Video summaries through mosaic-based shot and scene clustering

We present an approach for compact video summaries that allows fast and direct access to video data. The video is segmented into shots and, in appropriate video genres, into scenes, using previously proposed methods. A new concept that supports the hierarchical representation of video is presented, and is based on physical setting and camera locations. We use mosaics to represent and cluster shots, and detect appropriate mosaics to represent scenes. In contrast to approaches to video indexing which are based on key-frames, our efficient mosaic-based scene representation allows fast clustering of scenes into physical settings, as well as further comparison of physical settings across videos. This enables us to detect plots of different episodes in situation comedies and serves as a basis for indexing whole video sequences. In sports videos where settings are not as well defined, our approach allows classifying shots for characteristic event detection. We use a novel method for mosaic comparison and create a highly compact non-temporal representation of video. This representation allows accurate comparison of scenes across different videos and serves as a basis for indexing video libraries.