Video Recognition Systems
Technical Website
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The highlights of the Video Recognition Systems (VRS) project (2001-2007): Over its seven-year long history, the project ...
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Description
This site is dedicated to developing Video Recognition Technology. Several research areas are explored to make this technology work: Computer Vision and Image Processing, Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition, Neurobiology. Three important application domains demand the development of this technology.
Domain 1: Security, Surveillance and Monitoring.
Domain 2: Visually-enabled computer-human interaction (inc. hand-free user interfaces)
Domain 3: Visually-enhanced communication and Intelligent video processing (inc. augmentation and annotation of video)Below is description of Licensable Technologies and Foundational Research projects developed in our group for each of these application domains. The links to detailed descriptions, online demonstration programs, user documentation, software downloads and licensing opportunities are provided.
Recent Projects:
ACE Surveillance™ : Automated extraction and Annotation of Critical Evidence snapshots from Surveillance Video. A new generation surveillance system capable of intelligent processing and managing the surveillance video data.
[ Status: Ready to use and for licensing. Demos and download available ]
Subprojects & Keywords:
- Automated abstraction and summarization of surveillance video
- Automated detection and tracking of objects in video
- Automated extracted of Critical Evidence Snapshots from surveillance video
- Zoom-on-the-evidence browsing and search of archived
Face Memorization & Recognition in Video
[ Status: Ongoing R&D with licensing opportunities. Demos available ]
Subprojects & Keywords:
- Memorization and recognition of faces from low-resolution video using associative memory: accumulation of evidence over time in learning and recognition
- Face tracking for face recognition: automatic "best shot" selection & waiting for the evidence
- Canonical face model suitable for recognition in video
- Video-based registration of faces
- Low-resolution video-based face dataset for testing and tuning FRiV techniques
- Performance evaluation of face recognition in video
- Face annotation in TV shows and surveillance video, tele-conferences
- Soft biometrics of face recognition in video
- On-fly memorization and recognition of computer users
Video Processing and Recognition for Security and Biometrics: Many governmental and private companies that use video data for security purposes provide a variety of highly demanded applications for video processing and recognition. This research is aimed at offering solutions to these applications.
Partners: CBSA, RCMP, CPRS, DRDC, DND
[ Status: Ongoing R&D with licensing opportunities ]
Subprojects:
- Surveillance applications
- Remote video-based biometrics
- People tracking and backtracking
- Multiple-people tracking
- Multi-camera tracking
- Memorization-assisted tracking
- Activity annotation and recognition
Nouse™ Perceptual Vision User Interfaces
[ Status: Ongoing application-driven research with licensing opportunities. Several Publications. Demos available ]
Partner & Licensee: Bruyère Continuing Care - Élisabeth Bruyère Research Institute
Subprojects & Keywords:Perceptually-enhanced Video Communication
- User's face detection and tracking robust to head motion
- User's nose sub-pixel precision tracking
- Blink Detection
- Facial Gestures Recognition
- User recognition
- Vision-based "virtual" Onscreen Keyboard & Hands-free Typing
- Hands-free Operating System and computer control
(for e-conferences, e-learning, e-presence, distant or online learning)
[ Status: Ongoing application-driven R&D within the Broadband Visual Communication Strategic Initiative]
Automated tele-operator
[ Status: Client-requested application-driven. Demos available ]
Description:
- From a number of on-line or offline video streams capturing an event (such as hockey game), the one showing the best view of it is automatically selected.
- Replaces manual video operator job (e.g. when broadcasting or taping a hockey game on a single recorder or output stream using several video cameras mounted around a hockey area).
Video recognition filters for distant learning and visual communication
[ Status: Ongoing R&D]
Subprojects & Keywords:
- Visual attention driven auto-zooming and auto-focus switching (inc. hand-raising recognition, instructor recognition)
- Annotation-assisted visual aids for communication and teaching
Past Projects:
Pianist Hands-Fingers Detection and Tracking
[ Status: Finished. Published. Demos available ]
Partner & Licensee: U. of Ottawa's Piano Pedagogy Lab.
Subprojects:StereoTracking Project:
- Piano keys detection and rectification
- Video-midi calibration
- Hand detection and tracking: foreground, skin segmentation, multiple-object tracking & deformable objects tracking
- Finger detection and tracking
- Video annotation of piano playing with and without midi
Projection Video Toolkit is combined with Nouse convex-shape tracking to yield 3D face tracking. Can also be used for tracking any object in 3D using two webcams.
[ Status: Finished. Last updated: 2/2/2002 ]
Collaborator: Gerhard Roth.
Libraries:
Video Processing and Recognition Library: We are constantly in search for the techniques that would allow us to process video as efficiently as it is processed in living vision systems. Both biologically-driven techniques: such as those used for efficient visual attention, temporal processing of low-resolution visual data, data accumulation and neuro- associative memorization and recognition, as well as computational techniques: such as those based on statistical analysis of video images and mathematical operations on them, are considered. The result is a constantly updated library that is used in all Perceptual Vision projects of our group.
[ Status: Ongoing Foundational Research]
Includes:
- Video capture from single or multiple cameras or video files & display
- Colour analysis of video: robust skin detection using combination of skin models and statistics, general purpose colour tracking and multiple colours tracking
- Motion analysis of video: statistics-driven background detection and foreground tracking, linear and non-linear first-order and second-order change detection.
- Intensity analysis of video: convex-shape detection and tracking, sub-pixel precision feature tracking, texture- and edge- based tracking.
- Face analyzer: eye detection, face rectification, binary facial features extraction, 12-pixel-between-the-eyes canonical face model suitable for storing from and recognizing in video sequences
- Multiple-object tracking, multiple-camera tracking, recognition-assisted tracking
- Tracking-assisted memorization and recognition
Associative Neural Network Library: This is a free for research and development library based on the doctoral work of Dr. Dmitry Gorodnichy and his colleagues. It is used in memorization and recognition parts of Perceptual Vision projects.
[ Status: Finished. Free license available]
Keywords:
- Models of Associative Memory
- Error correction, generalization, artificial intelligence
- Non-linear processing of data, Synaptic plasticity for data storage, Distributed collective decision making
Technology description:
- The Presentations website contains publications, power-point presentations, links to the organized events and media reviews of the Video Recognition technology.
Services:
- The Services website (www.computer-vision.org) contains links to organized events and services, including the on-line proceedings of Video Recognition workshops chaired and organized by Dr. Gorodnichy.
Contact
Dr. Dmitry Gorodnichy, Project / Group Leader
Email: dmitry@gorodnichy.ca (dg @ videorecognition.com)
Formerly:
Video Recognition Systems
Computational Video Group
NRC Institute for Information Technology
1200 Montreal Road, Building M-50
Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6 Canada
Fax: (613) 952-7151
Dmitry.Gorodnichy AT nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Current:
Video Surveillance and Biometrics Section
Applied Research and Development Division
Laboratory and Scientific Services Directorate
Canada Border Services Agency
79 Bentley Ave, Ottawa, ON, K2E 6T7, Canada
Fax: (613) 952-7825. Tel: (613) 954-3785
Dmitry.Gorodnichy AT cbsa-asfc.gc.ca
Copyright (R) 2001-2009
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For post-NRC news and events see: |
| Dec. 10, 2007 NRC Commissioners express the interest in continuing the use of the ACE Software, despite the termination of the support from NRC. A publication on the results of a year-long testing of ACE Surveillance is accepted for NATO workshop. |
| Nov. 30, 2007. The results of Phase 2 testing of Nouse at Snt. Vincent Hospital show much promise. The decision is made to proceed to Phase 3 testing and refinement despite the termination of the support from NRC. Two publications summarizing the results of Phase 1 and Phase 2 are accepted for ASSET'08 conference. |
| Nov. 23, 2007. IVIM Inc. is incorporated to continue the development of VRS solutions and the support of the VRS clients. |
| Nov. 2, 2007. Video Recognition Project is terminated at NRC. |
| Oct. 1, 2007. Dr. Gorodnichy is invited to give a talk for the Transport Canada Rail and Urban Transit Security Workshop. |
| Sept. 6, 2007: The results of WFA are announced: IIT will no longer conduct any activities in the area of Computational Video. |
| Sept. 2, 2007: SCO jointly with Ottawa U. starts the Phase 2 testing of Nouse. |
| Aug 15, 2007: DRDC to provide funding for NRC to develop automated access control system based on the VRS face recognition technology. |
| Aug. 11, 2007: Half-year of testing ACE by NRC commissioners made it a morning routine for them checking out what happened through the night using ACE-Browser. |
| July 8, 2007: CTV features a story on Nouse testing - see video  |
| June 9 2007: - New version of Nouse is available for download! - Website re-organized. |
| June 7, 2007: "The Ottawa Citizen" coverage - NRC's 'Nouse' puts control at tip of computer user's nose. |
June 5-6, 2007  CBC features a story on testing Nouse at SCO - see it |
| June 5, 2007: RCMP, CBSA and other GoC departments get together for the VRS organized Meeting on Deploying Video Technology for National Security |
| June 1, 2007: Nouse and ACE posters are available for download. |
| May 31, 2007: VRS attends Immediate Technologies for Border Security (ComDef'07) conference. |
| May 28-30, 2007: ACE and Nouse are demonstrated at the CRV track of IS'07 conference. |
| May 15, 2007: Nouse Phase II testing at SCO begins as disabled users start evaluating the technology. |
| Apr. 12, 2007: - New update for ACE available for download. - New upgrade of Nouse delivered to SCO. |
| Apr. 3. 2007: Meeting with NRC-ASPM coordinator to discuss using ACE at CISTI ... |
| Mar 16, 2007: Meeting between VRS and LIVIA to set the joint work on incremental learning for face recognition in video ... |
| Mar 14, 2007: ACE- Browser (v.2.2) that enables browsing of Annotated Critical Evidence on customer's computer is ready for trying ... |
| Mar 13, 2007: ACE-Surveillance (v.2.2) - beta release is now available for free download ... |
| Mar 7, 2007: Ottawa U. Occupational Therapy students share their experience on working with SCO residents for Nouse project ... |
| Thu, Mar. 1, 2007: - SCO provides feedback for Nouse-PVI development ... |
| Wed, Feb 21, 2007: - ACE major update: v.2.0.alpha release allows unlimited number of days archival and more annotations to browse by ... |
| Wed, Feb. 7, 2007: - NRC-IIT and Saint Vincent Hospital meet to discuss further collaboration ... |
| Fri, Feb. 2, 2007: - ACE is given for testing to RCMP ... |
| Jan 31, 2007: Deadline for summer/coop positions with VRS ... |
| Fri, Jan. 26, 2007: Nouse-PVI (v.1.0) delivered to SCO residents for testing... |
| Jan. 20, 2007: VRS and DRDC are set for a joint project on face recognition for restricted access areas monitoring... |
| Thu, Jan. 24, 2007: VRS meets GateKeeper Inc. to set the ground for joint work... |
| Jan. 17, 2007 Initiative with Ottawa U. on identity recognition in surveillance video is set ... |
| Jan 15, 2007 Meeting at DRDC on vein-based biometrics tools from Hitachi... |
| Thu, Jan. 11, 2007 NRC commissioners use ACE Surveillance to better security within NRC premises... |
| Dec. 14, 2006 ACE first public release: v1.1.4. After of more than a year in-lab testing ACE is given to public for testing... |
| Dec 10, 2007: VRS gets new domain name and new look at http://vrs.iit.nrc.ca |
| Nov. 30, 2006: Health Initiative meeting in Fredericton brings NRC-IIT scientists working on health-related projects together... |
| Oct. 30-31, 2006: VRS makes a invited presentation on Canadian Video Technology interests at DTO VACE meeting... |
| Sept. 15 2006: Perceptual Vision projects lead by D.Gorodnichy are given a new name - Video Recognition Systems... |
| View all News Items... |