US-12627885-B2 - Context-controlled video quality camera system

US12627885B2US 12627885 B2US12627885 B2US 12627885B2US-12627885-B2

Abstract

A video recording system and method for seamlessly appending one or more new, discontinuously recorded video segments to a selected previously recorded existing video file, to create a merged video file. The system provides a “continue video” control associated with each previously recorded video file, which a user can activate from an interface display where information identifying the previously recorded video file is displayed, such as its filename and/or a representative thumbnail image. The system allows a user to separately view and label the merged video stream and each segment.

Inventors

Nishant Shah

Assignees

Nishant Shah

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240831

Claims (13)

1 . A video recording system comprising: a camera adapted to produce a physical main stream of digital video data comprising sequentially ordered main stream digital video data frames, the physical main stream digital video data frames representing main stream digital video image frames; a storage device comprising a plurality of physical memory locations; an electronic display; a processor coupled to the camera, the storage device, and the display; the processor being adapted to read the main stream digital video data frames from the physical main stream of digital video data, to display the main stream digital video image frames in a viewfinder area of the display, and to define a clip area different from the viewfinder area, the clip area comprising at least a portion of the viewfinder area; a record control coupled to the processor that, on activation, is adapted to cause the processor to begin to record the physical main stream of digital video data by writing the main stream digital video data frames to the physical memory locations of the storage device; a software application stored in the storage device, the processor being adapted to read and execute the software application, the software application comprising instructions for the processor, when the record control is activated and said at least one clip area is defined, to maintain a logical area clip stream, the logical area clip stream comprising a sequence of logical area clip data frames, each logical area clip data frame comprising data representing the clip area.
2 . The video recording system of claim 1 wherein the software application further comprises instructions for the processor to define said at least one clip area in response to clip area defining input from the user.
3 . The video recording system of claim 2 wherein the software application further comprises instructions for the processor, in response to said clip area defining input, to display at least one clip frame on the display, the clip frame representing the defined clip area.
4 . The video recording system of claim 3 wherein each logical area clip data frame further comprises a pointer to a corresponding main stream digital video data frame representing a corresponding main stream digital video image frame, the software application further comprising instructions for the processor to generate a physical area clip stream from the logical area clip stream, the physical area clip stream comprising physical area clip data frames comprising data defining the clip area, the image portion of the corresponding main stream digital video image frame contained in the clip area, and the position of said image portion within the clip area.
5 . The video recording system of claim 4 wherein the display comprises a touchscreen, the software application further comprising instructions for the processor to receive a user touch input via the touchscreen representing a modification to the clip area and, in response to said touch input, to apply the modification to the clip area, to display a modified clip frame representing the modified clip area on the display, and to write data representing the modified clip area to subsequent logical area clip data frames of the logical area clip stream until a further touch input representing a further modification to the clip area is received.
6 . A video recording system comprising: a camera adapted to produce a digital video data stream comprising sequentially ordered digital video data frames, the digital video data frames representing digital video image frames; a storage device comprising a plurality of memory locations; an electronic display; a processor coupled to the camera, the storage device, and the display; a software application stored in the storage device, the processor being adapted to read and execute the software application; the software application comprising instructions for the processor to activate a camera function in response to a user input and, when the camera function is activated, to cause the camera to begin producing the digital video stream, to read the digital video data frames from the digital video data stream, and to display the digital video image frames in a viewfinder area of the display; a record control coupled to the processor that, on activation, is adapted to cause the processor to begin to record the of digital video data by writing the digital video data frames to the memory locations of the storage device; the software application further comprising a video quality settings artificial intelligence software module, the video quality settings artificial intelligence software module comprising instructions for the processor, when the camera function is activated, to receive video quality settings control inputs indicating whether a triggering condition exists for a video quality settings action, to analyze the inputs to determine whether the triggering condition exists, and when the triggering condition exists, to perform the video quality settings action, the video quality settings action comprising at least one of automatically adjusting of at least one of a plurality of video quality settings of the camera; presenting a prompt to a user suggesting an adjustment of at least one of said plurality of video quality settings.
7 . The video recording system of claim 6 , further comprising a LiDAR sensor, wherein the video quality settings control inputs comprise inputs from the LiDAR sensor representing distances between the camera and objects captured in the digital video image frames, the at least one video quality setting being at least one of zoom, focus, depth-of-field, f-stop, shutter speed, ISO sensitivity, and frame rate.
8 . The video recording system of claim 7 , further comprising a camera motion sensor, the video quality settings control inputs further comprising inputs from the camera motion sensor representing at least one of displacement, movement, and orientation of the camera.
9 . The video recording system of claim 8 wherein the video quality settings artificial intelligence software module comprises an object tracking algorithm and instructions for the processor to execute the object tracking algorithm to detect motion of objects captured in the digital video image frames, the video quality setting control inputs further comprising said motion.
10 . A video recording system comprising a camera adapted to produce a digital video data stream comprising sequentially ordered digital video data frames, the digital video data frames representing digital video image frames; a storage device comprising a plurality of memory locations; an electronic display; a processor coupled to the camera, the storage device, and the display; a system software application stored in the storage device, the processor being adapted to read and execute the software application; the system software application comprising instructions for the processor to display an application user interface on the display, to activate a camera function in response to a user input to the application user interface and, when the camera function is activated, to cause the camera to begin producing the digital video stream, to read the digital video data frames from the digital video data stream, and to display the digital video image frames on the display in a viewfinder area of the application user interface; a record control coupled to the processor that, on activation, is adapted to cause the processor to begin to record the digital video data stream to a video file by writing the digital video data frames to the memory locations of the storage device; the system software application further comprising a pause function and a resume function, the pause function, on activation when the record control is activated, being operative to cause the processor to discontinue recording the digital video data stream until the resume function is subsequently activated, and when the resume function is subsequently activated, to resume recording the digital video data stream to the same video file; the system software application further comprising instructions for the processor to detect at least one pause-triggering condition and to activate the pause function when a pause-triggering condition occurs.
11 . The video recording system of claim 10 wherein the processor is further adapted to execute another software application stored in the storage, the at least one pause triggering condition including the processor interrupting the display of the application user interface on the display in response to an instruction from the other software application.
12 . The video recording system of claim 10 wherein the processor and the display are comprised in a smartphone, the at least one pause triggering condition including the smartphone receiving a phone call.
13 . The video recording system of claim 12 wherein the system software application further comprises instructions for the processor to detect at least one resume-triggering condition and to activate the resume function when the resume-triggering condition occurs after the processor activates the pause function in response to a pause-triggering condition, the at least one resume-triggering condition including the termination of a phone call in response to which the processor activated the pause function.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE This application is a continuation in part of U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 18/377,436, filed Oct. 6, 2023 and entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VIDEO RECORDING WITH CONTINUE-VIDEO FUNCTION, which claims the benefit of both U.S. provisional application No. 63/223,592, filed Jul. 20, 2021 and entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VIDEO RECORDING WITH AUTO-PAUSE FUNCTION, and U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 17/869,008, filed Jul. 20, 2022 and entitled CONTEXT-CONTROLLED VIDEO QUALITY CAMERA SYSTEM, each of which is incorporated herein for all purposes in its respective entirety. FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to video recording systems, and more particularly, to a video recording system and method for viewing, network sharing, and customizing a video, in which a main stream of video captured on a camera is selectively viewed, segmented into logically spliced-together video clips, and shared on a network during a teleconference. In another aspect, it relates to video camera system that automatically varies video quality settings. BACKGROUND Video cameras have become ubiquitous. In particular, every smartphone produced can now record video in at least HD resolution, and many are capable of recording video at 4K resolution or even higher. Video cameras are now frequently used to record important events. For example, parents often will record their children's events, such as athletic contests, concerts, school plays, and other events. People often record other personal events, including weddings, graduations, and vacations, to name a few. Entertainment events, such as sporting events, theater performances, and other events, are also often recorded. Also, video cameras are often now used for public safety purposes. Security cameras are used by both governmental and private entities to secure certain locations, and traffic cameras are now commonly used for both speed and red-light policing. In addition, cameras are sometimes used in operating rooms so that a precise record of surgery can be maintained. Recording the surgery allows any mistakes to be ascertained after the surgery, which simplifies any resulting litigation. Similarly, recording a surgery allows a surgeon to prove that she executed a surgery within the standard of care. The use of video recordings allows the details of the recordings to be kept forever, as long as sufficient digital storage is available. Given that large volumes of cloud storage are now available at nominal costs, it can be assumed that sufficient digital storage is available to store any video that is taken. However, network bandwidth is still comparatively expensive in terms of both money and time. In particular, typical high-speed Internet download speeds range between 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps. Given that 4K video recorded at 30 frames per second requires approximately 375 MB of data, a typical high-speed Internet user might spend nearly an hour to download a 10-minute video, and the time to download a two-hour performance would be truly prohibitive. In most cases, however, the person downloading the video is only interested in a small portion of a video. For example, in the case of a school talent competition, a parent downloading the video is likely only interested in their child's performance; accordingly, the parent is likely interested in five minutes of a two-hour performance. Presently, the only way that a parent could download a video of only their child's performance would be for the videographer or an editor to “slice” the recording of the talent show into several smaller videos using post-processing software. For example, an editor could produce individual videos of each child's performance and label them appropriately in the school's video folder. This process would require the editor to use video editing software to identify natural breaks in the talent show performances (such as when each performer left the stage) and cut the main video file at those breaks using the video editing software. This process is time-consuming and requires the use of a second piece of highly technical software. Accordingly, a need exists for the simplified creation of videos from a main video based on a specific event. Such an event could include different performances at a talent show, different acts in a play, a period within an athletic competition, changes of a traffic signal for traffic camera, or different phases of operation for an operating room camera. In addition, presently the only way to append a new video clip to the end of an existing video file is first to record the new video clip to a first new video file that contains only the new video segment, and then to use video editing software to splice together the existing video file with the first new video file, thereby creating a second new combined video file that contains the new video segment appended to the end of the existing video file. The post-recording step of splicing tog