System and method for tracking coherently structured feature dynamically defined with migratory medium

A system for discriminating and tracking a coherently structured flow feature dynamically evolving over time within a migratory medium, comprising:

• computer memory receiving a data set for a medium undergoing migratory flow with respect to a plurality of physical points within a multi-dimensional physical space, said data set including data content captured for each physical point in terms of a plurality of scalar parameter values;
• a decomposition processor coupled to said computer memory selectively generating a sparse set of key points within a scalar field predefined by at least one of said scalar parameters, said key points corresponding to at least one coherently structured flow feature of a pre-selected feature type occurring and substantially recurring over time with respect to other portions of the migratory medium;
• a data reduction processor coupled to said decomposition processor, said data reduction processor adaptively determining descriptive information for each said key point according to a proximity-based weighting of said data content within a neighborhood of said physical point, said neighborhood being defined responsive to said pre-defined feature type;
• and,
• a feature processor coupled to said data reduction processor, said feature processor executing over a time period at least one predetermined feature-based operation on said data content of said key points within said sparse set as a surrogate for execution on said data set entirely to generate evolving flow feature data substantially representative of said data set;
• wherein said feature-based operation includes discriminating and tracking said coherently structured flow feature occurring with evolving shape within different data sets.

A method for discriminating and tracking a predetermined flow feature dynamically evolving over time within a migratory medium, comprising:

• capturing a data set for a medium undergoing dynamically evolving flow with respect to a plurality of physical points within a physical space, said data set including data content captured for each physical point in terms of a plurality of scalar parameter values;
• selectively generating a sparse set of key points within a scalar field defined by a plurality of the scalar parameters, said key points corresponding to the predetermined flow feature recurring in evolving form over time with respect to other portions of the migratory medium;
• adaptively determining descriptive information for each said key point according to a proximity-based weighting of said data content relative to said key point within a neighborhood of a corresponding physical point, said neighborhood being defined according to a feature type of the predetermined flow feature;
• and,
• executing at least one predetermined feature-based operation on said data content of said key points within said sparse set over a time period as a surrogate for execution on said data set as a whole, said feature-based operation including discriminating and tracking of said predetermined flow feature evolving in shape over different data sets responsive to identification of a match between said key points of different data sets.