We present a C++ library implementing part 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the MPEG 7 multimedia content description standard, including the updated version finalized in 2004. The library supports handling of MPEG-7 descriptions as trees of typed objects, supporting (de)serialization from/to XML. It has convenient and powerful features such as creation of subtrees by XPath statements and is extensible at runtime. The library is available for Windows, Linux/Unix and Mac OS X. It has been provided under a free use license for several years, downloaded more than 5,200 times and used in a large number of projects. It has been published under GNU LGPL in 2009. This paper discusses the key functionalities of the library as well as some exemplary applications.

Automatic and real-time identification of unusual incidents is important for event detection and alarm systems. In today's camera surveillance solutions video streams are displayed on-screen for human operators, e.g. in large multi-screen control centers. This in turn requires the attention of operators for unusual events and urgent response.