OBJECT-ORIENTED TELEVISION

In search of more compression, researchers have recently sought to des cribe digital video of real scenes not as sequences of frames but rath er as collections of objects that are rendered and combined according to scripting information. Depending upon the application and the scene analysis tools available, representations may range front two-dimensi onal layers to full three-dimensional computer-graphics-style data bas es. The significance of these more meaningful representations goes bey ond compression, however, enabling new forms of interactivity and pers onalization, as well as new degrees of freedom in post-production. Thi s paper proposes a computational framework for a television receiver t hat can handle digital video in forms from ''traditional'' motion-comp ensated transform coders to sets of three-dimensional objects and disc usses the requirements for a scripting language to control such a rece iver. It is also noted that the concept of scalability can be expanded to include ''intelligently resizable video,'' where the originator of a video sequence can specify how the scene is to be composed and cut for displays of differing sizes and aspect ratios.