10867502
Robust Visual Tracking via Pixel Classification and Integration
We propose a novel framework for tracking non-rigid objects via pixel classification and integration (PCI). Given a new input frame, the tracker first performs object classification on each pixel and then finds the region that has the highest integral of scores. There are several key advantages of the proposed approach: it is computationally very efficient; it finds a global, instead of local (e.g., mean-shift), optimal solution within a search range; and it is inherently robust to different object scales with minimum extra computation. Within this framework, a mixture of long-term and short-term appearance model is further introduced to perform PCI. As a result, the tracker is able to adapt to both slow and rapid appearance changes without drifting. Challenging video sequences are presented to illustrate how the proposed tracker handles large motion, dramatic shape changes, scale variations, illumination variations and partial occlusions
15005856
Security analysis for key generation systems using face images
In this paper, we analyze the security problem of user information associated key generation (UIAKG) systems. We consider three kinds of attacks from the hacker: the exhaustive search attack, the authentic key statistics attack and the device key statistics attack. Under each attack, we give the estimate of the number of guesses the hacker has to make in order to access the system. Such analysis provides useful guidelines in designing a UIAKG system. The analysis also suggests that a user-dependent UIAKG is more secure than a user-independent one. Two UIAKG systems using face images as inputs are designed and compared to support the above theoretical analysis.
15648497
Interactive browsing of 3D environment over the Internet
In this paper, we describe a system for wandering in a realistic environment over the Internet. The environment is captured by the concentric mosaic, compressed via the reference block coder (RBC), and accessed and delivered over the Internet through the virtual media (Vmedia) access protocol. Capturing the environment through the concentric mosaic is easy. We mount a camera at the end of a level beam, and shoot images as the beam rotates. The huge dataset of the concentric mosaic is then compressed through the RBC, which is specifically designed for both high compression efficiency and just-in-time (JIT) rendering. Through the JIT rendering function, only a portion of the RBC bitstream is accessed, decoded and rendered for each virtual view. A multimedia communication protocol -- the Vmedia protocol, is then proposed to deliver the compressed concentric mosaic data over the Internet. Only the bitstream segments corresponding to the current view are streamed over the Internet. Moreover, the delivered bitstream segments are managed by a local Vmedia cache so that frequently used bitstream segments need not be streamed over the Internet repeatedly, and the Vmedia is able to handle a RBC bitstream larger than its memory capacity. A Vmedia concentric mosaic interactive browser is developed where the user can freely wander in a realistic environment, e.g., rotate around, walk forward/backward and sidestep, even under a tight bandwidth of 33.6 kbps.
12091703
Indexing and retrieval of 3D models aided by active learning
We demonstrate a system for indexing and retrieval of 3D models aided by active learning. We propose a new set of region-based features for 3D models. Each model is treated as a solid volume with a uniform density. Features such as the volume-surface ratio, the moment invariants and the Fourier transform coefficients are efficiently calculated from the mesh model directly. Comparable retrieval performance is achieved with other features such as the cord histogram, the 3D shape spectrum, etc. To further improve the performance, we incorporate hidden annotation into our system. We propose to use active learning to improve the annotation efficiency. We show that with active learning, the system can perform better than random annotation, and the retrieval result improves rapidly with the number of annotated samples. Moreover, relevance feedback is included in the system and combined with active learning, which provides better user-adoptive retrieval results.
9803776
Semantic propagation from relevance feedbacks
Relevance feedback has been a very useful tool to enhance the performance of content-based information retrieval (CBIR) systems. To fully make use of the precious user feedback provided to a system, we propose an approach named semantic propagation, which reveals the deep semantic relationships among objects in the database, given a set of relevance feedbacks between object pairs. In particular, we present two semantic propagation algorithms that are applicable to CIBR systems with a feature vector space model and a general metric space model, respectively. Experiments on a 3D model retrieval system and a logo image retrieval system are performed to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
11474786
A Self-Reconfigurable Camera Array
This paper presents a self-reconfigurable camera array system that captures video sequences from an array of mobile cameras, renders novel views on the fly and reconfigures the camera positions to achieve better rendering quality. The system is composed of 48 cameras mounted on mobile platforms. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we propose an efficient algorithm that is capable of rendering high-quality novel views from the captured images. The algorithm reconstructs a view-dependent multi-resolution 2D mesh model of the scene geometry on the fly and uses it for rendering. The algorithm combines region of interest (ROI) identification, JPEG image decompression, lens distortion correction, scene geometry reconstruction and novel view synthesis seamlessly on a single Intel Xeon 2.4 GHz processor, which is capable of generating novel views at 4-10 frames per second (fps). Second, we present a view-dependent adaptive capturing scheme that moves the cameras in order to show even better rendering results. Such camera reconfiguration naturally leads to a nonuniform arrangement of the cameras on the camera plane, which is both view-dependent and scene-dependent.
15778796
MIRAI: Multi-hierarchical, FS-Tree Based Music Information Retrieval System
With the fast booming of online music repositories, there is a need for content-based automatic indexing which will help users to find their favorite music objects in real time. Recently, numerous successful approaches on musical data feature extraction and selection have been proposed for instrument recognition in monophonic sounds. Unfortunately, none of these methods can be successfully applied to polyphonic sounds. Identification of music instruments in polyphonic sounds is still difficult and challenging, especially when harmonic partials are overlapping with each other. This has stimulated the research on music sound separation and new features development for content-based automatic music information retrieval. Our goal is to build a cooperative query answering system (QAS), for a musical database, retrieving from it all objects satisfying queries like "find all musical pieces in pentatonic scale with a viola and piano where viola is playing for minimum 20 seconds and piano for minimum 10 seconds". We use the database of musical sounds, containing almost 4000 sounds taken from the MUMs (McGill University Master Samples), as a vehicle to construct several classifiers for automatic instrument recognition. Classifiers showing the best performance are adopted for automatic indexing of musical pieces by instruments. Our musical database has an FS-tree (Frame Segment Tree) structure representation. The cooperativeness of QAS is driven by several hierarchical structures used for classifying musical instruments.
8800642
Multimedia Data Mining for Traffic Video Sequences
In this paper, a multimedia data mining framework for discovering important but previously unknown knowledge such as vehicle identification, traffic flow, and the spatio-temporal relations of the vehicles at the intersections from traffic video sequences is proposed. The proposed multimedia data mining framework analyzes the traffic video sequences by using background subtraction, image/video segmentation, object tracking, and modeling with multimedia augmented transition network (MATN) model and multimedia input strings, in the domain of traffic monitoring over an intersection. The spatio-temporal relationships of the vehicle objects in each frame are discovered and accurately captured and modeled. Such an additional level of sophistication enabled by the proposed multimedia data-mining framework in terms of spatio-temporal tracking generates a capability for automation. This capability alone can significantly influence and enhance current data processing and implementation strategies for several problems vis-a-vis traffic operations. A real-life traffic video sequence is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed multimedia data mining framework.
13973220
Database-Driven Grid Computing with GridBASE
The GridBASE framework for database-driven grid computing is presented. The design and a prototype implementation of the framework is discussed. Industry-strength database technology plays a key role in the design of the framework. The database is used as a scalable, reliable and remotely accessible component both for storing and organizing the configuration information of the grid, and for managing information related to the grid users and the jobs and tasks they submit for execution. Other system components are worker nodes, a simple resource broker, a grid operator console, and application clients. In analogy with electrical power grids, a clear distinction is made in our design between the role played by grid users on the one hand, who develop and submit application code but are otherwise mostly isolated from resource deployment and selection, and the role played by the grid operator on the other hand, who is responsible for providing computing resources and assuring system availability and maintenance. Application code can be written in any language, and simple workflow support is provided. In our prototype implementation we experiment with code delivery and input and output file delivery via the database component. Our approach is based on decentralization and implemented in Java, leading to a lightweight, portable and scalable grid computing solution that is especially suited for parallel bioinformatics. Deployment of GridBASE on Ontario's SHARCNET and application to virtual experiments in RNA folding statistics are described.
10539713
On optimal routing with multiple traffic matrices
Routing optimization is used to find a set of routes that minimizes cost (delay, utilization). Previous work has addressed this problem for the case of a known, static end-to-end traffic matrix. In the Internet, it is difficult to accurately estimate a traffic matrix, and the constantly changing nature of Internet traffic makes it costly to maintain optimal routing by responding to traffic changes. Thus, it is of interest to maintain a set of routes that are "good" for a number of different possible traffic scenarios. In this paper, we explore ways to find an optimal set of routes with multiple traffic matrices to minimize expected cost. We focus on two general approaches, source-destination routing and destination routing. In the case of source-destination routing, we extend existing methods with a single traffic matrix to solve the optimization problem with multiple traffic matrices: we extend the convex optimization solution methods for a single traffic matrix to the multiple traffic matrix case; we also extend the gradient-based solution methods for a single traffic matrix to the multiple traffic matrix case. However, the multiple traffic matrix case requires many more control variables. In the case of destination routing, we encounter many more differences from the single traffic matrix case. The loop-free property, which is valid for the single traffic matrix case, is no longer valid for the multiple traffic matrix case, and it is difficult to extend existing methods for a single traffic matrix to solve the optimization problem with multiple traffic matrices. We show that it is NP-complete even to determine the feasibility of multiple traffic matrices. We thus propose and evaluate a heuristic algorithm for this case.
10875476
Affinity relation discovery in image database clustering and content-based retrieval
In this paper, we propose a unified framework, called <i>Markov Model Mediator</i> (MMM), to facilitate image database clustering and to improve the query performance. The structure of the MMM framework consists of two hierarchical levels: local MMMs and integrated MMMs, which model the affinity relations among the images within a single image database and within a set of image databases, respectively, via an effective data mining process. The effectiveness and efficiency of the MMM framework for database clustering and image retrieval are demonstrated over a set of image databases which contain various numbers of images with different dimensions and concept categories.