W.Win, B.Bao, Q.Xu, Luis Herranz, & Shuqiang Jiang. (2019). Editorial Note: Efficient Multimedia Processing Methods and Applications (Vol. 78).
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Vacit Oguz Yazici, Longlong Yu, Arnau Ramisa, Luis Herranz, & Joost Van de Weijer. (2024). Main product detection with graph networks for fashion. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 83, 3215–3231.
Abstract: Computer vision has established a foothold in the online fashion retail industry. Main product detection is a crucial step of vision-based fashion product feed parsing pipelines, focused on identifying the bounding boxes that contain the product being sold in the gallery of images of the product page. The current state-of-the-art approach does not leverage the relations between regions in the image, and treats images of the same product independently, therefore not fully exploiting visual and product contextual information. In this paper, we propose a model that incorporates Graph Convolutional Networks (GCN) that jointly represent all detected bounding boxes in the gallery as nodes. We show that the proposed method is better than the state-of-the-art, especially, when we consider the scenario where title-input is missing at inference time and for cross-dataset evaluation, our method outperforms previous approaches by a large margin.
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Svebor Karaman, Andrew Bagdanov, Lea Landucci, Gianpaolo D'Amico, Andrea Ferracani, Daniele Pezzatini, et al. (2016). Personalized multimedia content delivery on an interactive table by passive observation of museum visitors. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 75(7), 3787–3811.
Abstract: The amount of multimedia data collected in museum databases is growing fast, while the capacity of museums to display information to visitors is acutely limited by physical space. Museums must seek the perfect balance of information given on individual pieces in order to provide sufficient information to aid visitor understanding while maintaining sparse usage of the walls and guaranteeing high appreciation of the exhibit. Moreover, museums often target the interests of average visitors instead of the entire spectrum of different interests each individual visitor might have. Finally, visiting a museum should not be an experience contained in the physical space of the museum but a door opened onto a broader context of related artworks, authors, artistic trends, etc. In this paper we describe the MNEMOSYNE system that attempts to address these issues through a new multimedia museum experience. Based on passive observation, the system builds a profile of the artworks of interest for each visitor. These profiles of interest are then used to drive an interactive table that personalizes multimedia content delivery. The natural user interface on the interactive table uses the visitor’s profile, an ontology of museum content and a recommendation system to personalize exploration of multimedia content. At the end of their visit, the visitor can take home a personalized summary of their visit on a custom mobile application. In this article we describe in detail each component of our approach as well as the first field trials of our prototype system built and deployed at our permanent exhibition space at LeMurate (http://www.lemurate.comune.fi.it/lemurate/) in Florence together with the first results of the evaluation process during the official installation in the National Museum of Bargello (http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/musei/?m=bargello).
Keywords: Computer vision; Video surveillance; Cultural heritage; Multimedia museum; Personalization; Natural interaction; Passive profiling
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Razieh Rastgoo, Kourosh Kiani, & Sergio Escalera. (2020). Video-based Isolated Hand Sign Language Recognition Using a Deep Cascaded Model. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 79, 22965–22987.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose an efficient cascaded model for sign language recognition taking benefit from spatio-temporal hand-based information using deep learning approaches, especially Single Shot Detector (SSD), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), and Long Short Term Memory (LSTM), from videos. Our simple yet efficient and accurate model includes two main parts: hand detection and sign recognition. Three types of spatial features, including hand features, Extra Spatial Hand Relation (ESHR) features, and Hand Pose (HP) features, have been fused in the model to feed to LSTM for temporal features extraction. We train SSD model for hand detection using some videos collected from five online sign dictionaries. Our model is evaluated on our proposed dataset (Rastgoo et al., Expert Syst Appl 150: 113336, 2020), including 10’000 sign videos for 100 Persian sign using 10 contributors in 10 different backgrounds, and isoGD dataset. Using the 5-fold cross-validation method, our model outperforms state-of-the-art alternatives in sign language recognition
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Razieh Rastgoo, Kourosh Kiani, & Sergio Escalera. (2020). Hand pose aware multimodal isolated sign language recognition. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 80, 127–163.
Abstract: Isolated hand sign language recognition from video is a challenging research area in computer vision. Some of the most important challenges in this area include dealing with hand occlusion, fast hand movement, illumination changes, or background complexity. While most of the state-of-the-art results in the field have been achieved using deep learning-based models, the previous challenges are not completely solved. In this paper, we propose a hand pose aware model for isolated hand sign language recognition using deep learning approaches from two input modalities, RGB and depth videos. Four spatial feature types: pixel-level, flow, deep hand, and hand pose features, fused from both visual modalities, are input to LSTM for temporal sign recognition. While we use Optical Flow (OF) for flow information in RGB video inputs, Scene Flow (SF) is used for depth video inputs. By including hand pose features, we show a consistent performance improvement of the sign language recognition model. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that this discriminant spatiotemporal features, benefiting from the hand pose estimation features and multi-modal inputs, are fused for isolated hand sign language recognition. We perform a step-by-step analysis of the impact in terms of recognition performance of the hand pose features, different combinations of the spatial features, and different recurrent models, especially LSTM and GRU. Results on four public datasets confirm that the proposed model outperforms the current state-of-the-art models on Montalbano II, MSR Daily Activity 3D, and CAD-60 datasets with a relative accuracy improvement of 1.64%, 6.5%, and 7.6%. Furthermore, our model obtains a competitive results on isoGD dataset with only 0.22% margin lower than the current state-of-the-art model.
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Razieh Rastgoo, Kourosh Kiani, & Sergio Escalera. (2023). ZS-GR: zero-shot gesture recognition from RGB-D videos. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 82, 43781–43796.
Abstract: Gesture Recognition (GR) is a challenging research area in computer vision. To tackle the annotation bottleneck in GR, we formulate the problem of Zero-Shot Gesture Recognition (ZS-GR) and propose a two-stream model from two input modalities: RGB and Depth videos. To benefit from the vision Transformer capabilities, we use two vision Transformer models, for human detection and visual features representation. We configure a transformer encoder-decoder architecture, as a fast and accurate human detection model, to overcome the challenges of the current human detection models. Considering the human keypoints, the detected human body is segmented into nine parts. A spatio-temporal representation from human body is obtained using a vision Transformer and a LSTM network. A semantic space maps the visual features to the lingual embedding of the class labels via a Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model. We evaluated the proposed model on five datasets, Montalbano II, MSR Daily Activity 3D, CAD-60, NTU-60, and isoGD obtaining state-of-the-art results compared to state-of-the-art ZS-GR models as well as the Zero-Shot Action Recognition (ZS-AR).
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Razieh Rastgoo, Kourosh Kiani, & Sergio Escalera. (2023). A deep co-attentive hand-based video question answering framework using multi-view skeleton. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 82, 1401–1429.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a novel hand –based Video Question Answering framework, entitled Multi-View Video Question Answering (MV-VQA), employing the Single Shot Detector (SSD), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), and Co-Attention mechanism with RGB videos as the inputs. Our model includes three main blocks: vision, language, and attention. In the vision block, we employ a novel representation to obtain some efficient multiview features from the hand object using the combination of five 3DCNNs and one LSTM network. To obtain the question embedding, we use the BERT model in language block. Finally, we employ a co-attention mechanism on vision and language features to recognize the final answer. For the first time, we propose such a hand-based Video-QA framework including the multi-view hand skeleton features combined with the question embedding and co-attention mechanism. Our framework is capable of processing the arbitrary numbers of questions in the dataset annotations. There are different application domains for this framework. Here, as an application domain, we applied our framework to dynamic hand gesture recognition for the first time. Since the main object in dynamic hand gesture recognition is the human hand, we performed a step-by-step analysis of the hand detection and multi-view hand skeleton impact on the model performance. Evaluation results on five datasets, including two datasets in VideoQA, two datasets in dynamic hand gesture, and one dataset in hand action recognition show that MV-VQA outperforms state-of-the-art alternatives.
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Razieh Rastgoo, Kourosh Kiani, & Sergio Escalera. (2024). A transformer model for boundary detection in continuous sign language. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, .
Abstract: Sign Language Recognition (SLR) has garnered significant attention from researchers in recent years, particularly the intricate domain of Continuous Sign Language Recognition (CSLR), which presents heightened complexity compared to Isolated Sign Language Recognition (ISLR). One of the prominent challenges in CSLR pertains to accurately detecting the boundaries of isolated signs within a continuous video stream. Additionally, the reliance on handcrafted features in existing models poses a challenge to achieving optimal accuracy. To surmount these challenges, we propose a novel approach utilizing a Transformer-based model. Unlike traditional models, our approach focuses on enhancing accuracy while eliminating the need for handcrafted features. The Transformer model is employed for both ISLR and CSLR. The training process involves using isolated sign videos, where hand keypoint features extracted from the input video are enriched using the Transformer model. Subsequently, these enriched features are forwarded to the final classification layer. The trained model, coupled with a post-processing method, is then applied to detect isolated sign boundaries within continuous sign videos. The evaluation of our model is conducted on two distinct datasets, including both continuous signs and their corresponding isolated signs, demonstrates promising results.
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Rahma Kalboussi, Aymen Azaza, Joost Van de Weijer, Mehrez Abdellaoui, & Ali Douik. (2020). Object proposals for salient object segmentation in videos. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 79(13), 8677–8693.
Abstract: Salient object segmentation in videos is generally broken up in a video segmentation part and a saliency assignment part. Recently, object proposals, which are used to segment the image, have had significant impact on many computer vision applications, including image segmentation, object detection, and recently saliency detection in still images. However, their usage has not yet been evaluated for salient object segmentation in videos. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate the application of object proposals to salient object segmentation in videos. In addition, we propose a new motion feature derived from the optical flow structure tensor for video saliency detection. Experiments on two standard benchmark datasets for video saliency show that the proposed motion feature improves saliency estimation results, and that object proposals are an efficient method for salient object segmentation. Results on the challenging SegTrack v2 and Fukuchi benchmark data sets show that we significantly outperform the state-of-the-art.
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Palaiahnakote Shivakumara, Anjan Dutta, Chew Lim Tan, & Umapada Pal. (2014). Multi-oriented scene text detection in video based on wavelet and angle projection boundary growing. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 72(1), 515–539.
Abstract: In this paper, we address two complex issues: 1) Text frame classification and 2) Multi-oriented text detection in video text frame. We first divide a video frame into 16 blocks and propose a combination of wavelet and median-moments with k-means clustering at the block level to identify probable text blocks. For each probable text block, the method applies the same combination of feature with k-means clustering over a sliding window running through the blocks to identify potential text candidates. We introduce a new idea of symmetry on text candidates in each block based on the observation that pixel distribution in text exhibits a symmetric pattern. The method integrates all blocks containing text candidates in the frame and then all text candidates are mapped on to a Sobel edge map of the original frame to obtain text representatives. To tackle the multi-orientation problem, we present a new method called Angle Projection Boundary Growing (APBG) which is an iterative algorithm and works based on a nearest neighbor concept. APBG is then applied on the text representatives to fix the bounding box for multi-oriented text lines in the video frame. Directional information is used to eliminate false positives. Experimental results on a variety of datasets such as non-horizontal, horizontal, publicly available data (Hua’s data) and ICDAR-03 competition data (camera images) show that the proposed method outperforms existing methods proposed for video and the state of the art methods for scene text as well.
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Naveen Onkarappa, & Angel Sappa. (2015). Synthetic sequences and ground-truth flow field generation for algorithm validation. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 74(9), 3121–3135.
Abstract: Research in computer vision is advancing by the availability of good datasets that help to improve algorithms, validate results and obtain comparative analysis. The datasets can be real or synthetic. For some of the computer vision problems such as optical flow it is not possible to obtain ground-truth optical flow with high accuracy in natural outdoor real scenarios directly by any sensor, although it is possible to obtain ground-truth data of real scenarios in a laboratory setup with limited motion. In this difficult situation computer graphics offers a viable option for creating realistic virtual scenarios. In the current work we present a framework to design virtual scenes and generate sequences as well as ground-truth flow fields. Particularly, we generate a dataset containing sequences of driving scenarios. The sequences in the dataset vary in different speeds of the on-board vision system, different road textures, complex motion of vehicle and independent moving vehicles in the scene. This dataset enables analyzing and adaptation of existing optical flow methods, and leads to invention of new approaches particularly for driver assistance systems.
Keywords: Ground-truth optical flow; Synthetic sequence; Algorithm validation
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Marçal Rusiñol, J. Chazalon, & Katerine Diaz. (2018). Augmented Songbook: an Augmented Reality Educational Application for Raising Music Awareness. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 77(11), 13773–13798.
Abstract: This paper presents the development of an Augmented Reality mobile application which aims at sensibilizing young children to abstract concepts of music. Such concepts are, for instance, the musical notation or the idea of rhythm. Recent studies in Augmented Reality for education suggest that such technologies have multiple benefits for students, including younger ones. As mobile document image acquisition and processing gains maturity on mobile platforms, we explore how it is possible to build a markerless and real-time application to augment the physical documents with didactic animations and interactive virtual content. Given a standard image processing pipeline, we compare the performance of different local descriptors at two key stages of the process. Results suggest alternatives to the SIFT local descriptors, regarding result quality and computational efficiency, both for document model identification and perspective transform estimation. All experiments are performed on an original and public dataset we introduce here.
Keywords: Augmented reality; Document image matching; Educational applications
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Laura Lopez-Fuentes, Joost Van de Weijer, Manuel Gonzalez-Hidalgo, Harald Skinnemoen, & Andrew Bagdanov. (2018). Review on computer vision techniques in emergency situations. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 77(13), 17069–17107.
Abstract: In emergency situations, actions that save lives and limit the impact of hazards are crucial. In order to act, situational awareness is needed to decide what to do. Geolocalized photos and video of the situations as they evolve can be crucial in better understanding them and making decisions faster. Cameras are almost everywhere these days, either in terms of smartphones, installed CCTV cameras, UAVs or others. However, this poses challenges in big data and information overflow. Moreover, most of the time there are no disasters at any given location, so humans aiming to detect sudden situations may not be as alert as needed at any point in time. Consequently, computer vision tools can be an excellent decision support. The number of emergencies where computer vision tools has been considered or used is very wide, and there is a great overlap across related emergency research. Researchers tend to focus on state-of-the-art systems that cover the same emergency as they are studying, obviating important research in other fields. In order to unveil this overlap, the survey is divided along four main axes: the types of emergencies that have been studied in computer vision, the objective that the algorithms can address, the type of hardware needed and the algorithms used. Therefore, this review provides a broad overview of the progress of computer vision covering all sorts of emergencies.
Keywords: Emergency management; Computer vision; Decision makers; Situational awareness; Critical situation
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Kunal Biswas, Palaiahnakote Shivakumara, Umapada Pal, Tong Lu, Michel Blumenstein, & Josep Llados. (2023). Classification of aesthetic natural scene images using statistical and semantic features. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, 82(9), 13507–13532.
Abstract: Aesthetic image analysis is essential for improving the performance of multimedia image retrieval systems, especially from a repository of social media and multimedia content stored on mobile devices. This paper presents a novel method for classifying aesthetic natural scene images by studying the naturalness of image content using statistical features, and reading text in the images using semantic features. Unlike existing methods that focus only on image quality with human information, the proposed approach focuses on image features as well as text-based semantic features without human intervention to reduce the gap between subjectivity and objectivity in the classification. The aesthetic classes considered in this work are (i) Very Pleasant, (ii) Pleasant, (iii) Normal and (iv) Unpleasant. The naturalness is represented by features of focus, defocus, perceived brightness, perceived contrast, blurriness and noisiness, while semantics are represented by text recognition, description of the images and labels of images, profile pictures, and banner images. Furthermore, a deep learning model is proposed in a novel way to fuse statistical and semantic features for the classification of aesthetic natural scene images. Experiments on our own dataset and the standard datasets demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves 92.74%, 88.67% and 83.22% average classification rates on our own dataset, AVA dataset and CUHKPQ dataset, respectively. Furthermore, a comparative study of the proposed model with the existing methods shows that the proposed method is effective for the classification of aesthetic social media images.
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Henry Velesaca, Gisel Bastidas-Guacho, Mohammad Rouhani, & Angel Sappa. (2024). Multimodal image registration techniques: a comprehensive survey. MTAP - Multimedia Tools and Applications, .
Abstract: This manuscript presents a review of state-of-the-art techniques proposed in the literature for multimodal image registration, addressing instances where images from different modalities need to be precisely aligned in the same reference system. This scenario arises when the images to be registered come from different modalities, among the visible and thermal spectral bands, 3D-RGB, or flash-no flash, or NIR-visible. The review spans different techniques from classical approaches to more modern ones based on deep learning, aiming to highlight the particularities required at each step in the registration pipeline when dealing with multimodal images. It is noteworthy that medical images are excluded from this review due to their specific characteristics, including the use of both active and passive sensors or the non-rigid nature of the body contained in the image.
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