This award is for the support of cooperative research by Dr. A. Murat Tekalp, Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, and Dr. Fatos Yaman-Vural, of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey. In an effort to maximize the utility of the digital multimedia archives, there is a need for efficient and universal tools for searching and browsing the desired content in large databases. This research addresses two important problems in the database management systems: content extraction/understanding and content-based access. The first problem relates to automatic entry of large number of paper documents or raw multimedia information into digital databases. Conversion of paper documents into one of the acceptable digital information standards requires automatic understanding of the scanned data, which entails identification of the logical structure and the semantics of the document. The second problem concerns content-based access to visual information. Many digital multimedia archives contain visual information in the form of images and video clips, and no generally recognized descriptors exist for representing visual information. There is need for content-based indexing and retrieval tools for searching multimedia archives including image and video collections. Scope: this project addresses an important emerging area, where advances would have immediate impact. The US P.I. and the Turkish collaborator have strong records of accomplishments. The two sides have complementary capabilities and backgrounds. The US P.I. has specific experiences in the area of applications. The Turkish scientist is an active researcher with solid publication records, and with extensive industrial as well as academic experience. The project would strengthen links between strong research groups at the U. of Rochester and METU. The project fits well within the objectives of the Division of International Programs.
