Apparatus and methods for object border tracking
OwnerEhud Spiegel, Yosef Pastorinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tracking method including receiving a representation of an event including at least one dynamic object having a border and having at least one edge portion which is absent during at least a portion of the event and providing an ongoing indication of the location of the border of the object during the event. Apparatus for carrying out the method is also disclosed.
Claims36
A method for tracking a border of a moving object through a sequence of images of the moving object including first and second images, the method comprising:
- receiving the first image and an indication of a border of a moving object in the first image, the border comprising a multiplicity of border locations including border locations having locally distinctive features internal to the moving object and border locations having locally distinctive features external to the moving object;
- selecting a plurality of special border locations to be tracked in the first image from among the multiplicity of border locations, wherein the plurality of special border locations are less than the total number of border locations, the selecting step including, for at least a portion of the border, preferring said border locations having at least one locally distinctive feature which is internal to the moving object and which is therefore generally conserved between images over said border locations having at least one locally distinctive feature which is external to the moving object;
- tracking at least some of said plurality of special border locations from the first image to the second image;
- and
- computing an estimated border in said second image based on an output of said tracking step and based on information characterizing said border in said first image;
- and
- displaying said estimated border to a user.
Apparatus for tracking a border of a moving object through a sequence of images of the moving object including first and second images, the apparatus comprising:
- a border receiver operative to receive the first image and an indication of a border of a moving object in the first image, border comprising a multiplicity of border locations including border locations having locally distinctive features internal to the moving object and border locations having locally distinctive features external to the moving object;
- a border selector operative to select a plurality of special border locations to be tracked in the first image from among the multiplicity of border locations, wherein the plurality of special border locations are less than the total number of border locations, the selecting step including, for at least a portion of the border, preferring said border locations having at least one locally distinctive feature which is internal to the moving object and which is therefore generally conserved between images over said border locations having at least one locally distinctive feature which is external to the moving object;
- a border tracker operative to track at least some of said plurality of special border locations from the first image to the second image;
- and
- border display apparatus operative to compute an estimated border in said second image based on an output of said tracking step and based on information characterizing said border in said first image;
- and to display said estimated border to a user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.