Method and apparatus for qualitative spatiotemporal data processing
First Claim
1. A method to generate a plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors for a sequence of N-dimensional data sets, each data set including a plurality of scalar quantities arranged in the N-dimensional coordinates and a temporal coordinate, where N is an integer, the method, comprising the steps of:
- (a) filtering a volume of the scalar quantities according to a plurality of oriented filter characteristics to produce a respective plurality of spatiotemporal filter values corresponding to the scalar quantities in the selected volume; and
(b) determining the plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors responsive to the plurality of spatiotemporal filter values.
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Abstract
The present invention is embodied in a method for representing and analyzing spatiotemporal data in order to make qualitative yet semantically meaningful distinctions among various regions of the data at an early processing stage. In one embodiment of the invention, successive frames of image data are analyzed to classify spatiotemporal regions as being stationary, exhibiting coherent motion, exhibiting incoherent motion, exhibiting scintillation and so lacking in structure as to not support further inference. The exemplary method includes filtering the image data in a spatiotemporal plane to identify regions that exhibit various spatiotemporal characteristics. The output data provided by these filters is then used to classify the data.
19 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method to generate a plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors for a sequence of N-dimensional data sets, each data set including a plurality of scalar quantities arranged in the N-dimensional coordinates and a temporal coordinate, where N is an integer, the method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) filtering a volume of the scalar quantities according to a plurality of oriented filter characteristics to produce a respective plurality of spatiotemporal filter values corresponding to the scalar quantities in the selected volume; and
(b) determining the plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors responsive to the plurality of spatiotemporal filter values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method to generate a plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors for a sequence of video images, each video image including a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix having a plurality of horizontal rows and a plurality of vertical columns, comprising the steps of:
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(a) storing the sequence of video images as a three dimensional array having an x dimension corresponding to the horizontal rows of pixels in the video images, a y dimension corresponding to the vertical columns of pixels in the video images, and a t dimension corresponding to other images in the sequence;
(b) filtering each image in the sequence of video images using a one-dimensional spatial filter oriented in the y dimension;
(c) selecting a plane of pixels of the sequence of video images corresponding to the t dimension and the x dimension;
(d) filtering the selected plane of pixels to produce a plurality of horizontal spatiotemporal filter values corresponding to the pixels in the selected plane of pixels; and
(e) determining the plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors responsive to the plurality of horizontal spatiotemporal filter values. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A method of indexing a sequence of N-dimensional data sets of scalar quantities for storage in a database of N-dimensional data sets, where N is an integer, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) filtering a volume of the scalar quantities using a plurality of oriented filter characteristics to produce a respective plurality of spatiotemporal filter values corresponding to the scalar quantities in the data sets;
(b) combining the plurality of spatiotemporal filter values to define a corresponding plurality of spatiotemporal descriptors;
(c) associating the plurality of spatiotemporal descriptors with the sequence of N-dimensional data sets as an index value; and
(d) storing the sequence of N-dimensional data sets in the database.
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16. A method of automatically selecting a region of interest of a scene using a sequence of N-dimensional data sets, each N-dimensional data set including a plurality of scalar quantities arranged in N-dimensions, where N is an integer, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) filtering a volume of the scalar quantities to produce a plurality of spatiotemporal filter values corresponding to the scalar quantities data sets;
(b) determining the plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors responsive to the plurality of spatiotemporal filter values; and
(c) analyzing the plurality of spatiotemporal descriptors to identify the region if interest.
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17. Apparatus for generating a plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors for a sequence of video images, each video image including a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix having a plurality of horizontal rows and a plurality of vertical columns, comprising:
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a memory for storing the sequence of video images as a three dimensional array having an x dimension corresponding to the horizontal rows of pixels in the video images, a y dimension corresponding to the vertical columns of pixels in the video images, and a t dimension corresponding to other images in the sequence;
a plurality of filters which filter a volume of pixels to produce a respective plurality of spatiotemporal filter values corresponding to the pixels in the sequence of video images; and
a classifier which determines the plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors from the plurality of spatiotemporal filter values. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A computer-readable carrier including computer program instructions that instruct a computer to generate a plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors for a sequence of video images, each video image including a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix having a plurality of horizontal rows and a plurality of s vertical columns, comprising the steps of:
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(a) storing the sequence of video images as a three dimensional array having an x dimension corresponding to the horizontal rows of pixels in the video images, a y dimension corresponding to the vertical columns of pixels in the video images, and a t dimension corresponding to other images in the sequence;
(b) filtering a volume of pixels to produce a plurality of spatiotemporal filter values corresponding to the pixels in sequence of video images; and
(c) determining the plurality of relevant spatiotemporal descriptors responsive to the plurality of spatiotemporal filter values.
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Specification