The Questionable Observer Detector

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-questionable-observer-detector

The Questionable Observer Detector

January 25, 2011 by Lakshmi Sandhana

(Image: University of Notre Dame)

Exclusive | Kevin W. Bowyer, Chair of the Department of Computer Science and
Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana is out to create a tool
to reliably identify criminals who may be hanging out at the crime scene
after the event.

Their Questionable Observer Detector (QuOD) can process any available video
clips of groups of people present at the scene of event, spanning different
times and locations to pick out any person who appears frequently in them.
bThe idea is that the person showing up unusually often as part of the crowd
at these events may be someone that the police would want to talk to,b says
Bowyer.

For instance, if given video clips of the serial bomb attacks currently
plaguing Abuja in Nigeria, the software could identify people appearing
repeatedly, giving authorities leads on either the bombers or their helpers.

Itbs an extremely challenging 3D facial recognition problem, since the system
has no prior database to compare the faces with and works with videos taken
by surveillance cameras and bystanders with their handheld video camera under
any and all conditions. It detects potential suspects by creating individual
bface tracksb for people appearing in every video, comparing them across
videos to zero in on similar looking faces.

It takes the best image from a face track in one video and compares it with
the top images derived from other face tracks in other videos to see if it
can find the same face. When it spots a match, it adds it to a group of video
appearances featuring just that person. It identifies an individual as a
bquestionable observerb if the final number of videos in their personal group
exceeds a particular number, set earlier by authorities. This indicates that
they appear often at numerous crime scenes.  [+]

(Image: University of Notre Dame)

A research prototype could be ready in less than a year, according to Bowyer,
who hopes to work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the
Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) later on.

Is the QuOD a step further towards the dark picture painted by George Orwell
in his novel 1984 of omnipresent surveillance and pre-emptive arrests? Given
that it is more about handing authorities a tool to identify suspects based
on their actual presence solely at multiple disaster areas, as opposed to
policing people on possible intent (as in the movie Minority Report), the
answer would have to be bno.b [+]

(Image: University of Notre Dame)

Topics: Electronics | Survival/Defense