Video visualization for compact presentation and fast browsing of pictorial content

Abstract

Digital video archives are likely to be accessible on distributed networks which means that the data are subject to network congestion and bandwidth constraints. To enable new applications and services of digital video, it is not only important to develop tools to analyze and browse video, view query results, and formulate better searches, but also to deliver the essence of the material in compact forms. Video visualization describes the joint process of analyzing video and the subsequent derivation of representative visual presentation of the essence of the content. In this paper, we propose techniques to analyze video and build a compact pictorial summary for visual presentation. A video sequence is thus condensed into a few images - each summarizing the dramatic incident taking place in a meaningful segment of the video. In particular, we present techniques to differentiate the dominance of the content in subdivisions of the segment based on analysis results, select a graphic layout pattern according to the relative dominances, and create a set of video posters, each of which is a compact, visually pleasant, and intuitive representation of the story content. The collection of video posters arranged in temporal order then forms a pictorial summary of the sequence to tell the underlying story. The techniques and compact presentations proposed offer valuable tools for new applications and services of digital video including video browsing, query, search, and retrieval in the digital libraries and over the Internet. © 1997 IEEE.