An efficient video segmentation scheme for MPEG video stream using macroblock information

In this paper we propose and implement an efficient scheme for automatically detecting the abrupt shot changes in a video stream compressed in MPEG video format. In the proposed scheme, the type of each macroblock in a B-frame is compared with the type of corresponding macroblock (i.e. the macroblock in the same position) of the previous B-frame. The results of comparisons are accumulated and compared to a threshold in order to decide if a shot change occurs. Since the proposed scheme uses not only information about the type of each macroblock but also its location, it can provide more robust detection capability. Moreover, since the proposed scheme can also detect shot changes in both I- and P-frames based on the information in B-frame, it can detect a changing point more precisely, that is, the granularity of detection is the frame in the proposed scheme.