Algebraic Video Thesis Abstract

Algebraic video integrates fundamental access methods for digital video: composition, search, navigation and playback. Video presentations are composed using a video algebra that consists of a set of basic operations on video segments to produce a desired video stream. The video algebra contains operations for temporally and spatially combining video segments as well as for attaching attributes to these segments. Algebraic video access methods also include query and navigation operations. Query and navigation allow users to discover video presentations of interest by describing desired attributes and exploring a presentation's context. Unlike previous approaches, algebraic video permits video expressions to be nested in arbitrarily deep hierarchies. It also permits video segments to inherit attributes by context. Experience with a prototype algebraic video system suggests that algebraic video offers a complete, integrated framework to access and manage video, is easy to use, and that satisfactory performance is obtainable. The prototype system is used to discover video segments of interest from existing collections and create new video presentations with algebraic combinations of these segments.
Ron Weiss's Home Page