Feature selection for object tracking using motion mask, motion prediction, or both

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• obtaining first feature points of an object in a first image of a scene captured by a camera;
• obtaining a second image of the scene captured by the camera after the first image was captured;
• determining whether a motion prediction of the object is available that indicates an area of the second image where the object is likely located;
• in response to determining that the motion prediction of the object is available, identifying, in the area of the second image where the object is likely located, second feature points that satisfy a similarity threshold for the first feature points in the first image;
• and
• detecting the object in the second image using the identified second feature points.

A system comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices on which are stored instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining first feature points of an object in a first image of a scene captured by a camera;
• obtaining a second image of the scene captured by the camera after the first image was captured;
• determining whether a motion prediction of the object is available that indicates an area of the second image where the object is likely located;
• in response to determining that the motion prediction of the object is available, identifying, in the area of the second image where the object is likely located, second feature points that satisfy a similarity threshold for the first feature points in the first image;
• and
• detecting the object in the second image using the identified second feature points.

A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining first feature points of an object in a first image of a scene captured by a camera;
• obtaining a second image of the scene captured by the camera after the first image was captured;
• determining whether a motion prediction of the object is available that indicates an area of the second image where the object is likely located;
• in response to determining that the motion prediction of the object is available, identifying, in the area of the second image where the object is likely located, second feature points that satisfy a similarity threshold for the first feature points in the first image;
• and
• detecting the object in the second image using the identified second feature points.