective portion of said key frame.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 43 words

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: computing, for at least one of said scene foreground and background layers, one or more content-related appearance attributes; and storing, in a database, said scene content-related appearance attributes or said mosaic representations.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 42 words

The method of claim 2 , further comprising the steps of storing representations of said plurality of scenes in a mass storage unit; and retrieving, in response to a database query, scenes associated with content-related appearance attributes defined in said database query.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein said mosaic representation comprises one of a two dimensional mosaic, a three dimensional mosaic and a network of mosaics.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 101 words

The method of claim 2 , wherein said step of computing a content-based appearance attribute for a layer of a scene comprises the steps of: generating an image pyramid of said layer; filtering, using one or more filters associated with said content-based appearance attribute, each subband of said image pyramid to produce respective one or more feature maps associated with each subband; and integrating said one or more feature maps associated with each respective subband to produce respective attribute pyramid subbands, wherein each of said attribute pyramid, subbands comprises a content-based appearance attribute subband associated with a corresponding image pyramid subband.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method of claim 5 , wherein said content-based appearance attribute comprises at least one of a luminance attribute, a chrominance attribute and a texture attribute.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 29 words

The method of claim 5 , wherein said step of filtering further comprises the step of: rectifying each of said one or more feature maps associated with each subband.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 22 words

The method of claim 5 , further comprising the step of: collapsing said attribute pyramid subbands to produce a content-based appearance attribute.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 47 words

The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of: receiving a request for video information substantially matching a desired content-related appearance attribute; and retrieving video frames or scenes having at least one layer associated with content-related appearance attributes substantially matching said desired content-related appearance attribute.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 95 words

The method of claim 9 , wherein said step of receiving a request comprises the steps of identifying a query type and a query specification, said query type comprising one of a luminance, chrominance and texture query type, said query specification defining a desired property of said identified query type; selecting a predetermined filter type associated with said identified query type; and calculating, using said predetermined filter type and said desired property, a desired content-related appearance attribute, said desired content-related appearance attribute being suitable for comparing to said content-related appearance attributes stored in said database.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 30 words

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: storing, in a database, ancillary information associated with one or more layers or frames of one or more scenes.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 57 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of segmenting comprises the steps of: generating a descriptor vector of a predetermined type for each video frame of a video information stream; calculating a difference between descriptor vectors of successive frames; and generating a scene cut indicium in response to said calculated difference exceeding a threshold level.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 76 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of segmenting comprises the steps of: generating, in a first pass, a descriptor vector of a predetermined type for each video frame of a video information stream; calculating, using said generated descriptor vectors, a descriptor vector threshold level; calculating, in a second pass, a difference between descriptor vectors of successive frames; and generating a scene cut indicium in response to said calculated difference exceeding a threshold level.

Claim 15

Independent Claim 118 words

A method for browsing a video program stored in a mass storage unit, said video program comprising a plurality of scenes, said method comprising the steps of: providing a database associated with the stored video program, said database comprising attribute information associated with at least a representative portion of said plurality of video frames forming each scene, where said plurality of scenes comprise a plurality of video frames including a key frame comprising a mosaic of an intra-scene background layer; formulating a query utilizing attribute information associated with a desired video frame; searching said database to identify video frames substantially satisfying said query; and retrieving, from said mass storage unit, one or more of said identified video frames.

Claim 16

Independent Claim 118 words

A method for browsing a video program stored in a mass storage unit, said video program comprising a plurality of scenes, said method comprising the steps of: providing a database associated with the stored video program, said database comprising attribute information associated with at least a representative portion of said plurality of video frames forming each scene, where said plurality of scenes comprise a plurality of video frames including a key frame comprising a mosaic of an intra-scene background layer; formulating a query utilizing attribute information associated with a desired video frame; searching said database to identify video frames substantially satisfying said query; and retrieving, from said mass storage unit, one or more of said identified video frames.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 38 words

The method of claim 14 , wherein said step of formulating a query comprises the steps of: selecting a query type; selecting a query specification; and computing a multi-dimensional feature vector using said query type and query specification.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 39 words

The method of claim 15 , wherein said query specification is selected by identifying a portion of a displayed image, and said multi-dimensional feature vector is calculated using said query type and said identified potion of said displayed image.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 35 words

The method of claim 16 , further comprising the steps of: formatting, for subsequent presentation on a display device, each scene Including one or more of said identified video frames; and transmitting said formatted scenes.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 125 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 perform the steps of: (a) segmenting a video stream into a plurality of scenes, each of said scenes comprising at least one video frame; (b) dividing, using intra-scene motion analysis, at least one of said plurality of scenes into at least one scene foreground layer and a scene background layer; representing each scene background layer as a mosaic, said background layer mosaic defining a key frame of a respective scene; and representing each of said at least one video frames forming said scene as a difference between initial video frame imagery and a respective portion of said key frame.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 125 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 perform the steps of: (a) segmenting a video stream into a plurality of scenes, each of said scenes comprising at least one video frame; (b) dividing, using intra-scene motion analysis, at least one of said plurality of scenes into at least one scene foreground layer and a scene background layer; representing each scene background layer as a mosaic, said background layer mosaic defining a key frame of a respective scene; and representing each of said at least one video frames forming said scene as a difference between initial video frame imagery and a respective portion of said key frame.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 70 words

The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , further having stored thereon an additional plurality of instructions, the additional plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the additional steps of: computing, for at least one of said scene foreground and background layers, one or more content-related appearance attributes; and storing, in a database, said scene content-related appearance attributes or said mosaic representations.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 69 words

The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , further having stored thereon an additional plurality of instructions, the additional plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the additional steps of: storing representations of said plurality of scenes in a mass storage unit; and retrieving, in response to a database query, scenes associated with content-related appearance attributes defined in said database query.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 27 words

The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein said mosaic representation comprises one of a two dimensional mosaic, a three dimensional mosaic and a network of mosaics.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 112 words

The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the stored instruction of computing a content-based appearance attribute for a layer of a scene, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of: generating an image pyramid of said layer, filtering, using one or more filters associated with said content-based appearance attribute, each subband of said image pyramid to produce respective one or more feature maps associated with each subband; and integrating said one or more feature maps associated with each respective subband to produce respective attribute pyramid subbands, wherein each of said attribute pyramid subbands comprises a content-based appearance attribute subband associated with a corresponding image pyramid subband.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 27 words

The computer-readable medium of claim 22 , wherein said content-based appearance attribute comprises at least one of a luminance attribute, a chrominance attribute and a texture attribute.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2008-10-17	2009-04-18	2009-10-18	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2012-10-17	2013-04-18	2013-10-18	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2016-10-17	2017-04-18	2017-10-18	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Method and apparatus for efficiently representing storing and accessing video information

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