Compressed video matching: Frame-to-frame revisited

This paper presents an improved frame-to-frame (F-2-F) compressed video matching technique based on local features extracted from reduced size images, in contrast with previous F-2-F techniques that utilized global features extracted from full size frames. The revised technique addresses both accuracy and computational cost issues of the traditional F-2-F approach. Accuracy is improved through using local features, while computational cost issue is addressed through extracting those local features from reduced size images. For compressed videos, the DC-image sequence, without full decompression, is used. Utilizing such small size images (DC-images) as a base for the proposed work is important, as it pushes the traditional F-2-F from off-line to real-time operational mode. The proposed technique involves addressing an important problem: namely the extraction of enough local features from such a small size images to achieve robust matching. The relevant arguments and supporting evidences for the proposed technique are presented. Experimental results and evaluation, on multiple challenging datasets, show considerable computational time improvements for the proposed technique accompanied by a comparable or higher accuracy than state-of-the-art related techniques.     

A New Class of Highly Accurate Solvers for Ordinary Differential Equations

We introduce a new class of predictor-corrector schemes for the numerical solution of the Cauchy problem for non-stiff ordinary differential equations (ODEs), obtained via the decomposition of the solutions into combinations of appropriately chosen exponentials; historically, such techniques have been known as exponentially fitted methods. The proposed algorithms differ from the classical ones both in the selection of exponentials and in the design of the quadrature formulae used by the predictor-corrector process. The resulting schemes have the advantage of significantly faster convergence, given fixed lengths of predictor and corrector vectors. The performance of the approach is illustrated via a number of numerical examples. This work was partially supported by the US Department of Defense under ONR Grant #N00014-07-1-0711 and AFOSR Grants #FA9550-06-1-0197 and #FA9550-06-1-0239.     

Intrinsic Shape Matching by Planned Landmark Sampling

Recently, the problem of intrinsic shape matching has received a lot of attention. A number of algorithms have been proposed, among which random‐sampling‐based techniques have been particularly successful due to their generality and efficiency. We introduce a new sampling‐based shape matching algorithm that uses a planning step to find optimized “landmark” points. These points are matched first in order to maximize the information gained and thus minimize the sampling costs. Our approach makes three main contributions: First, the new technique leads to a significant improvement in performance, which we demonstrate on a number of benchmark scenarios. Second, our technique does not require any keypoint detection. This is often a significant limitation for models that do not show sufficient surface features. Third, we examine the actual numerical degrees of freedom of the matching problem for a given piece of geometry. In contrast to previous results, our estimates take into account unprecise geodesics and potentially numerically unfavorable geometry of general topology, giving a more realistic complexity estimate.     

Matching point features under small nonrigid motion

This paper describes a method for matching point features between images of objects that have undergone small nonrigid motion. Feature points are assumed to be available and, given a properly extracted set of feature points, a robust matching is established under the condition that the local nonrigid motion of each point is restricted to a circle of radius δ, where δ is not too large. This is in contrast to other techniques for point matching which assume either rigid motion or nonrigid motion of a known kind. The point matching problem is viewed in terms of weighted bipartite graph matching. In order to account for the possibility that the feature selector can be imprecise, we incorporate a greedy matching strategy with the weighted graph matching algorithm. Our algorithm is robust and insensitive to noise and missing features. The resulting matching can be used with image warping or other techniques for nonrigid motion analysis, image subtraction, etc. We present our experimental results on sequences of mammograms, images of a deformable clay object and satellite cloud images. In the first two cases we provide quantitative comparison with known ground truth.     

Global ridge orientation modeling for partial fingerprint identification

Identifying incomplete or partial fingerprints from a large fingerprint database remains a difficult challenge today. Existing studies on partial fingerprints focus on one-to-one matching using local ridge details. In this paper, we investigate the problem of retrieving candidate lists for matching partial fingerprints by exploiting global topological features. Specifically, we propose an analytical approach for reconstructing the global topology representation from a partial fingerprint. First, we present an inverse orientation model for describing the reconstruction problem. Then, we provide a general expression for all valid solutions to the inverse model. This allows us to preserve data fidelity in the existing segments while exploring missing structures in the unknown parts. We have further developed algorithms for estimating the missing orientation structures based on some a priori knowledge of ridge topology features. Our statistical experiments show that our proposed model-based approach can effectively reduce the number of candidates for pair-wised fingerprint matching, and thus significantly improve the system retrieval performance for partial fingerprint identification.     

一种应用峰值特征匹配的SAR图象自动目标识别方法

针对合成孔径雷达（SAR）图象自动目标识别问题，在对SAR图象的特征提取问题进行分析的基础上，提出了一种特征点匹配算法，该算法根据Birkhoff-von Neumann定量，首先将广义置换矩阵约束松驰为广义双随机矩阵约束；然后利用拉格朗日乘子和障碍函数法，把约束加到目标函数中，从而将点集匹配问题转化为非线性最优化问题；最后利用确定性退火和软分配技术求解该问题，将得到的匹配代价用特征点数目的比值进行修正后，用于目标的识别。实验结果表明，该算法非常有效。     

Parameterized point pattern matching and its application torecognition of object families

The problem of recognizing and localizing objects that can vary in parameterized ways is considered. To achieve this goal, a concept of parameterized point pattern is introduced to model parameterized families of such objects, and a parameterized point pattern matching algorithm is proposed. A parameterized point pattern is a very flexible concept that can be used to model a large class of parameterized objects, such as a pair of scissors with rotating blades. The proposed matching algorithm is formulated as a tree search procedure, and it generates all maximum matchings satisfying a condition called δ-boundedness. Several pruning methods based on the condition of δ-boundedness and their efficient computing techniques are given. The proposed matching algorithm is applied to a real shape matching problem in order to check the validity of the approach     

Indexing and matching multiple-attribute strings for efficient multimedia query processing

Multimedia data can be represented as a multiple-attribute string of feature values corresponding to multiple features of the data. Therefore, the retrieval problem can be transformed into the q-attribute string matching problem if q features are considered in a query. A general solution is proposed in this paper. It includes an index structure and the matching methodologies, which can be applied on different values of q. The experiment results show the efficiency of the proposed approach.     

Matching Feature Points in Image Sequences through a Region-Based Method

In order to achieve reliable matching in image sequences, a hierarchical approach is proposed. First, matching is established between regions of consecutive segmented images. In a second step, feature point matching between features of matched regions is performed. Regions provide a structural representation for features in the same region. To establish matching between features of two corresponding regions, a relational graph is built. Matching features is based on three principles: exclusion, proximity, and rigidity. The use of subgraph matching techniques through maximal clique detection provides a method to cope with partial occlusion and missing features between frames.     

基于深度语义匹配的法律条文推荐方法

法律条文(简称法条)是司法量刑的主要依据,法律条文的精准推荐,能够辅助提高法律智能判决的质量.目前,主流的法条推荐模型是将有限数量的法条当作类别标签,采用分类的思想,根据法律文书的案例描述将其归类到相关的法条.但是法条作为法律规范的文字表述形式,现有的分类方法简单将其作为类别标签的索引编号,导致对其语义信息利用不足,影响了推荐质量.针对此问题,研究将主流的法条推荐方法从分类模型转化为语义匹配模型,提出了基于深度语义匹配的法条推荐方法(DeepLawRec).该方法包含局部语义匹配模块和全局语义推荐模块,分别设计双向Transformer卷积网络模型和基于回归树的推荐模型,在理解文本序列的同时,关注与法条匹配学习相关的局部语义特征,增强法条推荐的准确率和可解释性.在公开数据集上的实验结果表明,DeepLawRec方法在推荐质量上优于传统的文本分类以及经典的语义匹配方法,并进一步探讨了如何分析和判读推荐结果.     

Correspondence-free determination of the affine fundamental matrix

Fundamental matrix estimation is a central problem in computer vision and forms the basis of tasks such as stereo imaging and structure from motion. Existing algorithms typically analyze the relative geometries of matched feature points identified in both projected views. Automated feature matching is itself a challenging problem. Results typically have a large number of false matches. Traditional fundamental matrix estimation methods are very sensitive to matching errors, which led naturally to the application of robust statistical estimation techniques to the problem. In this work, an entirely novel approach is proposed to the fundamental matrix estimation problem. Instead of analyzing the geometry of matched feature points, the problem is recast in the frequency domain through the use of integral projection, showing how this is a reasonable model for orthographic cameras. The problem now reduces to one of identifying matching lines in the frequency domain which, most importantly, requires no feature matching or correspondence information. Experimental results on both real and synthetic data are presented that demonstrate the algorithm is a practical technique for fundamental matrix estimation. The behavior of the proposed algorithm is additionally characterized with respect to input noise, feature counts, and other parameters of interest     

An elastic partial shape matching technique

We consider the problem of partial shape matching. We propose to transform shapes into sequences and utilize an algorithm that determines a subsequence of a target sequence that best matches a query. In the proposed algorithm we map the problem of the best matching subsequence to the problem of a cheapest path in a directed acyclic graph (DAG). The approach allows us to compute the optimal scale and translation of sequence values, which is a nontrivial problem in the case of subsequence matching. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the commonly used techniques in retrieval accuracy.     

Optic flow estimation by a Hopfield neural network using geometrical constraints

Sparse optic flow maps are general enough to obtain useful information about camera motion. Usually, correspondences among features over an image sequence are estimated by radiometric similarity. When the camera moves under known conditions, global geometrical constraints can be introduced in order to obtain a more robust estimation of the optic flow. In this paper, a method is proposed for the computation of a robust sparse optic flow (OF) which integrates the geometrical constraints induced by camera motion to verify the correspondences obtained by radiometric-similarity-based techniques. A raw OF map is estimated by matching features by correlation. The verification of the resulting correspondences is formulated as an optimization problem that is implemented on a Hopfield neural network (HNN). Additional constraints imposed in the energy function permit us to achieve a subpixel accuracy in the image locations of matched features. Convergence of the HNN is reached in a small enough number of iterations to make the proposed method suitable for real-time processing. It is shown that the proposed method is also suitable for identifying independently moving objects in front of a moving vehicle. Received: 26 December 1995 / Accepted: 20 February 1997     

On the selection of software defect estimation techniques

Estimating the number of defects in a software product is an important and challenging problem. A multitude of estimation techniques have been proposed for defect prediction. However, not all techniques are applicable in all cases. The selection of the proper approach to use depends on multiple factors: the features of the approach; the availability of resources; and the goals for using the estimated defect data. In this paper a survey of existing estimation techniques and a decision support approach for selecting the most suitable defect estimation technique for a project, with specific goals, is proposed. The results of the ranking are a clear indication that no estimation technique provides a single, comprehensive solution; the selection must be done according to a given scenario. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust optimization framework for cardinality constrained portfolio problem

One of the primary concerns on any asset allocation problem is to maintain a limited number of assets from the market. The problem becomes more complicated when the return of all risky assets are subject to uncertainty. In this paper, we propose a new portfolio modeling approach with uncertain data and it is also analyzed using different robust optimization techniques. The proposed formulations are solved using genetic algorithm. The implementation of the proposed method is examined on variety of well known benchmark data sets.     

Evaluation of two heuristic approaches to solve the ontology meta-matching problem

Nowadays many techniques and tools are available for addressing the ontology matching problem, however, the complex nature of this problem causes existing solutions to be unsatisfactory. This work aims to shed some light on a more flexible way of matching ontologies. Ontology meta-matching, which is a set of techniques to configure optimum ontology matching functions. In this sense, we propose two approaches to automatically solve the ontology meta-matching problem. The first one is called maximum similarity measure, which is based on a greedy strategy to compute efficiently the parameters which configure a composite matching algorithm. The second approach is called genetics for ontology alignments and is based on a genetic algorithm which scales better for a large number of atomic matching algorithms in the composite algorithm and is able to optimize the results of the matching process.     

Sequential Monte Carlo for Bayesian matching of objects with occlusions

We consider the problem of locating instances of a known object in a novel scene by matching the fiducial features of the object. The appearance of the features and the shape of the object are modeled separately and combined in a Bayesian framework. In this paper, we present a novel matching scheme based on sequential Monte Carlo, in which the features are matched sequentially, utilizing the information about the locations of previously matched features to constrain the task. The particle representation of hypotheses about the object position allow matching in multimodal and cluttered environments, where batch algorithms may have convergence difficulties. The proposed method requires no initialization or predetermined matching order, as the sequence can be started from any feature. We also utilize a Bayesian model to deal with features that are not detected due to occlusions or abnormal appearance. In our experiments, the proposed matching system shows promising results, with performance equal to batch approaches when the target distribution is unimodal, while surpassing traditional methods under multimodal conditions. Using the occlusion model, the object can be localized from only a few visible features, with the nonvisible parts predicted from the conditional prior model.     

Development of algorithms for feature matching in the method for reconstucting high-precision digital surface models

The method for reconstructing high-precision digital surface models baseed on stereo matching of point and contour features is presented. Methods for extracting points and contours in images, and their subsequent matching are considered. Additionally the specific items of the proposed method are underlined from the point of view of using these image features for solving the final problem of detection features of the surface relief. Special attention is paid to the transition from local stereo matching to the global one. The necessity of this transition for successful solving the problem of a qualitative relief model with a minimal number of outliers is shown. The advantages of the developed method are demonstrated by the example of reconstructing a surface relief based on two stereo pairs of aerial images of different resolutions.     

Identity matching using personal and social identity features

Identity verification is essential in our mission to identify potential terrorists and criminals. It is not a trivial task because terrorists reportedly assume multiple identities using either fraudulent or legitimate means. A national identification card and biometrics technologies have been proposed as solutions to the identity problem. However, several studies show their inability to tackle the complex problem. We aim to develop data mining alternatives that can match identities referring to the same individual. Existing identity matching techniques based on data mining primarily rely on personal identity features. In this research, we propose a new identity matching technique that considers both personal identity features and social identity features. We define two groups of social identity features including social activities and social relations. The proposed technique is built upon a probabilistic relational model that utilizes a relational database structure to extract social identity features. Experiments show that the social activity features significantly improve the matching performance while the social relation features effectively reduce false positive and false negative decisions.