LONDON - A software device developed by researchers can recognise musical characteristics and sort songs according to moods, besides blending in suitable images to the rhythm of music.

Until now, anyone wishing to maintain an overview of their favourite music and photos had to laboriously assign keywords to everything using cumbersome administration software.

The software, which is based on the GenreID music analysis tool, trains the PC to recognise different musical characteristics. Images that suit the mood are automatically added to the play list and shown at a speed that matches the tempo of the music.

For this purpose, the mood player classifies the media in real time and makes the acquired information available in a database. The mood of the images is analysed on the basis of several distinguishing parameters, including brightness, contrast, edges, colours, textures, layout and shape.

Warm colours, for instance, represent friendliness and strong emotions, whereas cold colours have a more calming, distanced and melancholic effect. Factors such as saturation, brightness, structures and the combination and arrangement of different colours are decisive in the image analysis.

The pieces of music too are sorted according to mood parameters, such as volume, tone, melody, rhythm, instruments and vocals - automatically, without the need for tedious cataloguing.

The mood player software has been developed by scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology in Limenau, Germany.