Media Stream Alignment via Visual and Geo-Location Graphs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods fail to efficiently align and manage multiple photo and video streams captured by different digital cameras for the same event, as they rely on unreliable time/date information and cannot reliably derive common objects, scenery, or locations from images using current automatic image analysis algorithms.
Innovation Solution
A method that extracts image features, constructs a graph to link images or videos from different streams, finds correlated content, aligns them based on visual similarity and geo-location, and merges them into a master stream in chronological order, addressing the limitations of previous methods by focusing on visual features and geo-tags for alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If time/date metadata is used to align photos from different cameras, then alignment can be performed automatically, but the alignment reliability deteriorates because camera clocks are often not synchronized
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces geo-location metadata as an intermediary element to bridge the alignment problem. Instead of directly relying on unreliable time/date metadata, the system uses location information (GPS coordinates, place names) as a mediator to establish correspondence between photos from different cameras. Photos taken at the same location are grouped together, and time alignment is performed within each location group, thereby resolving the contradiction between automation and reliability.
2Measurement precision
If manual selection and arrangement of photos is performed, then alignment accuracy can be improved, but the operation complexity and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the photo alignment problem into two independent sub-tasks: (1) grouping photos by geo-location, and (2) time-aligning within each location group. This segmentation allows the system to achieve high alignment accuracy through automated processing without requiring manual intervention, thereby reducing time consumption while maintaining precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service alignment by automatically performing both geo-location-based grouping and time-based ordering within groups. The algorithm independently processes photos, extracts metadata, performs clustering, and generates the final aligned sequence without human intervention, achieving both high accuracy and efficiency.
3Adaptability or versatility
If geo-tagging is used to establish correspondence between media streams, then the ability to find location-specific information is improved, but the complexity of data processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-processing and extracting geo-location metadata from photos during the alignment process. The system extracts GPS coordinates and place information beforehand, then uses this pre-extracted data for clustering and grouping. This preliminary extraction simplifies subsequent processing steps and reduces overall data processing complexity while maintaining versatile location-based retrieval capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for organizing individual collections of images or videos captured for the same event by different cameras into a master collection, wherein each individual collection forms a media stream in chronological order. A processor for extracting image features for each image or video of the media stream of each collection; constructing a graph based on the extracted features to link the images or videos from the two media streams; finding on the graph at least a pair of images or videos, each from one of the two media streams, that corresponds to correlated captured content; aligning the remaining images or videos in response to the aligned pair so that the all images or videos from the two media streams are aligned over a common timeline; and producing a master stream in chronological order of the event over a common timeline by merging the aligned individual.