Ranking key video frames using camera fixation

1. A method for ranking video frames for a digital video having a time sequence of video frames, the method comprising:

analyzing, by a computing device, the digital video to determine a camera fixation pattern;

determining, by the computing device, a set of video frames for the digital video; and

ranking, by the computing device, the video frames responsive to the camera fixation pattern, wherein the camera fixation pattern represents regions of an image scene being captured in each video frame of the set of video frames, and wherein the ranking the video frames is based on how many video frames comprise a similar captured region of the image scene.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analyzing the digital video to determine the camera fixation pattern comprises performing global motion analysis to determine the camera fixation pattern.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the global motion analysis includes analyzing data from an accelerometer.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the global motion analysis includes analyzing the digital video using a digital motion estimation algorithm.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising quantizing the camera fixation pattern into camera fixation pattern regions.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein each camera fixation pattern region of the camera fixation pattern has an associated fixation value that is a function of a number of video frames having fixation locations in that camera fixation pattern region.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein each video frame has a corresponding camera fixation pattern region.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the video frames are initially ranked by the fixation value.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ranking of the video frames is subsequently adjusted to reduce redundancy.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the set of video frames comprises:

analyzing the digital video to determine an importance value as a function of time;

forming a warped time representation of the digital video by temporal relocation of the video frames responsive to the importance value as a function of time;

subdividing the warped time representation into a set of equal intervals; and

selecting a video frame for each interval by analyzing the video frames within each interval.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

forming video snippets corresponding to highest-ranked video frames;

assembling the video snippets to form a video summary; and

storing a representation of the video summary in a processor-accessible memory.

12. A digital video camera system comprising:

an image sensor;

an optical system configured to form an image of a scene onto the image sensor;

a data processing system; and

a memory system communicatively connected to the data processing system and storing instructions configured to cause the data processing system to implement a method for providing ranked video frames for a digital video, wherein the instructions comprise:

instructions to capture a digital video using the image sensor, the digital video having a time sequence of video frames;

instructions to analyze the digital video to determine a camera fixation pattern;

instructions to determine a set of video frames for the digital video; and

instructions to rank the video frames responsive to the camera fixation pattern, wherein the camera fixation pattern represents regions of an image scene being captured in each video frame of the set of video frames, and wherein the ranking the video frames is based on how many video frames comprise a similar captured region of the image scene.

13. The digital video camera system of claim 12 , the instructions to determine the set of video frames comprise:

instructions to analyze the digital video to determine an importance value as a function of time;

instructions to form a warped time representation of the digital video by temporal relocation of the video frames responsive to the importance value as a function of time;

instructions to subdivide the warped time representation into a set of equal intervals; and

instructions to select a video frame for each interval by analyzing the video frames within each interval.

14. The digital video camera system of claim 12 , wherein the instructions to rank the video frames comprises instructions to rank video frames corresponding to regions of high camera fixation higher than regions of lower camera fixation.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ranking the video frames comprises ranking video frames corresponding to regions of high camera fixation higher than regions of lower camera fixation.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analyzing the digital video to determine a camera fixation pattern comprises determining pixel offsets between consecutive video frames and tracing cumulative pixel offsets throughout the set of video frames.