Apple has filed a patent (number 2012022970) with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for "zoom indication for stabilizing unstable video clips." It involves the improved stabilization feature found on the iPhone 5 and latest iPod touch, as well as its various video editing applications.

A computer-implemented method for zoom indication for stabilizing unstable video clips is described. To indicate zoom, a zoom value associated with an unstable segment of a video clip is received. The zoom value represents a value by which frames of the video clip in the unstable segment need to be zoomed to stabilize the unstable segment. An indicia is displayed representing the zoom value in a thumbnail in a user interface. The thumbnail represents the video clip. The indicia displayed over a region in the thumbnail corresponding to the unstable segment in the video clip.

Here's Apple's background on the invention: "Digital video clips can be recorded using digital video cameras. While content captured using a stabilized camera, for example, a camera on a tripod or a camera on a steady-cam rig is stable, content captured using hand-held cameras can be unstable and can appear shaky. When played back in a display device, the frames in unstable segments of the video clip appear to shake because the hand-held camera was moving during recording.

"Video stabilization applications to stabilize unstable segments in a video clip are known. An example of a video stabilization application is SmoothCam included in Apple Final Cut Pro 6, Motion and Shake.

"Steps to stabilize unstable segments of a video clip include compensating for the shake in the unstable segments by selecting a reference point in a frame in the unstable segment and applying an offsetting motion to each frame in a group of frames with respect to the reference point. A frame, in an unzoomed state, has a fixed length and width. If stabilization is required, some amount of offset is applied to a frame. Any amount of offset will cause a black edge at the opposite side to appear, requiring some amount of zoom to eliminate the black edge.

"To avoid such scenarios, the frames in the unstable segment are zoomed in prior to applying the offsetting motion. When a frame is offset after zooming in, regions within the boundaries of the frame are available for display when the frame is offset. Depending on the amount of zooming in, the stabilized segments of the video clip also appear zoomed in. Further, zooming in to a reference point may cause portions of the frame, particularly near the edges of the frame, to be lost after stabilization."

Randy Ubillos is the inventor.

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