How can I process a -dynamic- videostream and find the (relative) location of a "match" in that videostream?

Question

As the question states: how is it possible to process some dynamic videostream? By saying dynamic, i actually mean I would like to just process stuff on my screen. So the imagearray should be some sort of "continuous screenshot".

I'd like to process the video / images based on certain patterns. How would I go about this?

It would be perfect if there already was (and there probably is) existing components. I need to be able to use the location of the matches (or partial matches). A .NET component for the different requirements could also be useful I guess...

Answer 1

You will probably need to read up on Computer Visual before you attempt this. There is nothing really special about video that seperates it from still imgaes. The process you might want to look at is:

1. Acquire the data
2. Split the data into individual frames
3. Remove noise (Use a Gaussian filter)
4. Segment the image into the sections you want
5. Remove the connected components of the image
6. Find a way to quantize the image for comparison
7. Store/match the components to a database of previously found components
8. With this database/datastore you'll have information on matches later in the database. Do what you like with it.

As far as software goes:

1. Most of these algorithms are not too difficult. You can write them yourself. They do take a bit of work though.
2. OpenCV does a lot of the basic stuff, but it won't do everything for you
3. Java: JAI, JHLabs [for filters], Various other 3rd party libraries
4. C#: AForge.net