[LINK] Video enhancement software for poor eyesight

[Tom Worthington]

Masters student, Chet Teow, will present the results of his work on 
"Video enhancement software for poor eyesight", at the Australian 
National University, 3pm, 10 November 2011, in room N335 of the Computer 
Science and Information Technology Building in Canberra: 
http://campusmap.anu.edu.au/displaybldg.asp?no=108

He is one of three students working on aspects of the project: 
http://people.cecs.anu.edu.au/projects/pid/0000000686

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Video enhancement software for poor eyesight

This projects investigates algorithms for enhancing video images for 
people with poor eyesight, in particular macular degeneration. The 
software would enhance the import parts of images, such as people, 
particularly facial features and objects in the foreground. The result 
would be a cartoon-like effect with a solid line around geometric 
shapes, such as faces, with and high contrast eyes, nose and mouth.

There has been extensive research on modifying video for people with 
limited eyesight, including by modification of open source MPEG decoding 
algorithms (1). Techniques for measuring the effectiveness of the 
modifications have been investigated (2).

However, the techniques used have assumed that the resulting image 
should still be acceptable to a person with normal vision. This limits 
the usefulness of the techniques for people with very limited eyesight.

Also it is assumed that there is limited processing capacity to run the 
enhancement algorithm and so only relatively simple techniques are used 
and that what is used has to be suitable for mass deployment hard coded 
into the TV set.

It should be feasible to produce cartoon-like images which would be easy 
to see with very limited eyesight. This should be feasible using the 
higher processing capacity now available in modern digital TV sets. Also 
it should be feasible to download the software into exiting TV sets via 
an Internet connection. The same technique should be usable as a 
downloaded PC, smart phone and tablet "App". It should also be usable as 
an add-on for YouTube and simile web based video services. ...

Project Code: CECS_686

This project is available at the following levels:
CS single semester, Engn4200, Engn R&D, Honours, Masters, PhD

Keywords: TV, Video, accessibility, disability, vision, software development

Supervisor: Mr Tom Worthington

References:

1. Post Transmission Digital Video Enhancement for People with Visual 
Impairments Matthew Fullerton and Eli Peli J Soc Inf Disp. 2006 January; 
14(1): 15–24. doi: 10.1889/1.2166829.
     http://ukpmc.ac.uk/articles/PMC1413511.

2. Measuring perceived video quality of MPEG enhancement by people with 
impaired vision Matthew Fullerton, Russell L. Woods, Fuensanta A. 
Vera-Diaz, and Eli Peli J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. Author 
manuscript; available in PMC 2008 December 1. PMCID: PMC2131737 
Published in final edited form as: J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis.
2007 December; 24(12): B174–B187.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2131737/

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-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards 
Legislation

Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/