Digital video fingerprinting using motion segmentation

1. A method of processing video to generate signatures for motion segmented regions over two or more frames, the method comprising:

differencing two frames using an adaptive threshold to generate a two-frame difference image;

creating a motion history image from the two-frame difference image;

segmenting the motion history image to generate one or more motion segmented regions;

generating a descriptor and a signature for a selected motion segmented region; and

aligning a background by:

computing a distance between a pixel at location x on each frame and a pixel at the location x on the aligned background for the location x in the two-frame difference image, and

comparing the distance for each location x to the adaptive threshold to generate foreground pixels used in the segmenting of the motion history image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two frames are a first frame and an second frame immediately following in sequence from the first frame.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two frames are a first frame and a third frame skipping an intermediary second frame, wherein the second frame and third frame are in sequence from the first frame.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

tracking previously detected segments in previously segmented motion history images that are not included among the one or more motion segmented regions.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

adaptively modifying a threshold when a pixel count in a detected image region of the differenced frames is outside defined limits.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected motion segmented region has a higher motion activity and larger size compared to the rest of the one or more motion segmented regions.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the segmenting of the motion history image uses a weighted function of motion gradient and motion orientation.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the segmenting of the motion history image uses similarity measures of pixels based on brightness, continuity and color.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

extracting a compressed video stream from a compressed input; and

extracting block motion vectors and transform coefficients from the extracted compressed video stream.

10. A method of fingerprinting moving images taking into account motion across multiple frames, the method comprising:

differencing two frames using a motion adaptive threshold based on a motion histogram analysis to generate a motion adapted two-frame difference image;

as frames are received, determining a motion history image from generated motion adapted two-frame difference images over a plurality of frames;

segmenting the motion history image to generate one or more motion segmented regions;

generating a descriptor and a signature for a selected motion segmented region; and

aligning a background by:

computing a distance between a pixel at location x on each frame and a pixel at the location x on the aligned background for the location x in the two-frame difference image, and

comparing the distance for each location x to the adaptive threshold to generate foreground pixels used in the segmenting of the motion history image.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the motion adapted two-frame difference image includes at least one image region in motion that is monitored to produce the motion histogram analysis.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

determining the motion histogram analysis of at least one image region in motion from the motion adapted two-frame difference image over a plurality of frames.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

determining a count of pixels in image regions of the motion adapted two-frame difference image; and

modifying the motion adaptive threshold to a new value based on the motion histogram analysis when the count is not within a threshold range.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the motion adaptive threshold is set to a median of the motion histogram analysis.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein outliers of the motion histogram analysis are not considered in the generating the median of the motion histogram analysis.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the median of the motion histogram analysis is biased lower or higher based on history data.

17. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

tracking of motion segmented regions per frame is used to store previous motion segmented regions which are selectively included in the one or more motion segmented regions for which descriptors and signatures are generated.

18. A computer readable non-transitory medium storing a computer program which causes a computer system to perform a method of processing video to generate signatures for motion segmented regions over two or more frames, the method comprising:

differencing two frames using an adaptive threshold to generate a two-frame difference image;

creating a motion history image from the two-frame difference image;

segmenting the motion history image to generate one or more motion segmented regions;

generating a descriptor and a signature for a selected motion segmented region; and

aligning a background by:

computing a distance between a pixel at location x on each frame and a pixel at the location x on the aligned background for the location x in the two-frame difference image, and

comparing the distance for each location x to the adaptive threshold to generate foreground pixels used in the segmenting of the motion history image.

19. The computer readable non-transitory medium of claim 18 further comprising:

adaptively modifying a threshold when a pixel count in a detected image region of the differenced frames is outside defined limits.

20. The computer readable non-transitory medium of claim 18 further comprising:

extracting a compressed video stream from a compressed input; and

extracting block motion vectors and transform coefficients from the extracted compressed video stream.