MPEG Digital Video can be placed in a database and searched -- just like data.............
FredE, you can convert your home videos to MPEG1 using CUBE's MVP, record them on a CD-R disc (or DVD-RAM in the future) and then search for your favorite clips. Where is that 42DD?
ISLIP Media, Inc. Introduces the MediaKey Digital Library System
The First Intelligent System for Constructing and Using Searchable Digital Video and Audio Libraries
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- ISLIP Media, Inc., a leading developer
and supplier of integrated solutions for constructing network-based,
searchable digital media libraries, today introduces its MediaKey Digital
Library System.
ISLIP's MediaKey Digital Library System provides a complete, integrated
solution for managing video and audio resources. Using the MediaKey system,
video, audio, and text can be automatically digitized, indexed, archived, and
put on-line for search and retrieval. No other software on the market today
can deliver faster, easier, or more precise access to the information,
knowledge, and assets in media.
Too often, valuable video resources are relegated to bookshelf or archives
never to be viewed again, because it is too difficult and time consuming to
locate information within the videotape with any accuracy. Now MediaKey makes
the content of video and audio as searchable as text in a database.
ISLIP's unique technical approach is based on the integration of
state-of-the-art speech recognition, language understanding, and image
understanding technologies developed as part of Carnegie Mellon University's
(CMU) Informedia Digital Video Library Project. (See ISLIP's 10/3/97
companion release: ISLIP Media, Inc. Formed to Develop Digital Media Library
Software and Services.)
Unlike asset management systems that are designed primarily for production
and rely on simple annotations or titles for search and retrieval, MediaKey is
a media information retrieval system that enables search and discovery from
within the video itself. This is accomplished through a computer-automated
analysis of the video's full audio and image content. Users can search on the
actual transcript of the video (derived from speech recognition and language
understanding), as well as on select images such as faces (derived from image
understanding), to pinpoint information or assets within the video.
MediaKey Enables New Applications of Video
With ISLIP's MediaKey Digital Library System, organizations can now
benefit from new applications of their video resources.
Corporations can use video to preserve corporate knowledge and capture
corporate events. The video medium captures the "experience" of the
event -- from voice intonation to body language -- not just a text record.
With MediaKey the "experience" and the message it conveys are easy to archive,
retrieve, and distribute. MediaKey can also help companies improve and extend
their video training programs to remote locations. Now, a salesperson or
distributor can pinpoint competitive or technical information on a new product
-- in seconds -- from an on-line video library of training tapes. These
tapes, prepared by the company's best engineers and product managers, can be
made available over the corporate intranet or the Internet.
Producers of news, TV broadcasting, and film have compiled millions of
hours of video footage. Most of this information exists in analog format or
as rudimentary digital archives with limited retrieval capabilities. With
MediaKey, not only can the news department catalogue incoming news feeds for
real-time production, but the features department can search a video archive
of clips about the year, decade or century to easily produce a documentary or
a Year 2000 retrospective.
For years, government agencies have used video for many purposes,
including gathering intelligence, documenting research, and training. With
MediaKey intelligence, archival and retrieval becomes more precise, accurate
research results more available, and training materials easier to distribute
and tailor to the needs of personnel.
The ISLIP MediaKey Digital Library System
The MediaKey Digital Library System is a complete suite of software and
services required to construct and use digital media libraries. The MediaKey
system uses integrated speech recognition, language understanding, and image
understanding technologies to digitize, index, search, and retrieve video and
audio resources. The full benefits of the MediaKey system are derived from
the unique integration of the system's components: MediaKey Builder, MediaKey
Finder, and MediaKey Logger.
MediaKey Builder is a computer-automated video and audio indexing process
(patent pending). This process is the cornerstone of the MediaKey Digital
Library System and uses the most advanced indexing technologies available
today. Image processing analyzes scenes, speech processing transcribes the
audio signal, and natural language processing determines word relevance.
These processes work together to segment the media content into video
paragraphs, the key element in building searchable video libraries. The
MediaKey Builder indexing process is comprised of five steps:
Step 1. Analog video and audio are digitized into a standards-based MPEG
format.
Step 2. The digitized media is sent to a processor which generates a
topical index and a full-content, time-aligned transcript of the
media using speech recognition to transcribe the audio signal and
natural language processing to determine word relevance.
Step 3. The media is then segmented into meaningful video "paragraphs"
according to an integrated application of color histogram
analysis, optical flow, and natural language processing
technologies.
Step 4. Image analysis of the video creates icons which will be used to
represent the video paragraphs.
Step 5. A comprehensive full-content index of the library is built.
The MediaKey Builder process is generally performed as a service by ISLIP
for its customers. ISLIP's service model is similar to a remote photo
processing lab. Customers ship ISLIP their videotapes or CD-ROMs. ISLIP
returns fully indexed video on CD-ROMs, hard disks, or other digital media,
ready to be included into the customer's video storage system.
MediaKey Finder is an intelligent video search engine that facilitates
browsing, search and retrieval, and exporting of video clips. Search,
retrieval, and exporting can be done locally, over a local area network or
intranet, or over the Internet.
The browse function allows users to scan multiple MediaKey libraries to
discover what is available on-line. Users can explore a catalogue of all the
libraries in the database or all the collections within each library.
The search function accepts natural language queries, sample images such
as faces, or simple key words for matching. MediaKey Finder searches on the
precise word-to-video aligned transcript derived from ISLIP's
computer-automated indexing process. The most unique search feature is the
ability to accurately pinpoint the requested information within the video and
return only the relevant video paragraphs from the entire video collection.
The retrieval function displays search results in posterframe format with
each frame representing a video paragraph. Frames are ranked by relevancy or
date based on the user's selection. Initial search results can be further
viewed in three ways: as full motion video using easy VCR-like controls, as a
filmstrip, or in skims. Filmstrips provide a computer-generated storyboard
for quick viewing. In this view, only the most relevant sub-sections of the
video paragraph are displayed in frames, and key words defined in the query
are precisely marked on the filmstrip. Skims reduce the video paragraph to
15-20% of its original length. This patented feature automatically plays only
the most important sections of the video paragraph in a fraction of the time
required to view the entire paragraph. Skims provide a summary much like
video Cliff-Notes."
The export utility allows users to export and embed video paragraphs into
OLE-compatible software applications to enhance reports, presentations, or
spreadsheets. Text in the form of video transcripts or director's notes can
also be exported for re-use.
MediaKey Logger, real-time cataloging and search and retrieval software
for production environments, is currently under development.
System Configuration and Performance
MediaKey Finder software, which is packaged for use in a client/server,
networked-based environment, allows users to search the library from any
networked PC or select UNIX workstations whether local or remote. In a
working environment, the MediaKey system has demonstrated outstanding
performance, searching a 600-hour video library in under ten seconds.
Advanced browsing and viewing techniques and video compression methods are
used for playback and limit the impact on critical network bandwidth. The
video and the indexed metadata (ancillary information about the video which
requires minimal additional disk space) can be stored on standard Windows NT
or select UNIX servers. The client software runs in Windows95 and Windows NT
environments.
Price and Availability
MediaKey Builder, ISLIP's computer-automated video and audio indexing
process, is available today and is generally performed as a service by ISLIP
for its customers. Indexing is priced by the video hour and is dependent on
the number of hours of indexing needed. For customers with large volumes of
video or classified information, ISLIP will design, implement, and staff a
MediaKey Builder processing center on their site. MediaKey Finder, ISLIP's
intelligent video search engine, is also available today. A complete MediaKey
starter system is priced at $50,000 and includes ISLIP-processed and indexed
video and client and server software for up to 50 users. Additional client
software is available for $199 per client. Subsequent hours of
ISLIP-processed video are priced according to the quantity and source quality.
ISLIP Media
ISLIP (Integrated Speech, Language, and Image Processed) Media, Inc. is a
leading developer and supplier of integrated solutions for constructing and
using network-based, searchable digital media libraries. ISLIP offers the
MediaKey Digital Library System, a complete set of software and services for
developing digital audio and video libraries, including MediaKey Builder,
MediaKey Finder, and MediaKey Logger. The unique feature of ISLIP's technical
approach is the integrated application of speech recognition, language
understanding, and image understanding technologies based on software
components of Carnegie Mellon University's Informedia Digital Video Library
Project. ISLIP Media is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was founded
in 1996. ISLIP can be reached via phone at 412-687-0530, via FAX at
412-687-0537, via email at info@islip.com, or via the Internet at
www.islip.com.
ISLIP Media, the MediaKey Digital Library System, MediaKey Builder,
MediaKey Finder, MediaKey Logger, and "Unlocking the value of video" are
trademarks of ISLIP Media. All other brands or product names are trademarks
or registered tradermarks of their respective holders.
SOURCE ISLIP Media, Inc.
CONTACT: Mark Juliano, President and CEO of ISLIP Media, 412-681-3398,
or Email, info@islip.com |
