STRUCTURED VIDEO: A DATA TYPE WITH CONTENT-BASED ACCESS

We describe structured video, a general video data model allowing free form annotation, composition, and content-based access to video segments. The structured video abstraction provides an e cient means of organizing and manipulating video data by assigning logical representations to the underlying video streams and their contents. We introduce a video algebra as a means for combining and expressing temporal relations between structured video segments. Key aspects of the model have been implemented as part of the Structured Video System project. The system o ers a query based interface for browsing and playback of relevant video segments. The structured video browser uses the logical representation of the video data to provide viewing methods based on the ascribed temporal characteristics of the video. The structured video system provides interesting and diverse ways to e ciently access and manipulate large video collections. Experience from the prototype implementation is reported.