IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System

An automated desktop indexing and multimodal search system for digital image and video collections.

Date Posted: February 28, 2005

Overview Requirements Download FAQs Forum Reviews 1. Does IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System work on videos? 2. Of what does IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System consist? 3. Why is there a limitation on the number of images and videos that the system can process in a single batch? 4. If I check the Search subdirectory box in the IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System collector, what is the maximum depth of subdirectories that will be visited? 5. Why does the system work only on the Windows® platform? 6. Need I install a Web server? 7. Can I append another image collection to the one ingested in IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System? 8. My instance of IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System exits without warning; what should I do? 9. Why do I need to download and unzip classifiers, zip, or colors.zip files? 1. Does IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System work on videos? Yes. The system natively supports still images and MPEG1 and MPEG2 videos. For all other video formats, please download and copy FFmpeg.exe (free software) to the installation folder (by default, C:\Program Files\Imars). FFmpeg is an open-source project that supports reading and writing of many different video formats; if it is installed in the IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval installation folder, it will be used to decode non-native video formats. For more information and a list of FFmpeg-supported formats, please see the FFmpeg Web site. Back to top 2. Of what does IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System consist? The system consists of two components: Indexing and Search. When you click on Imars.exe in the <DIR>/bin directory, the indexing and ingestion tool is brought up. After the indexing and ingestion are complete, the search tool can be accessed at http://localhost/imars/ through any browser. You cannot use the search tool without running the indexing and ingestion tool at least once. Back to top 3. Why is there a limitation on the number of images and videos that the system can process in a single batch? This is not a software limitation, but merely a trial license limitation for this release. The tool can, however, be run on an unlimited number of image and video collections (limited only by the available disk storage), and the collection size limitation should be generous enough to allow most non-commercial user applications. Back to top 4. If I check the Search subdirectory box in the IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System collector, what is the maximum depth of subdirectories that will be visited? Maximum depth for crawling subdirectories is 12. Back to top 5. Why does the system work only on the Windows® platform? The system's indexing tool works only on Windows. However, the system's search tool can be accessed from any Web browser on any platform (Windows, Apple, Linux®, etc.). Back to top 6. Need I install a Web server? Yes. In order to use the system's search tool, you must install the Apache HTTP server. Back to top 7. Can I append another image collection to the one ingested in IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System? Not at this time. This release allows you to run the system on separate directories only. You can put two different photo collections in the same folder and run the system on them (make sure to check the include subfolders option). Back to top 8. My instance of IBM Multimedia Analysis and Retrieval System exits without warning; what should I do? Please download the latest version here at alphaWorks. Back to top 9. Why do I need to download and unzip classifiers, zip, or colors.zip files? The indexing tool uses semantic classifiers located in <DIR>/bin/classifiers to evaluate a user's multimedia collection. If these files are missing, user will not be able to explore the full capability of the system, which relies on the automatic semantic classification. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. IBM is a trademark of IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. Back to top