How would a computer browse a movie? The MIT Media Lab has an idea: freeze it. MIT's "frozen movies" are continuous frames of a digital video sequence stacked up like a library card catalog to form a 3-D block. Time runs from the first frame to the back. The frozen block can then be sliced in any direction to reveal a pattern that can be identified by a computer. The video of pedestrians at (inset, far right) is sliced "ankle high" to reveal the pattern of walking feet. The blue diagonal streaking in the rear is a pedestrian who appears later in the video.
As the boy in the yellow jersey (center) exits the camera's frame later in the video, he generates his portrait on the side of the frozen movie.
By analyzing overall color in various blocks, the Media Lab's software can distinguish between a character and a change of scene, or a "shot boundary." That may someday make it possible for computers to assist in cataloging and tracking the endless stream of news footage, cinema and TV reruns now dominating our daily life.
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Yeah, but will it improve the food? Get yer seat-back service here!
