Yukihiro Kawamata

User-Centered Video: transmitting video images based on the user's interest

Many applications, such as video conference systems and remotely controlled systems, need to transmit multiple video images through narrow band networks. However, high quality transmission of the video images is not possible within the network bandwidth. This paper describes a technique, User-Centered Video (UCV), which transmits multiple video images through a network by changing quality of the video images based on a users interest. The UCV assigns a network data rate to each video image in proportion to the users interest. The UCV transmits video images of interest with high quality, while degrading the remaining video images. The video images are degraded in the space and time domains (e.g., spatial resolution, frame rate) to fit them into the assigned data rates. The UCV evaluates the degree of the users interest based on the window layouts. The user thereby obtains both the video images of interest, in detail, and the global context of video images, even through a narrow band network.