JPH11308567A - Layout video editing method and apparatus with page display function and recording medium recording the program - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To create a video content comprehension support output from a part of each video material and construct a system for automatically editing a video from a corresponding video. SOLUTION: An input video 0 is divided into several video sections 1 by a video section dividing step 20. A representative image 2 serving as index information for the video section 1 is output in a video representative image output step 21. The editor 10 gives an instruction 11 based on the representative image 2, edits the material in the representative image layout step 22, and obtains a layout result 3 as a support output for grasping the video contents. The video is edited in the video editing step 23 based on the layout result 3. The representative image on the layout result 3 is evaluated in a representative image reduction step 24 to reduce the number of representative images by evaluating the relationship between the representative images. The reduced representative image 5 thus obtained is viewed by the viewer 14 who is an editor or a user via the display 13 in the representative image display stage 25.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for facilitating video editing when analyzing and editing video captured or obtained via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Due to the widespread use of small video cameras and video decks, ordinary people record and shoot images very often.

[0003] However, video editing involves a difficult task because it is necessary to view and understand the contents and requires repetitive operations such as repeatedly watching the video.
Most people do not edit.

Although it seems that there are some problems, firstly, it is difficult to grasp the contents of the shot video, and the conventional editing machine is greatly restricted by time information. It is thought that the editing work required a great deal of labor and time because of the problems such as being unable to access at random and being unable to access at random. Secondly, it is considered that viewing of the video is strongly restricted in terms of time, so that even if the video is edited, there is little opportunity for the video to be viewed by a third party, which is an obstacle.

[0005] To promote video editing: Video editing is easy.

[0006] 2. As a result of the video editing work, the content of the produced video should be easy to understand and easy to watch.

It is considered that the following two points are necessary.

Several conventional methods have been proposed to analyze the above problems.

In order to solve the first problem, that is, the problem of sequential access in video editing, the use of non-linear editing machines has become popular. In this method, a video is converted into a digital moving image, and a work being edited is recorded on a hard disk, thereby enabling random access and realizing an easy editing work. Some non-linear editing machines have already been proposed, and its interface is said to be virtually standardized to display a timeline and display video icons along the timeline. May be. In this method, all information in the time direction, ie, video, is developed and displayed in the spatial direction. A well-known example is Avi Media Comp.
There are series such as Oser and Adobe Premiere. These methods have been generalized and are already used in broadcasting and video production. However, since the required hardware is required to be strong, it is difficult for ordinary people to handle. Therefore, in order to generalize video editing, it is desirable to be able to perform video editing work without hindering such restrictions on places and the like.

[0010] On the other hand, in order to solve the second problem, as one proposal for easily grasping and viewing the contents of a video, information of a cut point of the video information is extracted and displayed, or a camera is provided. By extracting work information and shifting the image by the amount of camera work, several methods have been proposed, such as placing an image of the entire camera on a screen or paper and displaying it. Yes (Yukinobu
Taniguti, Yoshinobu Tonom
ura, "Panorama Exceptions: Ex
tracting and packing Pano
ramas for Video Browsing "
1996 ACM Multimedia97 ...
[1]).

[0011]

However, these conventional methods can only solve individual problems. Although it can be expected that a product that can solve the problem can be produced to some extent by simple combination, the conventional method [1] is effective for mechanical understanding of the content to some extent, but is attractive in itself. This is not a typical interface, and is effective when the editor uses it for editing, but does not prompt the user to view. This is because mechanical features and the like are selected from the edited video. Therefore, it is difficult for the viewer to understand what is necessary and what is unnecessary video, and the viewer has not been actively viewed.

Further, as described above, the video needs to be developed not only in the spatial direction but also in the time direction. Since an image of one frame of a video is a narrow range, rendering in the time direction and switching the angle of view, angle, and the like with respect to the subject have been used to produce an effect in the video. Therefore, when the shot change points are displayed mechanically as shown in the above-mentioned conventional method [1], the number of displayed videos increases, and when a point desired to be viewed is extracted from one video work, It is known to be a problem. This is because there is a difference between the display density of the video content based on shot changes and the like that occur during video editing and the video content density required for the content comprehension support output. This indicates that the one based on the quantity, that is, is not equivalent to the content grasp support output.

However, for a video editor, after finishing the video editing work, a content comprehension support output, which is a support tool for comprehending the video content, which makes the viewing of the video more attractive. Creating video in addition to video requires a lot of labor and requires much more effort because it is necessary to create additional content in addition to the work that was originally done only with video editing. There is a problem.

Therefore, either a system that automatically produces a content grasping support output when video editing is performed, or a system that automatically edits a video when a content grasping support output is produced. The system would solve these problems.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to construct a system for automatically editing and generating a video from a corresponding video when a video content comprehension support output is produced from a part of each video material. . It is another object of the present invention to construct a system that takes into account the difference between the density of video contents required for video production and the density of video contents required for a content grasp output.

[0016]

As means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is listed below.

The invention of (1) has a page display function of laying out and outputting the video material, displaying the laid-out video material while editing the video material based on the output result, and outputting the layout. A layout video editing method, comprising: a video section division step of dividing a video material into sections; a representative image output step of outputting a representative image for each of the divided video sections; and a layout by laying out the representative image. A representative image layout stage for obtaining a result, a video editing stage for automatically editing a video according to the layout result, and associating the representative images used in the layout result with the size, shape, and representative image of the representative image A representative image reduction stage for generating a reduced representative image by reducing the number of representative images by association in accordance with the characteristics of the representative image such as the length of the video section being set. When a page display function layout image editing method characterized by comprising a representative image display step of displaying the reduced representative image.

The invention of (2) is a layout video editing method with a page display function for displaying and outputting the laid out video material while performing editing work on the video material based on a layout result of laying out the video material. A video editing step of automatically editing a video according to the layout result; and the representative images used in the layout result are represented by the size, shape, and length of the video section associated with the representative image. A representative image reduction step of generating a reduced representative image by reducing the number of representative images by association in accordance with the characteristics of the representative image such as the size of the representative image, and a representative image display step of displaying the reduced representative image. This is a layout video editing method with a page display function.

The invention of (3) has a page display function of laying out and outputting the video material, displaying the laid-out video material while editing the video material based on the output result, and outputting the laid out video material. A layout video editing device, comprising: a video section dividing unit that divides a video material into sections; a representative image output unit that outputs a representative image for each of the divided video sections; and a layout by laying out the representative image. A representative image layout unit for obtaining a result, a video editing unit for automatically editing a video according to the layout result, and associating the representative images used in the layout result with the size, shape, and representative image of the representative image. The representative image reduction method for generating a reduced representative image by reducing the number of representative images by association in accordance with the characteristics of the representative image, such as the length of the video section being set. When a page display function layout image editing apparatus characterized by comprising a representative image display means for displaying the reduced representative image.

The invention of (4) is a layout video editing apparatus with a page display function for displaying and outputting the laid out video material while performing editing work on the video material based on the layout result of laying out the video material. A video editing means for automatically editing a video according to the layout result; and the size and shape of the representative image and the length of the video section associated with the representative image. A representative image reducing unit configured to reduce the number of representative images by association to generate a reduced representative image in accordance with a characteristic of the representative image such as a representative image, and a representative image display unit displaying the reduced representative image. This is a layout video editing apparatus with a page display function.

The invention of (5) is characterized in that (1) or (2)
A program for realizing each step in the layout video editing method with page display function described in the above with a computer, recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, a layout video editing program with page display function It is a recording medium on which recording is performed.

In the present invention, while extracting a part of the information from the video material to form a detailed content grasp output, according to the information of the content grasp output, or information of the already configured content grasp output, Edit and generate the video in accordance with. Further, in order to make the contents grasped output more easily handled, the contents of the contents grasped output are processed and displayed so as to be reduced.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments of a layout video editing method and apparatus with a page display function according to the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows a processing flowchart of a layout video editing method with a page display function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The video is divided into several video sections 1 by the video section dividing step 20 in order to generate a video material which is the material of the edited and processed video 4 from the input video 0.

For this video section, a representative image 2 serving as index information at the time of video editing is output in a video representative image output step 21.

An editor 10 as a user based on the representative image 2
Gives the instruction 11 and edits the material in the representative image layout stage 22 to obtain the layout result 3. The layout result 3 is a support output for grasping the content of the generated video, and the video is actually edited based on the layout result 3.

In the representative image on the layout result, the representative image relation is evaluated in the representative image reduction step 24 to reduce the number of representative images. Thus, a reduced representative image 5 is obtained. As the representative image decreases, the correspondence between the representative image and the corresponding video section also changes. Therefore,
The correspondence between the reduced representative image and the edited video also changes.

On the other hand, in order to display the reduced representative image to the editor and other users, the viewer 14 is caused to view the display 13 via the display 13 in the representative image display step 25.

The input video 0 may be any digital video that can be analyzed by a computer, such as MPEG or JPEG.
Or the like. The parameters in the time and space directions may be arbitrary. If the image is not a digital image, a function of digitizing analog image data using a capture tool or the like may be provided in the image section dividing step 20. Similar characteristics are reflected in the video section 1 as well.

The representative image is based on each video section.
Various representative images are generated according to the feature amount obtained from the video section. The simplest case is to use the frame immediately after the shot change as it is, but it does not need to be immediately after the shot change. By selecting a frame such as a high one or a high hue, the representative image can also be used. In addition, the start and end of the camera work, the frame in which the camera work is performed to the maximum may be selected, or when the camera shake or the sudden movement of the subject is removed, or the start and the end thereof Frames such as frames at the time, presence / absence of a moving subject, and frames such as appearance and disappearance of a moving subject can be used as they are in accordance with the presence / absence of a moving subject. Alternatively, an image such as a high-definition image generated by measuring a motion shift of the camera work based on the extracted camera work information and shifting the time-series image by the shift may be used. When a moving subject is present in the high-definition image, a moving subject can be attached to the high-definition image. These representative images are generated based on the contents of a certain time section of the video, and reflect a part of the video. These representative images are given a meaning to represent a part of the video that has been created, and are given links. It is not always necessary that the links have a one-to-one correspondence. Depending on various conditions, multiple links may exist or may be nested.

According to the layout in which the representative image is generated, the representative image corresponding to the video is arranged, and the video desired by the editor is generated. In this case, layout means not only selecting in order and arranging in a certain field,
Spatial processing such as enlargement, reduction, expansion, contraction, rotation, brightness,
The addition of text information such as subtitles, onomatopoeia, serifs in comics, etc. in addition to changes in hue, etc., is part of such a layout. Further, the resolution of the representative image may be changed, or some or all of the image may be made transparent. These are all processes necessary for producing manga, and are important processes for expressing the editor's intentions for video production.

At the time of layout, the representative image is arranged on a certain electronic page. Here, this page is an electronic virtual field. The page size, shape, color, etc. may be arbitrary. Of course, a uniform page may be used. The location on this page may be arbitrary. Arrangements such as left-to-right and top-to-bottom, and arrangements such as left-to-right and bottom-to-top are optional.

By selecting, processing, and arranging a plurality of representative images, a layout result using a part of these images can be obtained. The layout result is a content comprehension support output that is generated from the content of the video material and is generated based on the information of the representative image that reflects the content of the video, and the layout result includes information such as dialogue and onomatopoeic sounds. This is the content that can be roughly grasped from the layout result.

In the video editing stage 23, the layout result 3
, Video section 1 corresponding to the representative image in the layout
And edit them by connecting the images in the order in which they were arranged. If text information or the like or an instruction at the time of editing is given in advance, the video is edited by reflecting the corresponding instruction. As a result, an edited video 4 is obtained. The edited video 4 is input to the video display stage 26, and the viewer 14 is viewed on the display 13.

On the other hand, the layout result 3 is an output that assists in comprehending the contents of the edited video, and the display 12 is displayed to the editor 10. In the layout result 3,
Since it was used to edit the video based on the output that supports the content grasp, it reflects the content of the video, but the density of the video and the display density of each video content necessary for grasping the content are different. It is generally said that it is sufficient if there are a smaller number of representative images than the total number of shots of the video to be edited. Therefore, the number of representative images is reduced in view of the relationship between the representative images. This process is performed in the representative image reduction stage 24. Here, for each representative image, its size, shape, and video section length linked to the representative image are evaluated by absolute evaluation or relative evaluation limited to the same electronic page. To change.
For example, a small representative image adjacent to a huge representative image
One large representative image is associated with video sections corresponding to both the large representative image and the small representative image, and the small representative image is deleted. As a result of this processing, the number of representative images is reduced on the layout result, which is a content grasp support output. A reduced representative image 5 which is a layout result obtained by reducing the representative image is input to a representative image display stage 25 or a video display stage 26,
The viewer 14 is caused to view by the display 13.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a block diagram for realizing an apparatus configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In order to generate a video material as a material of the edited video 34 from the input video 30, the video is divided into several video sections 31 by the video section dividing means 50.

For this video section, a representative image 32 serving as index information at the time of video editing is output by the video representative image output means 51.

Editor 4 as a user based on representative image 32
0 gives the instruction 41 and edits the material by the representative image layout means 52 to obtain a layout result 33. The layout result is a support output for grasping the content of the video to be generated, and the video is actually edited based on the layout result 33. The layout result 33 is sent to the video editing means 53, and the edited video 34 can be obtained by performing processing on the video section 1 as a material.

On the other hand, the representative image on the layout result 33 is reduced by the representative image reducing means 54 to obtain a reduced representative image 35. Viewer 44
The reduced representative image and the layout result are viewed via the display 43 by the representative image display means 55, while the edited video 34 is viewed via the display 43 by the video display means 56. Since the edited video itself does not change even if the number of representative images decreases, only the relationship between the video section and the representative image associated with each representative image changes. The relationship between the representative image reducing unit 54, the edited video 34 associated with the representative image displaying unit 55, and the representative image displaying unit 55 will be described later in detail.

The input video 30 may be any digital video that can be analyzed by a computer, and may be compression-coded such as MPEG or JPEG. The parameters in the time and space directions may be arbitrary. In the case where the image is not a digital image, the function of digitizing analog image data by a capture tool or the like may be provided in 50. Similar characteristics are reflected in the video section 31 as well.

The representative image is based on each video section.
Various representative images are generated according to the feature amount obtained from the video section. The simplest case is to use the frame immediately after the shot change as it is, but it does not need to be immediately after the shot change. By selecting a frame such as a high one or a high hue, the representative image can also be used. In addition, the start and end of the camera work, the frame in which the camera work is performed to the maximum may be selected, or when the camera shake or the sudden movement of the subject is removed, or the start and the end thereof Frames such as frames at the time, presence / absence of a moving subject, and frames such as appearance and disappearance of a moving subject can be used as they are in accordance with the presence / absence of a moving subject. Alternatively, an image such as a high-definition image generated by measuring a motion shift of the camera work based on the extracted camera work information and shifting the time-series image by the shift may be used. When a moving subject is present in the high-definition image, a moving subject can be attached to the high-definition image. These representative images are generated based on the contents of each video section,
It reflects a part of the video. These representative images are given a meaning to represent a part of the video that has been created, and are given links. In addition,
Links need not be one-to-one. Depending on various conditions, there may be multiple links,
They can also be nested.

The representative image is laid out based on the instruction of the editor. In this layout processing, a representative image corresponding to a video is arranged, and a video desired by the editor is generated. In this case, layout means not only selecting in order and arranging it in a fixed field, but also spatial processing such as enlargement, reduction, expansion, rotation, rotation, change of brightness, hue, etc. On the other hand, text information such as onomatopoeia, for example, a line in a manga production may be added, and these are part of the layout. Further, the resolution of the representative image may be changed, or some or all of the image may be made transparent. These are all processes necessary for producing manga, and are important processes for expressing the editor's intentions for video production.

At the time of layout, the representative image is arranged on a certain electronic page. Here, this page is an electronic virtual field. The page size, shape, color, etc. may be arbitrary. of course,
It may be a uniform page. The place to be placed on this page is arbitrary. Arrangements such as left-to-right and top-to-bottom, and arrangements such as left-to-right and bottom-to-top are optional.

By selecting, processing, and arranging a plurality of representative images, a layout result using a part of these images can be obtained. The layout result is a content comprehension support output that is generated from the content of the video material and is generated based on the information of the representative image that reflects the content of the video, and the layout result includes information such as dialogue and onomatopoeia. However, the contents can be roughly grasped only by looking at the representative image.

From the layout result obtained by laying out the representative images, video sections corresponding to the representative images on the layout result are edited by connecting the images in the arrangement order. Also, if text information or the like or an instruction for editing is given in advance, the video is edited by reflecting the corresponding instruction. As a result, an edited video is obtained.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship with the video produced from the layout result. (A) is a layout result, and the shape of each square indicates a representative image. Small numbers below each representative image indicate the layout order. Note that the sixth representative image is an example of a high-definition image stuck together when there is a movement such as a camera work, with consideration given to a shift in movement in the same scene. The result of editing the corresponding video section from the layout result based on the video editing means 53 is the edited video section shown in (b). The number of the representative section and the number of the video section correspond to each other.

On the other hand, with respect to the layout result, the number of representative images is reduced via the representative image reducing means 54 to obtain a reduced representative image 35. Here, the representative image is reviewed and reduced according to a predetermined rule. In this process, the representative images are evaluated by comparing the shape and size of the representative images, the length of the video section corresponding to the representative images, and the like. This evaluation may be based on an absolute evaluation or based on a relative evaluation on the same page.

As a result of the evaluation of the representative images, the representative image display means 55 displays the display 4 for the viewer 44 on the basis of the reduced representative image 35 obtained when the representative image is reduced.
Perform Step 3. The viewer 44 searches for a video section corresponding to the desired representative image based on the displayed reduced representative image and the layout result, and displays and views the video. The display of the image itself may be reproduced on the layout result, another window on the electronic monitor, or displayed on another independent monitor. The display of the layout result may be further changed as needed by the viewer 44.

The following is an example in which the representative image reducing means and the relation between the representative images are changed.

In the first example, as shown in FIG. 4, adjacent representative images are compared with each other, and a small representative image appearing later in time is absorbed by a large representative image appearing immediately before. This is based on the rule of removing images. That is, first, there are representative images 101 to 104 on the layout result shown in (a), and there is (c) an edited video section corresponding thereto. The horizontal length in (c) indicates the time length of the video section. In the example of FIG. 4, the small representative image 104 is absorbed by the large representative image 103 from the relationship between adjacent images in the same page based on the magnitude relationship, and (b) a changed representative image relationship is obtained. The layout result displayed at this time is such that the representative image 104 has disappeared. But,
On the other hand, the edited video itself does not change, only the correspondence between the representative image and the video section changes. Representative image 1
03 corresponds to video section 2 as shown in (d).
Two sections 03 and 204 correspond to each other.

As a second example, FIG. 5 shows a case where the same page is followed by the rule of selecting one representative image. In the layout result of FIG. Are absorbed and removed, and as a result, one representative image 103 shown in (b) is obtained.
As shown in (d), the video sections 201 to 204 are all associated with the representative image 103.

As a third example, FIG. 6 shows the structure of a representative image based on information of the associated video section rather than the feature amount of the representative image when one representative image is selected on the same page. Is an example in which In this example, the representative image 104 selected as in (b) is smaller than other representative images in the layout result in (a), but is the longest based on the video section length in (c). The representative image 104 corresponding to the video section 204 is selected to indicate that the representative image on the page is being changed.

Of course, separate rules other than the rules shown in the examples of FIGS. 4 to 6 may be provided. For example, if a small representative image is selected instead of a large representative image, or if text information such as subtitles is added to the representative image, those are prioritized. Is processing such as giving priority to the number and area of characters of text information.

It is of course possible to perform processing between pages. It is also possible to remove other representative images so as to have one representative image for each page, evaluate the representative images for each page, and reduce the number of pages themselves.

Further, the representative image to be removed or selected may not be automatically determined based on the feature amount, but may be changed according to an instruction from the editor.

In FIG. 4, four representative images on the same page are replaced with three representative images, and FIGS.
Are set as one representative image. Such a change in the number of representative images may be fixed or may be changed according to a use request of the editor. If one representative image is used for each page, each representative image having the largest feature amount to be evaluated such as size, area, average brightness, and corresponding video section is selected, and other representative images are removed. All the sections corresponding to the removed representative images may correspond to the largest representative image. In the case of two, the largest one based on each feature amount and the next one are selected, the other representative images are removed, and the video section corresponding to the removed representative image is represented by the non-removed representative. It only has to correspond to one of the images. In the case of associating video sections, it is only necessary to associate a temporally closest representative image among the corresponding video sections.

According to an instruction from the editor, the number of representative images to be reduced for each page may be limited, or a process of limiting the number of representative images including a plurality of pages may be performed. In the case of multiple pages, select the number of features to evaluate from large ones irrespective of the page,
What is necessary is just to make correspondence.

The representative image display means can display a reduced representative image or a layout result. This switching is performed according to a user's instruction. Further, processing such as detecting a user's instruction and automatically performing the processing may be performed.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a method of using the present embodiment when a viewer uses it.

First, as shown in (a), the user views the one image that has been combined into one representative image for each page using the content grasp display means. The page you want to watch here (b)
Squeeze. Next, a part or all of the representative image (c) which was present in one representative image on the page but has been removed is displayed. When all are displayed, the layout result is displayed. The viewer can select the representative image groups 401 to 40
5, a desired representative image 402 can be selected, and a video section 502 (d) corresponding to 402 can be viewed. Means for displaying the removed representative image on the same page is that the representative image is not one or all,
A certain level may be designated and displayed at an intermediate level of two or three. According to the service image of FIG. 7, it is possible to view the video in accordance with an appropriate video content density.

The layout video editing apparatus with a page function has been described above. It is easy to guess, by adding various arrangements to the above-described embodiment, and these are also within the scope of the present invention. This interface takes the approach of editing the output of the content comprehension support and automatically generating a video at the same time.
The feature is that a layout output that introduces the contents of the video can be generated. By this method, the editor can construct an environment that is easier for the editor to understand and the user can more easily view.

Note that this method is described in a computer program, and a recording medium, a storage medium such as video,
The present invention can be implemented as long as there is a computer that reads and executes a program. At this time, the computer program is, for example, FD (floppy disk), MO, ROM, memory card, CD, DV
D, it can be recorded on a recording medium such as a removable disk, provided, and distributed.

[0065]

According to the present invention, in video editing, a user can easily generate a content grasp output and a video to make the video easy to handle. Also, in the content grasp output, the representative image is evaluated based on the feature amount of the laid-out representative image, and the representative image considered important is selected.
This has the effect of making it easier to find more important video sections, and is effective in promoting the use of video.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a processing flowchart of a layout video editing method with a page display function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for realizing a device configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of video editing from a layout result in the embodiment.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating a first example in which the relationship between the representative images has been changed by the processing of the representative image reducing unit in the embodiment.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating a second example in which the relationship between the representative images is changed by the processing of the representative image reducing unit in the embodiment.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing a third example in which the relationship between the representative images has been changed by the processing of the representative image reducing unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a usage method when a viewer uses the above embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Video section 2 ... Representative image 3 ... Layout result 4 ... Edited video 5 ... Reduced representative image 20 ... Video section division stage 21 ... Video representative image output stage 22 ... Representative image layout stage 23 ... Video editing stage 24 ... Representative Image reduction stage 25 ... Representative image display stage 26 ... Video display stage 31 ... Video section 32 ... Representative image 33 ... Layout result 34 ... Edited video 35 ... Reduced representative image 50 ... Video section dividing means 51 ... Video representative image output means 52 ... representative image layout means 53 ... video editing means 54 ... representative image reduction means 55 ... representative image display means 56 ... video display means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A video material is laid out and output, and editing work is performed on the video material based on the output result.
A layout video editing method with a page display function for displaying and outputting a laid out video material, comprising: a video section dividing step of dividing the video material into sections; and a representative outputting a representative image for each of the divided video sections. An image output step, a representative image layout step of laying out the representative image to obtain a layout result, a video editing step of automatically editing a video according to the layout result, and a representative image used in the layout result. A representative image that generates a reduced representative image by reducing the number of representative images by associating the representative image according to characteristics of the representative image, such as the size and shape of the representative image, and the length of the video section associated with the representative image. A layout image having a page display function, comprising: a reducing step; and a representative image displaying step of displaying the reduced representative image. Collection method. 2. A layout video editing method with a page display function for displaying and outputting a laid-out video material while performing editing work on the video material based on a layout result obtained by laying out the video material. A video editing step of automatically editing a video according to the representative image used for the layout result, and a representative image such as the size and shape of the representative image and the length of a video section associated with the representative image. A page comprising: a representative image reducing step of generating a reduced representative image by reducing the number of representative images by association in accordance with the feature of the above; and a representative image displaying step of displaying the reduced representative image. Layout video editing method with display function. 3. A video material is laid out and output, and editing work is performed on the video material based on the output result.
What is claimed is: 1. A layout video editing apparatus with a page display function for displaying and outputting a laid-out video material, comprising: a video section dividing means for dividing the video material into sections; and a representative for outputting a representative image for each of the divided video sections. Image output means; representative image layout means for obtaining a layout result by laying out the representative image; video editing means for automatically editing a video according to the layout result; and representative images used in the layout result. A representative image that generates a reduced representative image by reducing the number of representative images by associating the representative image according to characteristics of the representative image, such as the size and shape of the representative image, and the length of the video section associated with the representative image. And a representative image display means for displaying the reduced representative image. Collector. 4. A layout video editing apparatus with a page display function for displaying and outputting a laid-out video material while performing an editing operation on the video material based on a layout result obtained by laying out the video material. A video editing means for automatically editing a video according to a representative image such as the size and shape of the representative image and the length of a video section associated with the representative image. A page comprising: a representative image reducing unit configured to generate a reduced representative image by reducing the number of representative images by association in accordance with the characteristic of; and a representative image display unit displaying the reduced representative image. Layout video editing device with display function. 5. A program for realizing each step of the layout video editing method with page display function according to claim 1 or 2 by a computer, wherein the program is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. A recording medium recording a layout video editing program with a page display function, characterized by the following.