Abstract: The invention segments detector input according to the time and the level of activity in different geographic regions of a locality. In one embodiment of the invention the detector input is comprised of video stream from one or more cameras to identify activity in the video. In one embodiment of the invention the detector input is comprised of sensor outputs such as RFID, pressure plates, etc. Various embodiments of the invention include identifying boundaries based on the level of activity. In embodiments of the invention, the boundaries can be used to select time dimensions. In one embodiment, by recognizing time dimensions with distinctive activity patterns, systems can better present overviews of activity over time.

Abstract: An interface and display of video from multiple fixed-position cameras is provided. A main video stream captured by a camera is selected to be the main video stream and is displayed to the interface. Video streams captured by the set of cameras and the main camera that are temporally related to the displayed main video stream are selected, including playback positions from one or more of a first segment of time in each of their respective video streams at the time of the main video stream, a second segment of time in each of their respective video streams prior to the time of the main video stream, and a third segment of time in each of their respective video streams after the time of the main video stream. The selected video streams are displayed to the interface in temporal relation to the display of the main video stream.

Abstract: An interface and display of video from multiple fixed-position cameras is provided. A main video stream captured by a camera is selected to be the main video stream and is displayed to the interface. Video streams captured by the set of cameras and the main camera that are temporally related to the displayed main video stream are selected, including playback positions from one or more of a first segment of time in each of their respective video streams at the time of the main video stream, a second segment of time in each of their respective video streams prior to the time of the main video stream, and a third segment of time in each of their respective video streams after the time of the main video stream. The selected video streams are displayed to the interface in temporal relation to the display of the main video stream.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method to make effective use of non rectangular display space for displaying a collage. In an embodiment of the invention, a heterogeneous set of images can be arranged to display the region of interest of the images to avoid overlapping regions of interest. The background gaps between the regions of interest can be filled by extending the regions of interest using a Voronoi technique. This produces a stained glass effect for the collage. In an embodiment of the present invention, the technique can be applied to irregular shapes including circular shapes with a hole in the middle. In an embodiment of the present invention, the technique can be used to print labels for disks.

Abstract: A computer-based method is provided for enabling navigation of video using a keyframe-based video browser on a display device with a limited screen size, for a video segmented into video shots. The video shots are clustered by similarity, while temporal order of the video shots is maintained. A hierarchically organized navigation tree is produced for the clusters of video shots, while the path lengths of the tree are minimized.

Abstract: Techniques for generating a storyboard are disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention the storyboard is comprised of videos from one or more cameras based on the identification of activity in the video. Various embodiments of the invention include an assessment of the importance of the activity, the creation of a storyboard presentation based on importance and interaction techniques for seeing more details or alternate views of the video. In one embodiment, motion detection is used to determine activity in one or more synchronized video streams. Periods of activity are recognized and assigned importance assessments based on the activity, important locations in the video streams, and events from other sensors. In different embodiments, the interface consists of a storyboard and a map.

Abstract: Systems and methods recommend documents or directories in an enterprise context by analyzing use proximity in the organizational hierarchy to find similar users. Evidence may be used from different sources to gage the degree of interest a user may have in a document. Such pieces of evidence may include viewing page thumbnails, viewing the document online, or printing, saving, or bookmarking the document. To make managing these different sources of evidence from users related by different degrees tractable, a model may be created where evidence values decay by different amounts over time and are combined with different weights. Additionally, these systems and methods also can make use of the directory structure of the document space to recommend directories as well as individual documents.

Abstract: Techniques for generating timelines and event logs from one or more fixed-position cameras based on the identification of activity in the video are presented. Various embodiments of the invention include an assessment of the importance of the activity, the creation of a timeline identifying events of interest, and interaction techniques for seeing more details of an event or alternate views of the video. In one embodiment, motion detection is used to determine activity in one or more synchronized video streams. In another embodiment, events are determined based on periods of activity and assigned importance assessments based on the activity, important locations in the video streams, and events from other sensors. In different embodiments, the interface consists of a timeline, event log, and map.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method to make effective use of display space. In an embodiment of the invention, given a heterogeneous set of images along with metadata or nearby text, similar images are recursively clustered into a k-tree using the k-means algorithm. In an embodiment of the invention, the invention is particularly useful for showing image search results on small mobile devices.

Abstract: In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for organizing digital media, particularly digital photos, using face recognition. According to a first aspect of the present invention, a computer-based method for organizing digital photos comprises: extracting objects of interest from a plurality of photographs; cropping said plurality of photographs to generate images of isolated objects of interest; applying a recognition algorithm to determine the similarity of isolated objects of interest with a reference; displaying a plurality of objects arranged as a function of the determined similarity; and receiving user input to associate said objects with a particular classification.

Abstract: An algorithm for finding regions of interest (ROI) in synthetic images based on an information driven approach in which sub-blocks of a set of synthetic image are analyzed for information content or compressibility based on textural and color features. A DCT may be used to analyze the textural features of a set of images and a color histogram may be used to analyze the color features of the set of images. Sub-blocks of low compressibility are grouped into ROIs using a type of morphological technique. Unlike other algorithms that are geared for highly specific types of ROI (e.g. OCR text detection), the method of the present invention is generally applicable to arbitrary synthetic images. The present invention can be used with several other image applications, including Stained-Glass collages presentations.

Abstract: In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for organizing digital media, particularly digital photos, using face recognition. According to a first aspect of the present invention, a computer-based method for organizing digital photos comprises: extracting objects of interest from a plurality of photographs; cropping said plurality of photographs to generate images of isolated objects of interest; applying a recognition algorithm to determine the similarity of isolated objects of interest with a reference; displaying a plurality of objects arranged as a function of the determined similarity; and receiving user input to associate said objects with a particular classification.

Abstract: An algorithm for finding regions of interest (ROI) in images and photos based on an information driven approach in which sub-blocks of an image are analyzed for information content or compressibility based on the discrete cosine transform. The sub-blocks of low compressibility are grouped into ROIs using a morphological technique. Unlike other algorithms that are geared for highly specific types of ROI (e.g. face detection), the method of the present invention is generally applicable to arbitrary images and photos. A center-weighted variation of the algorithm can produce better results for certain photo applications. The algorithm can be used with several other image applications, including Stained-Glass collages and Pan-and-Scan presentations.

Abstract: Video recordings of meetings and scanned paper documents are natural digital documents that come out of a meeting. These can be placed on the Internet for easy access, with links generated between them by matching scanned documents to a segment of the video referencing the scanned document. Furthermore, annotations made on the paper documents during the meeting can be extracted and used as indexes to the video. An orthonormal transform, such as a Digital Cosine Transform (DCT) is used to compare scanned documents to video frames.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention extracts video regions of interest from one or more videos and generates a highly condensed visual summary of the videos. The video regions of interest are extracted based on to energy, movement, face or other object detection methods, associated data or external input, or some other feature of the video. In another embodiment, the present invention extracts regions of interest from images and generates highly condensed visual summaries of the images. The highly condensed visual summary is generated by laying out germs on a canvas and then filling the spaces between the germs. The result is a visual summary that resembles a stained glass window having cells of varying shape. The germs may be laid out by temporal order, color histogram, similarity, according to a desired pattern, size, or some other manner. The people, objects and other visual content in the germs appear larger and become easier to see.

Abstract: Techniques for reducing the computational complexity of conventional similarity-based approaches for temporal event clustering of digital photograph collections include one or more approaches to select boundaries based on dynamic programming and the Bayes information criterion. Each method performs competitively with conventional approaches and offer significant computational savings.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention extracts video regions of interest from one or more videos and generates a highly condensed visual summary of the videos. The video regions of interest are extracted based on to energy, movement, face or other object detection methods, associated data or external input, or some other feature of the video. In another embodiment, the present invention extracts regions of interest from images and generates highly condensed visual summaries of the images. The highly condensed visual summary is generated by laying out germs on a canvas and then filling the spaces between the germs. The result is a visual summary that resembles a stained glass window having cells of varying shape. The germs may be laid out by temporal order, color histogram, similarity, according to a desired pattern, size, or some other manner. The people, objects and other visual content in the germs appear larger and become easier to see.

Abstract: An adaptive, interactive visual workspace for viewing groups of files based on their relationships. Relationships of files are visualized using iterative refinement of categories through a direct-manipulation graph-based layout. The visual workspace starts with a fully connected graph linking thumbnail images of related files that is then partitioned into neighborhoods in response to a user creating file stacks corresponding to different categories. Normalized spring lengths improve the overall quality of the layout. Different modes for membership in neighborhoods avoid confusing motion of files and help a user to manually organize the workspace. Additionally, retrieved files can be added without having to significantly move the previous files. Different visualization techniques indicate which files are related to each other. An elliptical-shaped window displaying rings of elliptic thumbnail images presents a group of files in an easily visible and space-efficient way.

Abstract: Techniques for generating action keyframes for a fixed-position camera based on the identification of activity in the video, an assessment of the importance of the activity, object recognition in the video, and interaction techniques for seeing more details of the video are presented. In different embodiments of the invention, the importance of activity is determined based on the amount of activity, important locations in the video streams, detected features such as faces, and events from other sensors.

Abstract: A computer-based method is provided for enabling navigation of video using a keyframe-based video browser on a display device with a limited screen size, for a video segmented into video shots. The video shots are clustered by similarity, while temporal order of the video shots is maintained. A hierarchically organized navigation tree is produced for the clusters of video shots, while the path lengths of the tree are minimized.