Multi-modal Fusion for Flasher Detection in a Mobile Video Chat Application

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the development of accurate and efficient classifiers to identify misbehaving users (i.e., "flashers") in a mobile video chat application. Our analysis is based on video session data collected from a mobile client that we built that connects to a popular random video chat service. We show that prior imagebased classifiers designed for identifying normal and misbehaving users in online video chat systems perform poorly on mobile video chat data. We present an enhanced image-based classifier that improves classification performance on mobile data. More importantly, we demonstrate that incorporating multi-modal mobile sensor data from accelerometer and the camera state (front/back) along with audio can significantly improve the overall image-based classification accuracy. Our work also shows that leveraging multiple image-based predictions within a session (i.e., temporal modality) has the potential to further improve the classification performance. Finally, we show that the cost of classification in terms of running time can be significantly reduced by employing a multilevel cascaded classifier in which high-complexity features and further image-based predictions are not generated unless needed

A survey on video compression fast block matching algorithms

Video compression is the process of reducing the amount of data required to represent digital video while preserving an acceptable video quality. Recent studies on video compression have focused on multimedia transmission, videophones, teleconferencing, high definition television, CD-ROM storage, etc. The idea of compression techniques is to remove the redundant information that exists in the video sequences. Motion compensation predictive coding is the main coding tool for removing temporal redundancy of video sequences and it typically accounts for 50–80% of video encoding complexity. This technique has been adopted by all of the existing International Video Coding Standards. It assumes that the current frame can be locally modelled as a translation of the reference frames. The practical and widely method used to carry out motion compensated prediction is block matching algorithm. In this method, video frames are divided into a set of non-overlapped macroblocks and compared with the search area in the reference frame in order to find the best matching macroblock. This will carry out displacement vectors that stipulate the movement of the macroblocks from one location to another in the reference frame. Checking all these locations is called Full Search, which provides the best result. However, this algorithm suffers from long computational time, which necessitates improvement. Several methods of Fast Block Matching algorithm are developed to reduce the computation complexity. This paper focuses on a survey for two video compression techniques: the first is called the lossless block matching algorithm process, in which the computational time required to determine the matching macroblock of the Full Search is decreased while the resolution of the predicted frames is the same as for the Full Search. The second is called lossy block matching algorithm process, which reduces the computational complexity effectively but the search result's quality is not the same as for the Full Search

ENHANCED COMPUTATION TIME FOR FAST BLOCK MATCHING ALGORITHM

Video compression is the process of reducing the amount of data required to represent digital video while preserving an acceptable video quality. Recent studies on video compression have focused on multimedia transmission, videophones, teleconferencing, high definition television (HDTV), CD-ROM storage, etc. The idea of compression techniques is to remove the redundant information that exists in the video sequences. Motion compensated predictive coding is the main coding tool for removing temporal redundancy of video sequences and it typically accounts for 50-80% of the video encoding complexity. This technique has been adopted by all of the existing international video coding standards. It assumes that the current frame can be locally modelled as a translation of the reference frames. The practical and widely method used to carry out motion compensated prediction is block matching algorithm. In this method, video frames are divided into a set of non-overlapped macroblocks; each target macroblock of the current frame is compared with the search area in the reference frame in order to find the best matching macroblock. This will carry out displacement vectors that stipulate the movement of the macroblocks from one location to another in the reference frame. Checking all these locations is called full Search, which provides the best result. However, this algorithm suffers from long computational time, which necessitates improvement. Several methods of Fast Block Matching algorithm were developed to reduce the computation complexity. This thesis focuses on two classifications: the first is called the lossless block matching algorithm process, in which the computational time required to determine the matching macroblock of the full search is decreased while the resolution of the predicted frames is the same as for the full search. The second is called the lossy block matching algorithm process, which reduces the computational complexity effectively but the search result’s quality is not the same as for the full search

Pervasive computing reference architecture from a software engineering perspective (PervCompRA-SE)

Pervasive computing (PervComp) is one of the most challenging research topics nowadays. Its complexity exceeds the outdated main frame and client-server computation models. Its systems are highly volatile, mobile, and resource-limited ones that stream a lot of data from different sensors. In spite of these challenges, it entails, by default, a lengthy list of desired quality features like context sensitivity, adaptable behavior, concurrency, service omnipresence, and invisibility. Fortunately, the device manufacturers improved the enabling technology, such as sensors, network bandwidth, and batteries to pave the road for pervasive systems with high capabilities. On the other hand, this domain area has gained an enormous amount of attention from researchers ever since it was first introduced in the early 90s of the last century. Yet, they are still classified as visionary systems that are expected to be woven into people’s daily lives. At present, PervComp systems still have no unified architecture, have limited scope of context-sensitivity and adaptability, and many essential quality features are insufficiently addressed in PervComp architectures. The reference architecture (RA) that we called (PervCompRA-SE) in this research, provides solutions for these problems by providing a comprehensive and innovative pair of business and technical architectural reference models. Both models were based on deep analytical activities and were evaluated using different qualitative and quantitative methods. In this thesis we surveyed a wide range of research projects in PervComp in various subdomain areas to specify our methodological approach and identify the quality features in the PervComp domain that are most commonly found in these areas. It presented a novice approach that utilizes theories from sociology, psychology, and process engineering. The thesis analyzed the business and architectural problems in two separate chapters covering the business reference architecture (BRA) and the technical reference architecture (TRA). The solutions for these problems were introduced also in the BRA and TRA chapters. We devised an associated comprehensive ontology with semantic meanings and measurement scales. Both the BRA and TRA were validated throughout the course of research work and evaluated as whole using traceability, benchmark, survey, and simulation methods. The thesis introduces a new reference architecture in the PervComp domain which was developed using a novel requirements engineering method. It also introduces a novel statistical method for tradeoff analysis and conflict resolution between the requirements. The adaptation of the activity theory, human perception theory and process re-engineering methods to develop the BRA and the TRA proved to be very successful. Our approach to reuse the ontological dictionary to monitor the system performance was also innovative. Finally, the thesis evaluation methods represent a role model for researchers on how to use both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate a reference architecture. Our results show that the requirements engineering process along with the trade-off analysis were very important to deliver the PervCompRA-SE. We discovered that the invisibility feature, which was one of the envisioned quality features for the PervComp, is demolished and that the qualitative evaluation methods were just as important as the quantitative evaluation methods in order to recognize the overall quality of the RA by machines as well as by human beings