39109322
Annotation of Video by Alignment to Reference Imagery
Video as an entertainment or information source in consumer, military, and broadcast television applications is widespread. Typically however, the video is simply presented to the viewer, with only minimal manipulation. Examples include chroma-keying (often used in news and weather broadcasts) where specific color components are detected and used to control the video source. In the past few years, the advent of digital video and increases in computational power has meant that more complex manipulation can be performed. In this paper we present some highlights of our work in annotating video by aligning features extracted from the video to a reference set of features. 
 
Video insertion and annotation require manipulation of the video stream to composite synthetic imagery and information with real video imagery. The manipulation may involve only the 2D image space or the 3D scene space. The key problems to be solved are : (i) indexing and matching to determine the location of insertion, (ii) stable and jitter-free tracking to compute the time variation of the camera, and (iii) seamlessly blended insertion for an authentic viewing experience. We highlight our approach to these problems by showing three example scenarios: (i) 2D synthetic pattern insertion in live video, (ii) annotation of aerial imagery through geo-registration with stored reference imagery and annotations, and (iii) 3D object insertion in a video for a 3D scene.
13996299
Action video retrieval based on atomic action vocabulary
We propose an efficient action retrieval system that is based on a novel action representation and an effective video matching method. We represent actions with a hierarchical encoding scheme that at low-level measures local body parts motions, which then evolves into encoding of instantaneous global body motions and finally high-level description of actions through atomic action vocabulary. Atomic action vocabulary extends the notion of keyframe-based indexing techniques, where a long action video is decomposed into a sequence of atomic sub-actions matched from the vocabulary. Efficient video matching is achieved by exploiting precomputed inter-vocabulary distances so that global video distance between video sequences can be computed in a very efficient manner that is equivalent to index lookup operations with minimal additional computational loads. Combined with atomic action vocabulary, this can provide flexible video matching schemes of finding compound action sequences of arbitrary lengths. The proposed approach is evaluated on surveillance video and a public video dataset.
31836660
A Global Matching Framework for Stereo Computation
This paper presents a new global matching framework f o r stereo computation. In this framework, the second view is first predicted front the reference view using the depth information. A global match measure is then defined as the similarity function between the predicted image and the actual image. Stereo coniputcction is converted into a search problem where the goal is to find the depth rnup that maximizes the global match measure. The major advantage of this framework is that the global visibility constraint is inherently enforced in the computation. This paper explores several key components of this framework including ( I ) three color segmentation based depth representations, (2) an incremental warping algorithm that dramatically reduces the computational complexity, and (3) scene constraints such as the smoothness constraint and the color sinzilarity constraint. Experimental results using different types of depth representations are presented. The quality of the computed depth maps is demonstrated through image-based rendering from new viewpoints.
5884426
Validation of an optical flow method for tag displacement estimation
Presents a validation study of an optical-flow method for the rapid estimation of myocardial displacement in magnetic resonance tagged cardiac images. This registration and change visualization (RCV) software uses a hierarchical estimation technique to compute the flow field that describes the warping of an image of one cardiac phase into alignment with the next. This method overcomes the requirement of constant pixel intensity in standard optical-flow methods by preprocessing the input images to reduce any intensity bias which results from the reduction in stripe contrast throughout the cardiac cycle. To validate the method, SPAMM-tagged images were acquired of a silicon gel phantom with simulated rotational motion. The pixel displacement was estimated with the RCV method and the error in pixel tracking was <4% 1000 ms after application of the tags, and after 30/spl deg/ of rotation. An additional study was performed using a SPAMM-tagged multiphase slice of a canine left ventricle. The true displacement was determined using a previously validated active contour model (snakes). The error between methods was 6.7% at end systole. The RCV method has the advantage of tracking all pixels in the image in a substantially shorter period than the snakes method.
9659860
True multi-image alignment and its application to mosaicing and lens distortion correction
Multiple images of a scene are related through 2D/3D view transformations and linear and non-linear camera transformations. In all the traditional techniques to compute these transformations, especially the ones relying on direct intensity gradients, one image and its coordinate system have been assumed to be ideal and distortion free. In this paper, we present a formulation and an algorithm for true multi-image alignment that does not rely on the measurements of a reference image being distortion free. For instance, in the presence of lens distortion, none of the images can be assumed to be ideal. In our formulation, all the images are modeled as intensity measurements represented in their respective coordinate systems, each of which is related to an ideal coordinate system through an interior camera transformation and an exterior view transformation. The goal of the accompanying algorithm is to compute an image in the ideal coordinate system while solving for the transformations that relate the ideal system with each of the data images. Key advantages of the technique presented in this paper are: (i) no reliance on one distortion free image, (ii) ability to register images and compute coordinate transformations even when the multiple images are of an extended scene with no overlap between the first and last frame of the sequence, and (iii) ability to handle linear and non-linear transformations within the same framework. The new algorithm is evaluated in the context of two applications: (i) correction of lens distortion, and (ii) creation of video mosaics.
6283962
Multi-view 3D analysis with applications for augmented reality and enhanced video visualization
The article presents methods for 3D scene geometry recovery/refinement and pose estimation from motion imagery in two representative scenarios. First, we present a method for pose estimation and scene geometry recovery from extended sequences without prior knowledge of the scheme. Second, we discuss how to recover camera poses when a rough scene model is provided. We show how to extend and refine the scene model using the recovered poses. Finally, we present applications of the above techniques for 3D imagery manipulation such as enhanced visualization for video and 3D insertion of synthetic objects in the imagery.
65135986
Model dependent inference of three-dimensional information from a sequence of two-dimensional images
In order to autonomously navigate through a complex environment, a mobile robot requires sensory feedback. This feedback will typically include the 3D motion and location of the robot and the 3D structure and motion of obstacles and other environmental features. The general problem considered in this thesis is how this 3D information may be obtained from a sequence of images generated by a camera mounted on a mobile robot. 
The first set of algorithms developed in this thesis are for robust determination of the 3D pose of the mobile robot from a matched set of model and image landmark features. Least-squares techniques for point and line tokens, which minimize both rotation and translation simultaneously are developed and shown to be far superior to the earlier techniques which solved for rotation first and then translation. However, least-squares techniques fail catastrophically when outliers (or gross errors) are present in the match data. Outliers arise frequently due to incorrect correspondences or gross errors in the 3D model. Robust techniques for pose determination are developed to handle data contaminated by fewer than 50.0% outliers. 
To make the model based approach widely applicable, it is necessary to be able to automatically build the landmark models. The approach adopted in this thesis is one of model extension and refinement. A partial model of the environment is assumed to exist and this model is extended over a sequence of frames. As will be shown in the experiments, the prior knowledge of the small partial model greatly enhances the robustness of the 3D structure computations. The initial 3D model may have errors and these too are refined over the sequence of frames. 
Finally, the sensitivity of pose determination and model extension to incorrect estimates of camera parameters is analyzed. It is shown that for small field of view systems, offsets in the image center do not significantly affect the location of the camera and the location of new 3D points in a world coordinate system. Errors in the focal length significantly affect only the component of translation along the optical axis in the pose computation.
9616848
Core architecture optimization for heterogeneous chip multiprocessors
Previous studies have demonstrated the advantages of single-ISA heterogeneous multi-core architectures for power and performance. However, none of those studies examined how to design such a processor; instead, they started with an assumed combination of pre-existing cores. This work assumes the flexibility to design a multi-core architecture from the ground up and seeks to address the following question: what should be the characteristics of the cores for a heterogeneous multi-processor for the highest area or power efficiency? The study is done for varying degrees of thread-level parallelism and for different area and power budgets. The most efficient chip multiprocessors are shown to be heterogeneous, with each core customized to a different subset of application characteristics — no single core is necessarily well suited to all applications. The performance ordering of cores on such processors is different for different applications; there is only a partial ordering among cores in terms of resources and complexity. This methodology produces performance gains as high as 40%. The performance improvements come with the added cost of customization.
18669485
A QoS routing protocol for delay-sensitive applications in mobile ad hoc networks
The Ad hoc On Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol is intended for use by mobile nodes in ad hoc networks. To provide quality of service, extensions can be added to the messages used during route discovery. These extensions specify the service requirements which must be met by nodes rebroadcasting a route request (RREQ) or returning a route reply (RREP) for a destination. In order to provide quality delivery to delay sensitive applications such as voice and video, it is extremely important that mobile ad hoc networks provide quality of service (QoS) support in terms of bandwidth and delay. Most existing routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks are designed to search for the shortest path with minimum hop count. However, the shortest routes do not always provide the best performance, especially when there are congested nodes along these routes. In this paper we propose an on demand delay based quality of service (QoS) routing protocol (AODV-D) to ensure that delay does not exceed a maximum value for mobile ad hoc networks. This protocol will take into consideration MAC layer channel contention information and number of packets in the interface queue in addition to minimum hops. The protocol is implemented and simulated using GlomoSim simulator. Performance comparisons of the proposed AODV-D protocol against AODV, and QS-AODV is presented and shown that the proposed algorithm performs well.
14410544
Fluid modeling of pollution proliferation in P2P networks
P2P systems are highly vulnerable to pollution attacks in which attackers inject multiple versions of corrupted content into the system, which is then further proliferated by unsuspecting users. However, to our knowledge, there are no closed-form solutions that describe this phenomenon, nor are there models that describe how the injection of multiple versions of corrupted content impacts a clients' ability to receive a valid copy. In this paper we develop a suite of fluid models that model pollution proliferation in P2P systems. These fluid models lead to systems of non-linear differential equations. We obtain closed-form solutions for the differential equations; for the remaining models, we efficiently solve the differential equations numerically. The models capture a variety of user behaviors, including propensity for popular versions, abandonment after repeated failure to obtain a good version, freeloading, and local version blacklisting. Our analysis reveals intelligent strategies for attackers as well as strategies for clients seeking to recover non-polluted content within large-scale P2P networks.
214800957
Interconnections in Multi-Core Architectures: Understanding Mechanisms, Overheads and Scaling
This paper examines the area, power, performance, and design issues for the on-chip interconnects on a chip multiprocessor, attempting to present a comprehensive view of a class of interconnect architectures. It shows that the design choices for the interconnect have significant effect on the rest of the chip, potentially consuming a significant fraction of the real estate and power budget. This research shows that designs that treat interconnect as an entity that can be independently architected and optimized would not arrive at the best multi-core design. Several examples are presented showing the need for careful co-design. For instance, increasing interconnect bandwidth requires area that then constrains the number of cores or cache sizes, and does not necessarily increase performance. Also, shared level-2 caches become significantly less attractive when the overhead of the resulting crossbar is accounted for. A hierarchical bus structure is examined which negates some of the performance costs of the assumed base-line architecture.