Method of distinguishing a moving object and apparatus of tracking and monitoring a moving object

A moving object recognition method for recognizing a specified moving object in serially input image signals in distinction from other objects, comprising the steps of:

• sequentially detecting a plurality of moving objects in serially input image signal;
• sequentially storing characteristic physical quantities of said detected moving objects;
• detecting at least a locus of at least one of said detected moving objects based on said characteristic physical quantities;
• storing a group of characteristic physical quantities included in each of said loci in association with each other as series of characteristic physical quantities of moving objects, said characteristic physical quantities including a series of detection time and detection position and area of each of said moving objects;
• and
• determining whether each moving object is said specified moving object or not based on said characteristic physical quantities;
• said step of determining including at least one of the substeps of:
• calculating a time during which the locus of each moving object exists continuously from said detection time and said detection position included in said series of characteristic physical quantities of said moving object, and determining whether said moving object is said specified moving object or not from said continuous locus existence time;
• calculating a variation in position change of said moving object from a detection position included series of characteristic physical quantities of each moving object, and determining whether said moving object is said specified moving object or not from said calculated variation;
• calculating a maximum area of each moving object from said area included in said series of characteristic physical quantities of said moving object, and determining whether said moving object is said specified moving object or not from said calculated maximum area;
• and
• calculating a minimum area of each moving object from said area included in said series of characteristic physical quantities of said moving object, and determining whether said moving object is said specified moving object or not from said calculated minimum area.

A moving object tracking and monitoring method for sequentially detecting moving objects intruding into an imaging view field by a subtraction method and sequentially tracking and monitoring said moving objects with an object tracking and monitoring apparatus, comprising the steps of:

• sequentially storing a characteristic physical quantity of a moving object detected by said object tracking and monitoring apparatus;
• detecting a locus of said detected moving object based on said characteristic physical quantities;
• storing characteristic physical quantities included in each locus as a series of characteristic of a moving object;
• previously setting a test for determining whether said moving object belongs to an object to be tracked and monitored;
• classifying said moving object into objects to be tracked and monitored and objects not to be tracked and monitored from said stored series of characteristic physical quantities, based on said determining test;
• and
• tracking and monitoring a moving object classified as objects to be tracked and monitored as an intruding object.

A moving object tracking and monitoring apparatus comprising:

• an image input device;
• an image memory for storing an image sequentially picked up by said image input device;
• a program memory for storing a program for operating said object tracking and monitoring apparatus;
• a central processing unit for activating said object tracking and monitoring apparatus in accordance with said program;
• a work memory for analyzing said image stored in said image memory;
• an alarm unit activated by said central processing unit in dependence on the result of analysis stored in said work memory;
• and
• a monitor unit for displaying a monitor image from said central processing unit generated in accordance with the analysis in said work memory;
• said program including:
• code means for sequentially detecting the moving objects stored in said image memory;
• code means for sequentially storing characteristic physical quantities of said detected moving objects in said work memory;
• code means for determining one or more loci of a moving object based on said characteristic physical quantities of said detected moving object;
• code means for storing a group of characteristic physical quantities belonging to each of said loci in association with each other as a series of characteristic physical quantities of one moving object in said work memory;
• code means for classifying said one moving object into an object to be tracked and monitored and an object not to be tracked and monitored based on said stored series of characteristic physical quantities;
• and
• code means for activating said object tracking and monitoring apparatus in such a manner that said one moving object classified as an object to be tracked and monitored is tracked as an intruding object.

A computer readable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for recognizing a specified moving object in an input image signal in distinction from other objects, comprising:

• code means for sequentially detecting at least one moving object in sequentially input image signals;
• code means for sequentially storing characteristic physical quantities of said detected moving object;
• code means for determining at least one locus of said detected moving object based on said characteristic physical quantities;
• code means for storing a group of characteristic physical quantities of each locus in association with each other in a memory as a series of characteristic physical quantities the moving object;
• and
• code means for sequentially applying a plurality of determining tests to each moving object for determining whether said moving object belongs to said specified moving object or to objects other than said specified object and thus determining whether said detected moving object is said specified moving object or not based on said stored series of characteristic physical quantities.

A computer readable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for recognizing a specified moving object in an input image signal in distinction from other objects, comprising:

• code means for sequentially detecting a plurality of moving objects in sequentially input image signals;
• code means for sequentially storing characteristic physical quantities of said detected moving objects;
• code means for determining at least one locus of said detected moving objects based on said characteristic physical quantities;
• code means for storing a group of characteristic physical quantities included in each of said loci in association with each other as a series of characteristic physical quantities of one moving object, said physical quantities including detection time, position and area at each moment of each of said moving objects;
• code means for determining each of said moving objects to be said specified moving object or an object other than said specified moving object, based on said characteristic physical quantities;
• said determining code means including:
• code means for calculating a time during which the locus of each of said moving objects continuously exists based on the detection time and the detection position included in said series of characteristic physical quantities of said moving object;
• code means for determining said moving object to be said specified moving object or an object other than said specified moving object, based on said continuous locus existence time;
• code means for calculating the variation of the position change of each of said moving objects based on the detection position included in said series of characteristic physical quantities of each moving object;
• code means for determining said moving object to be said specified moving object or an object other than said specified moving object, based on said calculated variation;
• code means for calculating a maximum area of each of said moving objects based on the area included in the series of characteristic physical quantities of said moving object;
• code means for determining said moving object to be said specified moving object or an object other than said specified moving object, based on said calculated maximum area;
• code means for calculating a minimum area of each of said moving objects based on the area included in the series of characteristic physical quantities of said moving object;
• and
• code means for determining said moving object to be said specified moving object or an object other than said specified moving object, based on said calculated minimum area.

A computer readable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for sequentially tracking and monitoring a moving object intruding into an imaging view field, comprising:

• code means for sequentially storing characteristic physical quantities of at least one moving object detected by said object tracking and monitoring apparatus;
• code means for determining the locus of said detected moving object based on said characteristic physical quantities;
• code means for storing a group of characteristic physical quantities included in each of said loci in association with each other as a series of characteristic physical quantities of one moving object;
• code means for determining said moving object to be said specified moving object and an object other than said specified moving object, based on said stored series of characteristic physical quantities;
• and
• code means for tracking as an intruding object said moving object classified as an object determined to be said specified moving object.

An object tracking apparatus comprising:

• an imaging device;
• an interface unit for converting the input signal from said imaging device into an image signal;
• a detector for detecting as an object each area in which the intensity difference for each pixel between said image signal and the reference background image is larger than a predetermined value;
• a central processing unit;
• a memory;
• and
• means for classifying said detected area into one of a plurality of types based on at least selected one of the shape and the areal size detected by said detector in order to select an object to be tracked from said objects;
• wherein said object selected as an object to be tracked is tracked.

An object tracking and monitoring apparatus comprising:

• an image input device;
• an image memory for storing an image picked up by said image input device;
• a program memory for storing the program for the operation of said object tracking and monitoring apparatus;
• a central processing unit for activating said object tracking and monitoring apparatus in accordance with said program;
• an image memory for analyzing said image stored in said image memory;
• an alarm unit activated by said central processing unit in dependence on the result of analysis by said work memory;
• and
• a monitor unit for displaying a monitor image from said central processing unit generated in accordance with the analysis in said work memory;
• and
• said program includes:
• code means for calculating the difference of the intensity value for each pixel between the image from said image input device and the reference background image;
• code means for detecting a pixel area where an object exists as a plurality of pixels with said intensity difference not less than a predetermined threshold value regarded as pixels where an object exists;
• first classification code means for classifying said detected object based on the ratio which the areal size of the area of said detected object represents of the areal size of said circumscribed rectangle area on the assumption that the shape of the circumscribed rectangle about said pixel area where said detected object exists is horizontally long;
• second classification code means for classifying said object based on the vertical size of said pixel area where said detected object exists;
• code means for calculating the histogram of the number of pixels in vertical direction of said pixel area where said detected object exists;
• code means for determining the number of continuous pixels in horizontal direction having a histogram value not less than a predetermined threshold;
• and
• third classification code means for classifying said detected object based on the number of continuous pixels in horizontal direction;
• wherein detected objects other the objects to be tracked are removed by said first, second and third classification code means.

A computer readable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for tracking an moving object, comprising:

• code means for detecting as an object each area having the difference between an input image and a reference background image not less than a predetermined threshold;
• code means for classifying each of said detected objects into one of a plurality of types based on at least selected one of the shape and the size of the area of said detected object;
• code means for selecting one or more objects to be tracked from said classified detected objects;
• and
• code means for tracking said selected object as an object to be tracked.