Abstract: A video. source, such as a VCR, plays back a motion image which is input by an image input section. Partition of scenes and creation of images representing scenes are performed by a catalog creation section. Additionally, at this time, an image representing the movement of an object appearing in the scenes is created. A representative image and a motion description image are initially stored in a catalog storage section and then displayed in catalog form by a display section under control of a display control section. Since not only the representative image of scenes but also the movement of the object in those scenes are displayed, the contents of the scenes are easily grasped.

Abstract: Each and any viewer of a video or a television scene is his or her own proactive editor of the scene, having the ability to interactively dictate and select--in advance of the unfolding of the scene and by high-level command--a particular perspective by which the scene will be depicted, as and when the scene unfolds. Video images of the scene are selected, or even synthesized, in response no a viewer-selected (i) spatial perspective on the scene, (ii) static or dynamic object appearing in the scene, or (iii) event depicted in the scene. Multiple video cameras, each at a different spatial location, produce multiple two-dimensional video images of the real-world scene, each at a different spatial perspective. Objects of interest in the scene are identified and classified by computer in these two-dimensional images. The two-dimensional images of the scene, and accompanying information, are then combined in the computer into a three-dimensional video database, or model, of the scene.