Augmentation of video datasets for machine learning training

Abstract

Disclosed are techniques for augmenting video datasets for training machine learning algorithms with additional video datasets that are cropped copies of the video datasets. Frames of a received video dataset are divided into a plurality of subframes. For each subframe, a count is tallied corresponding to the cumulative number of pixels changed across the frames of the received video. Counts are compared to determine which subframe includes the most changed pixels across the frames of the video dataset, which is selected as a cropping candidate. The cropping candidate is used to generate copies of the video dataset that are cropped to include at least the cropping candidate and exclude at least some of the remaining portions of each frame of the video dataset that are outside of the cropping candidate. In some embodiments, boundaries of cropping candidates are transformed to generate a plurality of cropped variations of the video dataset.