Video identification

1. A method of processing a first sequence of images and a second sequence of images with a physical computing device to compare the first and second sequences, the method comprising the physical computing device:

(a) processing each of a plurality of the images in the first sequence and each of a plurality of the images in the second sequence by:

processing the image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element comprising one or more bits; and

forming a plurality of words from the descriptor elements of the image such that each word comprises a unique combination of descriptor element bits;

wherein the words for the second sequence are generated from the same respective combinations of descriptor element bits as the words for the first sequence; and

(b) performing processing to compare the first and second sequences by comparing the words generated for the plurality of images in the first sequences with the words generated for the plurality of images in the second sequence.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the processing by the physical computing device to compare the first and second sequences comprises processing to compare the frequency of occurrence of different word values in the first and second sequences.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the processing to compare the first and second sequences comprises the physical computing device:

determining the number of occurrences of each possible word value for each word in the first sequence to generate occurrence data for the first sequence;

determining the number of occurrences of each possible word value for each word in the second sequence to generate occurrence data for the second sequence; and

comparing the occurrence data for the first sequence with the occurrence data for the second sequence.

4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein the occurrence data for the first sequence and the occurrence data for the second sequence are compared by the physical computing device to generate a respective comparison result for each word, and the respective comparison results are merged by the physical computing device to generate an overall comparison result.

5. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising the physical computing device:

determining, for each word, the word values that occur in both sequences;

determining, for each word, the temporal order of occurrence of the word values in both sequences; and

comparing the temporal orders of occurrence.

6. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising the physical computing device:

identifying matching pairs of images, each pair of images comprising an image from the first sequence and an image from the second sequence; and

performing a further correspondence test to determine a similarity between at least one identified pair of images.

7. A method of processing image data defining an image with a physical computing device to generate at least one value representative of the image, the method comprising the physical computing device:

resampling the image to m×m pixel resolution;

processing the resampled image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits; and

forming at least one word from the descriptor elements such that each word comprises one or more bits from one or more descriptor elements and such that the total number of bits in all of the words is less than the total number of bits in all of the descriptor elements.

8. A method of processing image data defining an image with a physical computing device to generate a plurality of values representative of the image, the method comprising the physical computing device:

resampling the image to m×m pixel resolution;

processing the resampled image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits; and

forming a plurality of words from the descriptor elements such that each word comprises a unique combination of descriptor element bits.

9. A method according to claim 7 or claim 8 , wherein:

the method further comprises the physical computing device quantizing each descriptor element; and

each word is formed by the physical computing device from the quantized descriptor elements.

10. A method according to claim 9 , wherein the process of quantizing each descriptor element comprises the physical computing device quantizing each descriptor element to form a respective one bit binary result.

11. A method according to claim 7 or claim 8 , wherein:

descriptor elements are generated by the physical computing device for the image at a plurality of different pixel resolutions; and

at least one word is generated by the physical computing device by combining one or more bits from descriptor elements generated at different pixel resolutions.

12. A method of processing image data defining a sequence of images with a physical computing device to generate and store a representation of the sequence, the method comprising the physical computing device:

resampling the image to m×m pixel resolution;

processing the resampled image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits; and

forming at least one word from the descriptor elements such that each word comprises one or more bits from one or more descriptor elements and such that the total number of bits in all of the words is less than the total number of bits in all of the descriptor elements

generating histogram data defining which words appear in the sequence of images and how often; and

storing the histogram data, words and descriptor elements for the images in the sequence.

13. A method according to claim 12 , wherein:

the method further comprises the physical computing device quantizing each descriptor element;

the physical computing device forms each word from the quantized descriptor elements;

the method further comprises the physical computing device quantizing the histogram data, and

the physical computing device stores the quantized histogram data, words and quantized descriptor elements.

14. A method according to claim 12 , wherein the sequence of images comprise a fragment of a video sequence.

15. A method according to claim 12 , wherein the physical computing device stores the histogram data, words and descriptor elements in the bitstream.

16. A method of processing image data defining a sequence of images with a physical computing device to generate and store a representation of the sequence, the method comprising the physical computing device:

resampling the image to m×m pixel resolution;

processing the resampled image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits; and

forming a plurality of words from the descriptor elements such that each word comprises a unique combination of descriptor element bits

generating histogram data defining which words appear in the sequence of images and how often; and

storing the histogram data, words and descriptor elements for the images in the sequence.

17. A method according to claim 16 , wherein:

the method further comprises the physical computing device quantizing each descriptor element;

the physical computing device forming each word from the quantized descriptor elements;

the method further comprises the physical computing device quantizing the histogram data, and the physical computing device storing the quantized histogram data, words and quantized descriptor elements.

18. A method according to claim 16 , wherein the sequence of images comprise a fragment of a video sequence.

19. A method according to claim 16 , wherein the physical computing device stores the histogram data, words and descriptor elements in the bitstream.

20. An apparatus operable to process a first sequence of images and a second sequence of images to compare the first and second sequences, the apparatus comprising:

a descriptor element generator operable to process each of a plurality of the images in the first sequence and each of a plurality of the images in the second sequence by processing the image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element comprising one or more bits;

a word generator operable to generate a plurality of words from the descriptor elements of each image such that each word comprises a unique combination of descriptor element bits, wherein the word generator is arranged to generate the words for the second sequence from the same respective combinations of descriptor element bits as the words for the first sequence; and

a word comparer operable to compare the first and second sequences by comparing the words generated for the plurality of images in the first sequences with the words generated for the plurality of images in the second sequence.

21. An apparatus operable to process image data defining an image to generate at least one value representative of the image, the apparatus comprising:

a resampler that resamples the image to m×m pixel resolution;

a descriptor element generator operable to process the resampled image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits; and

a word generator operable to generate at least one word from the descriptor elements such that each word comprises one or more bits from one or more descriptor elements and such that the total number of bits in all of the words is less than the total number of bits in all of the descriptor elements.

22. An apparatus operable to process image data defining an image to generate a plurality of values representative of the image, the apparatus comprising:

a resampler that resamples the image to m×m pixel resolution;

a descriptor element generator operable to process the resampled image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits; and

a word generator operable to generate a plurality of words from the descriptor elements such that each word comprises a unique combination of descriptor element bits.

23. An apparatus operable to process image data defining a sequence of images to generate and store a representation of the sequence, the apparatus comprising:

a resampler that resamples the image to m×m pixel resolution;

a descriptor element generator operable to process, for each resampled image in the sequence, the image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits;

a word generator operable to generate, for each image in the sequence, at least one word from the descriptor elements of the image such that each word comprises one or more bits from one or more descriptor elements and such that the total number of bits in all of the words of the image is less than the total number of bits in all of the descriptor elements of the image;

a histogram generator operable to generate histogram data defining which words appear in the sequence of images and how many times; and

a data writer operable to write the histogram data, words and descriptor elements for the images in the sequence to storage.

24. An apparatus operable to process image data defining a sequence of images to generate and store a representation of the sequence, the apparatus comprising:

a resampler that resamples the image to m×m pixel resolution;

a descriptor element generator operable to process, for each resampled image in the sequence, the image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits;

a word generator operable to generate, for each image in the sequence, a plurality of words from the descriptor elements of the image such that each word comprises a unique combination of descriptor element bits;

a histogram generator operable to generate histogram data defining which words appear in the sequence of images and how many times; and

a data writer operable to write the histogram data, words and descriptor elements for the images in the sequence to storage.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform processing operations comprising:

(a) processing each of a plurality of images in a first sequence and each of a plurality of images in a second sequence by:

processing the image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element comprising one or more bits; and

forming a plurality of words from the descriptor elements of the image such that each word comprises a unique combination of descriptor element bits;

wherein the words for the second sequence are generated from the same respective combinations of descriptor element bits as the words for the first sequence; and

(b) performing processing to compare the first and second sequences by comparing the words generated for the plurality of frames in the first sequences with the words generated for the plurality of frames in the second sequence.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform processing operations comprising:

resampling the image to m×m pixel resolution;

processing the resampled image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits; and

forming at least one word from the descriptor elements such that each word comprises one or more bits from one or more descriptor elements and such that the total number of bits in all of the words is less than the total number of bits in all of the descriptor elements.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform processing operations comprising:

resampling the image to m×m pixel resolution;

processing the resampled image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits; and

forming a plurality of words from the descriptor elements such that each word comprises a unique combination of descriptor element bits.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform processing operations comprising:

for each image in a sequence of images:

resampling the image to m×m pixel resolution;

processing the resampled image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits; and

forming at least one word from the descriptor elements such that each word comprises one or more bits from one or more descriptor elements and such that the total number of bits in all of the words is less than the total number of bits in all of the descriptor elements;

generating histogram data defining which words appear in the sequence of images and how often; and

storing the histogram data, words and descriptor elements for the images in the sequence.

29. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform processing operations comprising:

for each image in a sequence of images:

resampling the image to m×m pixel resolution

processing the resampled image data for each of a plurality of pixel neighborhoods in the resampled image to generate at least one respective descriptor element for each of the pixel neighborhoods, each descriptor element being generated by using luminance information of the resampled image and comprising one or more bits; and

forming a plurality of words from the descriptor elements such that each word comprises a unique combination of descriptor element bits;

generating histogram data defining which words appear in the sequence of images and how often; and

storing the histogram data, words and descriptor elements for the images in the sequence.