1278902
Conceptual modeling of audio-visual content
The explosive growth of applications involving digital audio-visual material is driving the need for more rich content description. The authors present a design process for audio-visual content description. The process involves constructing a conceptual model in which entities, attributes and relationships important for content description are identified and modeled. The procedure provides special handling of different types of spatio-temporal relationships important for audio-visual content modeling. The authors describe the audio-visual content description conceptual modeling methodology in the context of the MPEG-7 description schemes.
2339969
Interactive search fusion methods for video database retrieval
In this paper, we investigate a new method for video database retrieval using interactive search fusion. Recent video analysis techniques have enabled the extraction of a variety of descriptors of features, concepts, clusters, classification results, speech and textual terms, MPEG-7 metadata, and so on. However, given an information need users are faced with a daunting task of trying to formulate queries over these multiple disparate data sources in order to retrieve the desired video content. In this paper, we explore a novel approach based on search fusion in which the user interactively builds a query by sequentially choosing among the descriptors and data sources and by selecting from various combining and score aggregation functions to fuse results of individual searches. For example, the system allows building of queries such as "retrieve video clips that have color of beach scenes, the detection of sky, and detection of water". In this paper we present the search fusion method and evaluate the performance on a large video database.
15943562
Content-based transcoding of images in the Internet
We present a system for transcoding images in the Internet in order to improve their delivery to client devices with a wide range of communication, processing, storage and display capabilities. The content-based image transcoder analyzes the images in order to classify them into image type and image purpose classes. The system then utilizes transcoding policies based on the content classes to manipulate and transcode the images. We describe the image transcoding process for a variety of client devices, including PDAs, hand-held computers (HHCs), TV browsers and color PCs, and demonstrate improvements in delivery speed and accessibility of the images in the Internet.
1805433
MPEG-7 MDS Content Description Tools and Applications
In this paper, we present the tools specified by the MDS part of the MPEG-7 standard for describing multimedia data such as images and video. In particular, we focus on the description tools that represent the structure and semantics of multimedia data to whose development we have actively contributed. We also describe some of our research prototype systems dealing with the extraction and application of MPEG-7 structural and semantic descriptions. These systems are AMOS, a video object segmentation and retrieval system, and IMKA, an intelligent multimedia knowledge application using the MediaNet knowledge representation framework.
30741426
Multimedia database management systems
Introduction. Multimedia Data Types and Formats. Multimedia Database Design Issues. Text Document Indexing and Retrieval. Indexing and Retrieval of Audio. Image Indexing and Retrieval. Video Indexing and Retrieval. Integrated Multimedia Indexing and Retrieval. Techniques and Data Structures for Efficient Multimedia Similarity Search. System Support for Distributed Multimedia Databases. Measurement of Multimedia Information Retrieval Effectiveness. Products, Applications, and New Developments.
38193465
Modeling semantic concepts to support query by keywords in video
Supporting semantic queries is a challenging problem in video retrieval. We propose the use of a lexicon of semantic concepts for handling the queries. We also propose automatic modeling of lexicon items using probabilistic techniques. We use Gaussian mixture models to build computational representations for a variety of semantic concepts including rocket-launch, outdoor greenery, sky etc. Training requires a large amount of annotated (labeled) data. Using the TREC Video test bed we compare the performance of this system supporting query by keywords with the conventional approach of query by example. Results demonstrate significant gains in performance using the automatically learnt models of semantic concepts.
7567156
Optimized Encodings of Fragments of Type Theory in First Order Logic
The paper presents sound and complete translations of several fragments of Martin-Lof's monomorphic type theory to first order predicate calculus. The translations are optimised for the purpose of automated theorem proving in the mentioned fragments. The implementation of the theorem prover Gandalf and several experimental results are described.
9844851
Communicating emotion through a haptic link: Design space and methodology
Communication of affect across a distance is not well supported by current technology, despite its importance to interpersonal interaction in modern lifestyles. Touch is a powerful conduit for emotional connectedness, and thus mediating haptic (touch) displays have been proposed to address this deficiency; but suitable evaluative methodology has been elusive. In this paper, we offer a first, structured examination of a design space for haptic support of remote affective communication, by analyzing the space and then comparing haptic models designed to manipulate its key dimensions. In our study, dyads (intimate pairs or strangers) are asked to communicate specified emotions using a purely haptic link that consists of virtual models rendered on simple knobs. These models instantiate both interaction metaphors of varying intimacy, and representations of virtual interpersonal distance. Our integrated objective and subjective observations imply that emotion can indeed be communicated through this medium, and confirm that the factors examined influence emotion communication performance as well as preference, comfort and connectedness. The proposed design space and the study results have implications for future efforts to support affective communication using the haptic modality, and the study approach comprises a first model for systematic evaluation of haptically expressed affect.
17447930
Incorporation of adaptive mutation based on subjective evaluation in an interactive evolution strategy
A rapidly emerging model in the field of adaptive computing is the symbiosis of human expertise with evolutionary algorithms for user controlled and directed search. The two aspects in any EA are the selection of individuals to reproduce based on some measure of their quality or fitness and the application of variation operators to produce new solutions. In the context of interactive evolution, these aspects are compounded by the need for rapid convergence to prevent user fatigue and to provide the user some control over the generation of new solutions. Elsewhere, in the work of the authors (2004), we have examined different policies for best incorporating the user into the evaluation and selection process. In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that user assigned fitness represents a source of information that can be used to control the variation process: effectively to broaden the search if none of the current solutions is promising, or focus the search and improve convergence speed in the vicinity of a good solution. The main aims of this study, therefore, are to analyse the advantages of using a user directed adaptive mutation strategy over fixed mutation step sizes in terms of time to converge and robustness of the resulting solution. We present results showing a qualitatively different type of search process can be obtained by using the user assigned fitness to control the nature of the mutation process. There is also a synergy between user-based selection and fitness-based mutation control which out performs either system on its own.
16693115
An Experimental Performance Evaluation of Join Algorithms for Parallel Object Databases
Parallel relational databases have been successful in providing scalable performance for data intensive applications, and much work has been carried out on query processing techniques in such systems. However, although many applications associated with object databases also have stringent performance requirements, there has been much less work investigating parallel object database systems. An important feature for the performance of object databases is the speed at which relationships can be explored. In queries, this depends upon the effectiveness of different join algorithms into which queries that follow relationships can be compiled. This paper presents the results of empirical evaluations of four parallel join algorithms, two value based and two pointer based. The experiments have been run on Polar, a parallel ODMG object database system.
17392905
Replacement Strategies in Steady State Genetic Algorithms: Static Environments
Recent years have seen increasing numbers of applications of Evolutionary Algorithms to non-stationary environments such as on-line process control. Studies have indicated that Genetic Algorithms using "Steady State" models demonstrate a greater ability to track moving optima than those using "Generational" models, however implementing the former requires an additional choice of which members of the current population should be replaced by new offspring. In this paper a number of selection and replacement strategies are compared for use in Steady State Genetic Algorithms working as function optimisers in dynamic environments. In addition to an algorithm with fixed mutation rates, the strategies are also compared in algorithms employing Cobb's Hypermutation method for tracking environmental changes. On-line and off-line metrics are used for comparison, which correspond to different types of real-world applications. In both cases it is shown that algorithms employing some kind of elitism outperform those that do not, which is related to previous studies on stationary environments. An investigation is made of various methods of implementing elitism, including an implicit method, "conservative" selection. It is shown that the latter, in addition to being computationally simpler, produces significantly better results on the problems used, and reasons are given for this behaviour.