The development of video processing techniques is closely coupled with video technology. With the advent of digital technology, the video signal can be digitized into pixels and stored in a memory, which allows easy, flexible fetch and operation on the pixels to achieve more advanced video processing. The digital video signal contains more dimensions of data than other types of signals such as audio. The purpose of video enhancement is to improve the subjective picture quality. The field of video enhancement includes features such as removing noise in the video, highlighting some specified features, and improving the appearance or visibility of the video content.

Speaking with Analytics Insight, Andreas Lifvendahl, the CEO of Imint, sheds light on Vidhance, the video enhancement platform. Andreas Lifvendahl holds an M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Uppsala University, Sweden. Andreas has worked in several senior business roles, bringing Swedish technology from smaller firms to the global stage, spanning industries such as medical devices, semiconductors, and embedded systems. Since 2012, Andreas has been the CEO of Imint, and in addition aids other technology companies as a board member or Business Advisor.

Tell us about Imint, its specialization, and the services that it offers.

At Imint, we revolutionize the way video is captured, enhanced, shared, and consumed. For our team, the goal has always been to blot out the differences in the experience delivered by small camera equipment – such as that in a smartphone – from that produced by professional equipment.

Our industry-leading video enhancement platform, Vidhance, transforms smartphone cameras, or in fact, any type of camera into a professional video recording device. Some of our latest Vidhance solutions include Vidhance Selfie Mode, which combines AI and facial recognition to ensure that one's face stays in the frame even while moving, and Vidhance Super Stabilization, which essentially turns smartphones into action cameras by utilizing today's wide-angle and high-resolution sensors to create more stable results.

Tell us about your role at Imint and your journey in this highly promising sector.

I came into the CEO role to once again start a journey more or less from scratch. I had no real industry experience in the segments that Imint was active within – video enhancement in defense and security applications, such as military drones. I also lacked extensive experience when we decided to re-target our technology to consumer videography. However, as a smartphone user, I was all too familiar with the shortcomings of trying to tell a visual story in a video.

In this process, I gathered a stellar team with a breadth of experience to tie video graphic visions with deep software, algorithmic, hardware, and optical engineering to deliver real solutions in the form of products. This is a holistic approach, where brilliant engineers bring simplicity to the everyday user of a handheld camera, such as a smartphone through complex software bringing end-users that lowers the threshold for them to start capturing and sharing their stories.

Which industry verticals are you currently focusing on?

Over the years, our primary market has been the smartphone industry, where we've partnered with blue-chip brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, and Motorola, among many others. Vidhance revolutionizes a standard smartphone camera, transforming it into a professional video recording device and making it possible for the user to capture any moment on the screen with immaculate video quality.

That being said, we also have a long history of creating solutions for drones, smart glasses, and other industrial applications. In more philosophical terms, I like to think that we are spanning a bridge between two universes that both have extremely complex optical hardware and imaging software – a modern camera and sensor system (like a smartphone) and a human – with its evolved vision perception system.

Most recently, we collaborated with RealWear, the world's leading developer of industrial-grade assisted reality connected devices for industrial applications, to equip RealWear's flagship HMT-1 voice-controlled device with our video enhancement solutions to deliver the industry's clearest, most stable video performance to frontline workers who need hands-free access for visual communications and information.

Could you highlight your company's recent innovations in the AI/ML space?

Smartphones and videos are ubiquitous in modern life, whether for sharing through social media, like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok, or real-time communication like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. As video-based content creation and communication continue their proliferation, Imint uses artificial intelligence (AI) to develop tools that will unleash the next wave of creativity and human connection.

Our ground-breaking Vidhance Selfie Mode combines AI and facial recognition to help ensure a user stays in-frame when video chatting, recording Instagram stories, and more. This unique technology leverages AI-based facial recognition and detection technology to create a practical solution to a pervasive challenge.

Whether users are capturing a memory or communicating with others, selfie videos can be hard to control, as faces slip in and out of the video window. With Vidhance Selfie Mode, the software detects the user's face and applies algorithms to track its movement and reposition it within the frame, even in low-light conditions.

The advancement of video enhancement technology has influenced the current and future needs of customers. Explain the challenges customers face that lead to the implementation of Imint's video enhancement technology?

Throughout quarantine, smartphone video became a necessity to stay in touch with friends and family through apps like Zoom, FaceTime, and Instagram. Similarly, frontline workers relied on video communication via wearable computers to connect with remote experts, many of whom worked from home due to safety regulations.

However, if the video quality is inadequate, the ability to communicate with friends, family, and co-workers would be much more difficult. Imint solutions aim to solve this problem.

Smartphone manufacturers like Motorola, Xiaomi, and Vivo, among others, rely on Vidhance technology to improve their smartphone video quality and ensure that their users could remain connected while separated through seamless, high-quality video communication.

In addition, RealWear, a leading developer of assisted reality connected devices, utilized Vidhance solutions in its HMT-1 wearable computer headsets. This collaboration ensured that frontline workers could maintain a safe and hands-free work environment, while the head-mounted HMT-1 provided significantly more stable, balanced and clear video for remote experts who need to take decisive action.

Where do you see future growth in the AI space when it comes to video enhancement solutions? What's next to come?

 We are increasingly seeing the emergence of AI in almost all aspects of society. For instance, the AI industry is expected to double by 2024, from $50 billion in 2020 to more than $110 billion in 2024. AI-based video stabilization using machine learning algorithms has become increasingly popular and is likely to continue the advance as society continues to grow more reliant on AI.

AI's use in video processing is following a similar trend. We expect video processing algorithms to see dramatic growth in the coming years. These algorithms can find the region of interest in videos, and in the future, they'll automatically zoom in and intelligently focus on what they're seeing: a goal being scored at a soccer game, the birthday cake candles being blown out, or the moment the beat drops in the club.

At Imint, we believe the next wave of video creation will be a community effort, using data to intelligently blend video from multiple smartphones into one finished product. Imagine a wedding with 200 guests and nearly as many smartphones all recording the event. An individual, group, or family can record the same event and easily generate a polished-looking video with multiple angles, effects, transitions, and more. Eventually, an even larger crowd — friends and strangers — will be able to simultaneously share the smartphone video from a concert, party, rally, or other gathering and have it stitched together to tell visual stories no one has been able to tell before without considerable effort.