Avid Technology Limited

Other

Robert Gonsalves

Michael D. Laird

Michael D Laird

Robert A Gonsalves

Garth Allen Dickie

Peter J Fasciano

Katherine H Cornog

Randy M Fayan

Ronald C Wallace

Thomas R Ransdell

A software architecture and framework based on plug-in software modules supports flexible handling of synchronous data streams by media production and editing applications. Plug-ins called by the applications convert data from synchronous data streams into a form that enables a user of such an application to view and edit time-synchronous data contained within such data streams. The synchronous data is displayed in a temporally aligned manner in a synchronous data track within a timeline display of the application user interface. In one example, closed caption data extracted from the ancillary portion of a video signal is displayed as text on a data track temporally synchronized with the source video track. Other plug-ins analyze media tracks to generate time-synchronous data which may also be displayed in a temporally aligned manner within a synchronous data track in a timeline.

Methods and systems for processing synchronous data tracks in a media editing system

A system and method for generating a representation of a color modification to be applied to segments on a digital nonlinear editing system, where each segment is a component of a media composition, and represents a section of a digital media. An indication of a modification to be applied to a color attribute of a segment is received, and the source from which the segment originates is identified. The indication of the color modification is then stored, and, as a result, the color modification is applied to other segments that originate from the identified source. Source color modification is applied to a section of a digital media on a digital nonlinear editing system. a media segment represents the section of a digital media. The segment is a component of a media composition, and originates from a source data structure. The source data structure also represents the section of the digital media. The section is received, and the first source data structure from which the segment originates is identified. It is determined whether the first source data structure includes a color modification attribute, where the color modification attribute defines a color modification to be applied to sections of the digital media represented by segments that originate from the source data structure. If the source data structure includes the color modification attribute, the color modification is applied to the section of media.

Source color modification on a digital nonlinear editing system

A graphical user interface facilitates color modification of a sequence of segments of moving images on a display of a general purpose computer. The graphical user interface may include a three-image display. The three image display may include a first region on the display for displaying an image from a current segment in the sequence to which a color modification is to be applied, a second region on the display and adjacent to the first region for displaying an image from a previous segment in the sequence before the current segment, and a third region on the display and adjacent to the first region for displaying an image from a next segment in the sequence after the current segment. A function screen allows a user to select a color modification to be performed to the current image. The function screen may include an interface that simultaneously displays a plurality of user modifiable graphs. The graphs may include a first graph for a red component, a second graph for a blue component, and a third graph for a green component. Each graph maps input values for a color component of a pixel on a first axis to output values for the color component for the pixel on a second axis. The graphical user interface also may include a color matcher.

Graphical user interface for color correction

Performance of a set of video processing devices in a flexible architecture can be predicted by analyzing and storing information about the performance of individual video processing devices. A combination of operations to be performed is associated with a set of video processing devices. Performance characteristics of individual video processing devices in the set are accessed. For each frame, a total performance characteristic of the set of video processing devices is determined by combining the performance characteristics of the individual video processing devices according to a combination of operations performed by the set of video processing devices to produce data for each frame. The performance characteristic may include latency, processing time and/or memory bandwidth. The total performance characteristic may be compared to a threshold. According to this comparison, it can be determined whether the set of video processing devices can produce each frame in real time.

Predicting performance of a set of video processing devices

Colors in an image that are selected as a source color can be matched to a selected destination color such that the modification to the image appears natural. Components of a selected destination color having a first luminance and components of a source color having a second luminance are received. A ratio of the second luminance to the first luminance is determined. The product of this ratio and the components of the selected destination color are determined. Values of components of pixels in the image are adjusted according to this determined product. From one perspective, the pixels take on the hue of the destination color, the luminance of the source color and a saturation that depends on the relationship between the source color and destination colors.

Natural color matching in a video editing system

Processing video data with a combination of one or more operations, such as special effects, on a general-purpose computer may be improved by enabling one or more operations to access and process multiple samples of video data from other operations that introduce latencies for each request for data. Operations that introduce latencies include, for example, hardware for decompression and compression, network interfaces, and file systems. Because a computer program to implement the operations may be executed on several different general-purpose platforms, exact specifications of available hardware are not known in advance. For each operation, a computer program determines the available system memory and an amount of data that can be processed by each operation used in a composition or portion of a composition while sharing the available memory with other operations. Available system memory is allocated among the operations being used.

Multiframe rendering of video data on a general purpose computer

Two images are analyzed to compute a set of motion vectors that describes motion between the first and second images. A motion vector is computed for each pixel in an image at a time between the first and second images. This set of motion vectors may be defined at any time between the first and second images, such as the midpoint. The motion vectors may be computed using any of several techniques. An example technique is based on the constant brightness constraint, also referred to as optical flow. Each vector is specified at a pixel center in an image defined at the time between the first and second images. The vectors may point to points in the first and second images that are not on pixel centers. The motion vectors are used to warp the first and second images to a point in time of an output image between the first and second images using a factor that represents the time between the first and second image at which the output image occurs. The warped images are then blended using this factor to obtain the output image at the desired point in time between the first and second images. The point in time at which the output image occurs may be different from the time at which the motion vectors are determined. The same motion vectors may be used to determine two or more output images at different times between the first and second images. The images may be warped using a technique in which many small triangles are defined in an image corresponding in time to the point in time between the first and second images at which the motion vectors are determined. A transform for each small triangle from the point in time at which the motion vectors are determined to the desired interpolated image time is determined, e.g., the triangle is warped using the motion vectors associated with its vertices. For each pixel in each triangle in the output image, corresponding points in the first and second images are determined, and the first and second images are spatially sampled at these points. These samples for each pixel are combined to produce a value for that pixel in the output image. A motion vector map also may be generated between two fields of opposite field sense. An offset introduced by such calculation may be removed. During warping or other operation using the adjusted vector map, when sampling a field of one field sense to generate a field of an opposite field sense, that offset is reintroduced by translating the sampling region.

Interpolation of a sequence of images using motion analysis

A modification may be specified for several segments sharing a common attribute. Such a shared modification may be combined with other modifications made to a composition or part of a composition. A modification may be applied to section of digital media, where a first segment of a media composition represents at least a section of a digital media source. An indication of the modification is stored such that the modification is applied to other segments on the system having an attribute in common with the first segment. Such attributes may be related to the source from which the segment originates or the composition in which the segment is used.

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Nashua, NH, United States of America

Michael D Laird