Amazing Video Enhancement Technology

Researchers at the University of Washington recently released a video showing a series jaw-drapping video enhancements now possible using various image analytic and modeling techniques. In one demo of interest, simply by mixing a few high-resolution photographs of a scene with a lower quality video stream, the scientists were able to dramatically enhance the quality and resolution of the complete video...by 4x.

The technology could also be used to seemlessly remove private content from surveillance video, truely making proctected images of people or objects invisible. That's probably welcome news to some, but disconcerting to law enforcement professials who already have significant concerns about the reliablity of photos presented them. Video has been generally thought of as much harder to manipulate...no more.

Computer Vision Resarch Goes Virtual

Sometimes the real world just isn’t real enough. That’s often the case in computer vision application development where super smart PhDs seek to create algorithms and technologies to track and classify people or objects within a video stream. Believe it or not, some of the same neural networks that catch bad guys today got their start by tracking frantic scientists running around their labs, offices, and dorm rooms.

But ObjectVideo thinks there is a better way…at least to start. Using technology from the videogame Half Life 2 , they have built a Virtual Video Tool that can be used to create “virtual surveillance” cameras.

The ObjectVideo Virtual Video (OVVV) Tool generates realistic video from simulated cameras in an interactive virtual world. This tool is free and is based on a modification (aka 'mod') of Half-Life 2, a commercially available game from Valve Software. Our hope in distributing this tool is to stimulate computer vision research in areas that cannot rely on canned video (eg. active tracking) or when large quantities of ground truthed video is unavailable or impractical (multi-camera installations, public spaces, the list goes on!).

The fact that virtual cameras are generally thought to lack the video noise and other artifacts found in real-world cameras, doesn’t prevent this tool from providing real benefits to students and researchers. Today gaming engines are so realistic and of such high quality that the line between real and virtual is being blurred. And, as OV points out, virtual cameras provide another benefit that’s impossible to achieve with real world footage: ground truth data that can be incorporated into the training process. Because virtual cameras are built on models of scenes where ever person and object and color and angle are actually known, a researcher always knows, without guess or estimation, just how well their computer vision algorithms are deciphering a particular video stream.

Beyond that, ObjectVideo has created most of the environments, models, and camera option necessary to test every conceivable surveillance variation during the testing process. Even blur, noise, and even lens and PTZ effects can be simulated with relative ease.

Virtual surveillance video is not just a great tool for computer vision researchers, it’s also an incredibly interesting area of research in itself. The folks at Valve Software have my appreciation for opening their platform enough to enable this kind of work. But believe it or not, Valve’s Half Life 2 is already almost 4 years old. Maybe ObjectVideo’s next endeavor can be a Crysis mod. That would be something. And next year there will be something else…even better.

Evansville Airport Gets Face Rec

From the Evansville Courier & Press:

Security is the paramount issue among air travelers these days, but Evansville Regional Airport — like other commercial airports throughout the world — rely on videocassette recorder security systems whose nonspecific tapes can take hours, days and sometimes weeks to decipher when suspicious concerns arise.

That, however, is about to change at the local airport.

The Evansville airport is the first in the nation to get a new technological security system, known as a 3VR (Third-Generation Video Recorder), said Bob Working, the airport manager. The searchable surveillance system uses a Google-like analytical search engine for spewing out valuable information instantly. For example, it displays in an instant on a computer monitor clear images of thousands of faces for identification purposes.

Eric Moss, vice president/director of data services for Gaither Technologies/STC, demonstrates a 3VR security system as company President Steve Rudolph is recorded on video, in the screen at left. The unit features searchable facial recognition and motion-changing events.

Face Swapping Still Not Pretty

Not since John Travolta and Nicolas Cage swapped mugs in the 1997 non-hit Face/Off, have I been so intrigued/disturbed by the prospect of changing faces. Researchers at Columbia University have developed a system capable of quickly replacing and/or obscuring faces in photographs with new composite or synthetically generated images. Unlike our technology at 3VR and that at Google, which only blurs faces, this technology actually changes them...with mixed results.

Here is an example:

The authors see several applications to this technology from protecting privacy in public images to Hollywood special effects. But, as you can see above, the researchers' favorite application seems to focus on making famous faces less attractive.

Penguins Under Surveillance

Yet another new and creative use of surveillance and biometric technologies. At the University of Bristol, scientists have designed an unobtrusive surveillance system that can be subtly integrated into the environment of various endangered species. The systems will help scientists observe and track endangered animals, starting with the African penguin, of which there are only 170,000 remaining. Though the project was initially designed with penguins in mind (it's called the Penguin Recognition Project), the scientists are confident it could have wide-ranging benefits for the conservation of other species.

Biometrics Are Breaking Through

We're starting to see some pretty powerful and simple uses of biometrics in the security industry. In this case, government agencies were able to access fingerprint info through a shared database, which led to keeping 365 suspected terrorists out of the country. Now granted, there has been a LOT revealed about what constitutes a terrorist suspect these days, but my point here is on the technology. It works, it's easily shared, and it's effective at connecting the dots. Of course, I believe that facial biometrics hold even more promise as mug shots and surveillance images are often much more readily available than finger print dossiers. 3VR CrimeDex is the best example of next generation biometric infrastructure that makes this kind of sharing possible. Mug shots are uploaded to a shared database that all members can access; plus, if a member has a 3VR system, they can even set alerts associated with a CrimeDex mugshot. So far the system has been used to catch hundreds of fraudsters at banks; we're pretty confident it will have similar success in other realms.

FBI Revealed

First the CIA starts letting journalists into its museum, then the FBI tells NPR how it goes about following people. Hey guys? Aren't you supposed to be, you know, discreet? Oh sure, you gave NPR fake names and asked them not to describe you, but explaining how a group might follow a person gives all of us some pretty good clues as to what to look for if we're ever worried we're being followed (hint: if someone in an FBI jacket is rifling through your trunk, you're probably being investigated). Are they just banking on terrorists not liking NPR?