Video enhancement software for poor eyesight

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. He is one of three students working on aspects of the project. Chet has also been working on "Digital Payment System – Token Generation and Transfer".

Video enhancement software for poor eyesight

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

Outline:

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 sued 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.

The software would be developed at ANU CECS udner the supervision of Tom Worthington and tested
at the London Eye Hospital under the supervision of Lyndon Da Cruz.

The software would be made available for free use under an open source licence and the research findings published free online with a Creative Commons licence.

Goals of this project

Understanding of the effects of image manipulation on vision.
Development of software for consumer devices.

Background Literature

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/

Links

Tom Worthington
Lyndon Da Cruz
Post Transmission Digital Video Enhancement for People with Visual Impairments
Measuring perceived video quality of MPEG enhancement by people with impaired vision

Contact:

Mr Tom Worthington