Comparing the Quality of Multiple Descriptions of Multimedia Documents

With the definition of the MPEG-7 standard, thanks to its inter-operability behaviors, it is now possible for applications to use content descriptions of a same document, coming from different sources. This implies that the overall information available at the application can be highly redundant and mechanisms for filtering the information are hence required. In this work, a general approach to descriptions integration is proposed. The idea is to manipulate information readily available from the considered descriptions to reach an accurate integration result, without having to reprocess the multimedia material. The proposed general framework has been applied at a real problem showing how segment decompositions can be integrated on the basis of dominant color descriptors series. This work introduces also the concept of reliability of descriptor extraction methods demonstrating how it can be effectively used through the proposed integration process

CE on Metadata Adaptation – Integration of Multiple descriptions

In this document, a sub part of the CE on Adaptation Hint DS defined in document [4] is presented. Four partners are involved in this CE: Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Fujitsu, Denso Corporation and University of Brescia. While the first three are focusing in the use of AdaptationHint DS for the adaptation of a single DS (see document m8962), the objective of University of Brescia is to show how integration of multiple descriptions of a given content can be useful for the reduction of the number and dimension of metadata and DI. In this context the AdaptationHint DS has been tested to support the integration phase, concluding that it can be useful in order to speed up the process and to reduce the memory occupancy. Additional comment about metadata integration have been included in this report, considering also the use of two new adaptation tools. The first tool is related to the problem of to establish which is elementary unit that has to be used in the comparison of different description while the second aims to support the preferences of a user about metadata transcoding. In the following, an introduction to the metadata integration problem will be given in order to point out the problems related to it. For the same reason a use case is presented before the description of the experiment setup and results. At the end, final conclusions and remarks are included

Inferring semantics from structural annotations of audio–visual documents

In this paper, a new approach for semantic extraction is proposed. Assuming that the semantics of interest associated to a multimedia document is subjective and that the user cannot easily construct a semantic description on different abstraction levels, we propose an interactive tool which allows to generate a semantic description by organizing an audio-visual document. The structural decomposition is the result of a guided annotation by the user: the user segments the input sequence in events, assigns each event to a specific class and includes other informations such as time, place and contained objects. The classification process can evolve dynamically, which means that the user can organize the semantics with various personalized and more specialized classes. Using the resulting structural descriptions and classification, our method automatically generates a richer semantic description. The system is totally MPEG-7 complaint

Report of CE on Metadata Adaptation – Integration

This paper reports the results of the CE on MPEG-21 Digital Item Adaptation – Integration defined in document N5182. In the original work plan definition, two main objectives were defined. The first one is to better evaluate if the current DIA Metadata Adaptation tools can fully support the integration of multiple MPEG-7 descriptions of a given content. The second objective of this CE is to evaluate if the current DIA tools allow to disable the metadata adaptation process in order to permit the delivery of “non adapted” content descriptions (e.g. for storage propose). Due to the few time available, only the first goal has been reached. The main contribution of this CE is a preliminary implementation of a metadata integration engine able to adapt Content DI. Based on this implementation, several integration experiments have been conducted to point out which integration tool can be useful

A proposal for Video Signature Tool and Video Fingerprinting

In this document we present and evaluate a video signature system, proposed by Signals and Communications Laboratory – Department of Electronic for Automation, University of Brescia (Italy)

Report of CE on Metadata Adaptation – Integration

This paper summarize the final results of the CE on MPEG-21 Digital Item Adaptation – Integration. The CE was started at the Shanghai meeting (see document N5182) and due to the fact that not all the expected goals were achieved the CE has been extended to the Pattaya meeting (see document N5362). In the original work plan definition, the principal objectives to better evaluate if the current DIA Metadata Adaptability tools can fully support the integration of multiple MPEG-7 descriptions of a given content. The main contribution of this CE is an enhanced implementation of the metadata integration engine presented in the previous CE report and the definition of syntax and semantic for a new MPEG-21 DIA MetadataAdaptability tool useful in a metadata integration processes

Identification versus CBCD: a comparison of different evaluation techniques

Fingerprint techniques have a significant advantage in respect of watermarking: a fingerprint can be extracted in each moment of the lifetime of a multimedia content. This aspect is fundamental to solve the problem of copy detection mainly because many copies can be available in huge amount of data in circulation and because each copy can be attacked in several ways (compression, re-encoding, text-overlay, etc.). In this paper the problem of copy detection is studied and tested from two different point of views: content based and identification approaches. The results show that the proposed system is quite robust to some copy modifications and most of all show that the overall results depend on the evaluation method used for testing

Evaluation of Core Experiment for MPEG-7 Video Signature Tool

The present document evaluates and discusses the experiment conditions proposed in the VCE-7 CE on Video Signature, discussed in the previous MPEG meetings [MPEG-VS-09-01] [MPEG-VS-09-02]. In particular we present some simulation results that show the weaknesses of the evaluation procedure, proposed in the VCE-7 CE on Video Signature, and that highlight some aspects that could impair the performance evaluation of the here considered technology in a realistic environment. Therefore, we propose a new Core Experiment which will consider this issues

A proposal for Video Signature Tool and Video Fingerprinting

In this document we present and evaluate a video signature system, proposed by Signals and Communications Laboratory – Department of Electronic for Automation, University of Brescia (Italy). The proposed Video Signature is MPEG-7 compliant. The technology is based on the use of many different features (color, motion, etc.). The preliminary studies show that these features have relevant characteristics in their development in time. The testing results prove that the features act differently with respect of the type and modification the query suffered

Night Sleep and Parental Bedtime Practices in Low-Risk Preterm and Full-Term Late Talkers

Night sleep and parental bedtime practices have rarely been investigated in late talkers. This study aimed to explore: night sleep, parental bedtime practices, and their associations in late talkers as well as individual, socio-demographic, and socio-relational factors affecting them. Parents of 47 30-month-old late talkers, born low-risk preterm (n = 24) or full-term (n = 23), with an expressive vocabulary size <= 10th percentile measured by the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory Words and Sentences, and normal cognitive abilities measured by the Bayley Scales, completed the Infant Sleep Questionnaire, the Parental Interactive Bedtime Behaviour Scale, and the Parenting Stress Index Short Form. Results showed slight settling difficulties, night wakings, and frequent co-sleeping in late talkers. Encouraging autonomy practices were frequently used by parents, rather than active physical comforting ones. Recurrent settling difficulties were reported by parents who often applied encouraging autonomy practices, whereas greater night waking problems and frequent co-sleeping were reported by parents who often left their child crying. Low-risk preterm birth and mother's parenting stress predicted total sleep difficulties and night wakings; first-born, high maternal education level and mother's parenting stress predicted settling difficulties; mother's parenting stress was the only predictor for co-sleeping and leaving to cry. These findings have relevant implications for improving late talkers' night sleep and their parents' bedtime practices