Abstract: A method for visualizing multimedia objects assigns a feature vector to each multimedia object. The feature vector of each multimedia object is reduced to a location vector having a dimensionality of a display device. A cost function is evaluated to determine an optimal location vector for each multimedia object, and each multimedia object is displayed on a display device according to the optimal location vector. The reducing can use principle component analysis. In addition, a relevance score can be determined for each displayed multimedia object, and the multimedia objects can than be visually enhanced according to the relevance score.

Abstract: A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for extracting motion information (110) from a video sequence (130, 600) containing interframe motion vectors (120) are disclosed. In particular, motion information (110) is automatically extracted (610) from an encoded traffic video stream (600) to detect speed, density and flow. The motion information (110) extracted is under fixed camera settings and in a well-defined environment. The motion vectors (120) are first separated (610) from the compressed streams (130) during decoding and filtered (620) to eliminate incorrect and noisy motion vectors based on the well-defined environmental knowledge. By applying a projective transform (630) to the filtered motion vectors, speed, density, and flow can be detected (640, 650, 660). In this manner, a traffic monitoring system is implemented.

Abstract: A method for visualizing multimedia objects assigns a feature vector to each multimedia object. The feature vector of each multimedia object is reduced to a location vector having a dimensionality of a display device. A cost function is evaluated to determine an optimal location vector for each multimedia object, and each multimedia object is displayed on a display device according to the optimal location vector. The reducing can use principle component analysis. In addition, a relevance score can be determined for each displayed multimedia object, and the multimedia objects can than be visually enhanced according to the relevance score.

Abstract: A method and system for recognizing the characters on surfaces where alphanumeric identification code (“ID” for short) may be present such as a license plate. The present system is particularly adapted for situations where visual distortions can occur, and utilizes a highly robust method for recognizing the characters of an ID. Multiple character recovery schemes are applied to account for a variety of conditions to ensure high accuracy in identifying the ID. Accuracy is greatly enhanced by taking a comprehensive approach where multiple criteria are taken into consideration before any conclusions are drawn. Special considerations are given to recognizing the ID as a whole and not just the individual characters.