Notes extraction algorithm from traditional presentations without the use of e-boards

One of the devices that may help in content development for eLearning services is an Electronic Copyboard (e-board). Once it is available in every classroom, it helps in extracting the lecturer notes in an electronic as-in-class format. This paper introduces an alternative solution to e-boards. The presented solution is much cheaper and much simpler to install if compared to that of the e-boards. It could be implemented using a web camera and a video processing algorithm to extract notes that were added or removed by the lecturer. The notes extracted along with the slides presented and the recorded lecturer voice may compose a complete as-in-class electronic form of the lecture. The paper focuses on the proposed algorithm illustrating the results under both scenarios: one, when the lecturer adds soft notes on the slides he is presenting through the projector screen and two when the notes are added on a traditional white board mounted next to the projector screen. The algorithm takes into consideration the brightness variations of the video in detecting the notes especially since this is normal to occur due to slide transitioning in the first scenario and the lecturer movements in front of the white board in the second scenario.