Many camcorders have an 鈥渁nti-jog鈥 system that compensates for camera shake by moving the image it records in the opposite direction to the shake. But this can spoil intentional camera motion, turning a smooth pan into a judder. But Philips has an answer (W0 2004/40905). In its scheme, the footage is shot without any correction, and so contains both intended and unintended camera shake. The footage is then copied onto a PC where software looks for, and indexes, every scene change 鈥 such as close-ups and long shots.
It then analyses each scene for signs of camera shake 鈥 such as static objects like a house or someone鈥檚 head moving randomly 鈥 and it tentatively classifies it with a temporary on-screen label as 鈥渟haky pan鈥, 鈥渦neven zoom鈥 or 鈥渉and-held jog鈥. The user can then go through the recording and choose the best type of correction, or leave the sequence unchanged if the effect was intended.