Optimal multi-content video decomposition for efficient video transmission over low-bandwidth networks

In this paper, an interactive framework for navigating video sequences over Internet protocol (IP)-based networks is presented using an optimal content-based video decomposition scheme. In particular, each video sequence is analyzed at different "content resolution levels", creating a hierarchy from the lowest (coarse) to the highest (fine) resolution. This content hierarchy is represented as a tree structure, each level of which corresponds to a particular content resolution, while the tree-nodes indicate the regions that the sequence content is partitioned at a given resolution. Optimal content-based video decomposition is performed by minimizing a cross correlation criterion so that the most representative shots from a video sequence or frames from a video shot are extracted. Experimental results on real-life video sequences show a sufficient representation of the visual content at each resolution level and a significant reduction of the transmission information, compared to the traditional sequential video scanning.