Violence, Parenting, and Video Analytics

Raising a child is a painstaking task.

Not only is the parents responsibility for leading the child to a bright future, they are in charge of shielding negative forces that may have a harmful impact. I would like to focus on one such forces, violence, and how video analytics may help protect children from growing up thinking violence is a part of daily life. Here I am not referring to physically guarding children from violence. Instead, video analytics can help children from being the perpetrator of violence.

As some research suggests, exposure to violent TV programs and movies makes children behave more aggressive and increases the chance of them being convicted of a violent crime in the future. What video analytics can do is to detect and remove violent scenes by identifying blood pigments as suggested in an article titled “VIOLENT SCENE DETECTION IN MOVIES” published in International Journal of Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence. By being able to filter the content, children are saved from exposure to violence even when they are out of the reach from their parents. 

Thanks to video analytics parents have one less item on their parenting checklist.

Violent scene from a movie    

(Source: “VIOLENT SCENE DETECTION IN MOVIES”)

Video analytics identifying blood pigments from the same scene

Revolution of movement (powered by video analytics)

Nintendo Wii’s launch in November 2006 changed console gaming for good: The controller, “Wii Remote”, could detect user’s movement. For the first time, gamers could interact with the machine via a materially more natural interface: their own movement. The user interface of Wii, however, still included a controller. Something the gamer had to hold in his/her hand. And the motion detected was only that of the “Wii remote”. Even though the leap from a traditional controller, mainly operated using gamer’s thumbs, was gigantic, the interface still remained one step away of purely free movement and fully natural control.

Video analytics changed this. 4 years later, in November 2010, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Kinect was launched. Instead of requiring the user to hold a controller, the interface was purely based on spoken commands and gestures – not only those of a single hand, but of every part of the user’s body. Utilizing video analytics, Kinetict’s sensor device was able to accurately detect gamer’s movement and to turn that into a completely new gaming experience.

Wikipedia’s list of already launched and upcoming Kinect games includes titles with themes ranging from golf to Angry Birds and from football to Harry Potter. The number of possible applications is almost infinite and the future of gaming looks more interesting than ever as more and more game developers start exploring the new possibilities. In future posts, we’ll be digging deeper into what to expect from the revolution of movement in gaming and will have a look at how video analytics and gaming consoles can be used for medical purposes. Stay tuned!

VA making driving safer!

Recently, Volvo announced its newest safety technology available for its cars: a system that can detect cyclists and automatically break the vehicle if necessary. The technology is actually an upgrade of the pedestrian detection system launched in 2010.

This new feature can determine the nature of objects in front of the car and if they are likely to step into the road. If the danger of collision is high, the car breaks even if the driver is not paying attention to what is happening on front of him.

The system works using data coming from a radar and images captured by a camera installed inside the vehicle between its windscreen and back view mirror. This information is then processed in the central control unit to determine if any intervention is needed. The role of Video Analytics is determining the type of the objetcs outside the car, identifying if there are any pedestrians or cyclists.

To see how it works, check out this video!

Rumors worth reading...

I heard that divorce rates went up in Germany when Traffic Control started sending out overspeeding tickets with pictures of drivers, allegedly accompanied by women other than their wives, to their homes.

I also heard that some upmarket suburban malls were using a spooky technology that would zoom into their customers’ faces, instantly determine their gender and age group in order to guess what products might exert some allure. So if it scanned your second chin, it would presumably recommend a Fiber Bar.

And I heard that these are not rumors. These are actual facts that can be explained by Video Analytics.

So what exactly is Video Analytics? It is a technology that is used to analyze video for specific data, behavior, objects or attitude. It has a wide range of applications including safety and security.

Some of the common examples are: Tailgating of people / vehicles through secure checkpoints, determining the location, speed and direction of travel; identifying suspicious movement of people or assets.

Commercial applications of this technology are increasingly widespread in the General Security, Government, Retail, Transport and Financial Services Sectors.

So how does it really function? The software algorithms run on processors inside a computer or on an embedded computer platform in video cameras, recording devices, or specialized video processing units.

To put it simply, this technology can evaluate the contents of video to determine specified information about the content of that video.

So if you want to confirm some of the rumors that you have been hearing, stay tuned…

Coming up more exciting stuff on Video Analytics!! 

Say what, video analytics?

If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, just imagine what a video is worth?!?!   However, reviewing, interpreting, and "unlocking" all that treasures worth of "words" from videos can be a gargantuan task! Thats where a new field of technology is developing, Video Analytics, software that can survey and monitor videos for useful information instead of relying on tired human eyes.

Currently, Video Analytics is providing breakthroughs in security, sports and other everyday activities.  Our blog will unfold, explore and explain this new world of video analytics!  So stay tuned, there is much more to come!