Thumbnail Generation for Video Content Representation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional image display methods for moving images on video recording media fail to effectively generate thumbnail images that represent the content, particularly for images with gradual fade-in or high brightness, leading to users being unable to grasp the contents, and also neglect significant images without audio or multiplexed audio data.
Innovation Solution
The method involves sequentially extracting image data from moving image files, determining if there are pixels with different color-difference or brightness data in a predetermined area, and generating thumbnail images only if these conditions are met, ensuring that displayed thumbnails are representative of the content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the first detected frame is displayed as thumbnail, then the display process is simple and fast, but the thumbnail may be black or white and unrepresentative of the content
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-evaluating the quality of candidate thumbnail frames before final selection. The system calculates color difference metrics and variance values for each candidate frame in advance, identifying frames with sufficient visual information before committing to display, thus avoiding the need to display unrepresentative black or white frames while maintaining efficient processing.
2Reliability
If audio data detection is used to select thumbnail frames, then frames with visual content can be identified, but moving images without audio or multiplexed audio data cannot be represented
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the thumbnail selection criterion from dependency on audio data and establishes an independent image-based evaluation mechanism. By calculating color differences and variance directly from video frame data without requiring audio synchronization, the system can generate meaningful thumbnails for any video format including those without audio or with multiplexed audio, thus achieving both reliability and versatility.
3Device complexity
If conventional thumbnail selection is used, then processing is simple, but significant images may be missed and non-significant images displayed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces simple mechanical frame-by-frame selection with an automated image analysis system that calculates color difference metrics and variance values. This substitution introduces computational processing to automatically identify frames with significant visual content based on quantitative criteria, ensuring that meaningful images are selected while minimizing processing complexity through efficient algorithms.
Data Source
AI summary
An image display method by which a presence of a variation in a color signal in video, a variation in brightness data in video, a bit rate of video reproduction, an audio signal, a variation in a bit rate of video reproduction, or caption data is checked, whereby it is possible to display a significant image whose contents can be grasped by a user by skipping over a monochrome image such as a black or white image whose contents cannot be grasped by the user, even if a moving image starts from such a monochrome image.