Automatically determining field of view overlap among multiple cameras

A system, comprising:

• a processing unit in communication with a computer readable memory and a tangible computer-readable storage medium;
• wherein the processing unit, when executing program instructions stored on the tangible computer-readable storage medium via the computer readable memory:
• determines a value of similarity for potential pairings of each of a plurality of object tracks determined in appearance information data of a field-of-view of a first camera with each of a plurality of object tracks determined in appearance information data of a field-of-view of a second camera, wherein said object tracks define movement of a tracked object over time through scene image data of respective ones of the first and second camera fields of view;
• assigns into pairs each of the object tracks determined within the first camera field-of-view to ones each of the object tracks determined within the second camera field-of-view that each have a highest determined similarity value of the similarity values determined for their respective potential pairings;
• determines that the assigned object track pairs correspond to overlapping portions of the fields-of-view of the first and second paired cameras if portions of each of the assigned object track pairs have a temporally overlapping period of time;
• determines scene entry points on each of the tracks of the assigned object track pairs corresponding to the overlapping fields-of-view portions within their fields-of-view as locations of the object on the each of said tracks at a beginning of the temporally overlapping period of time;
• determines scene exit points on each of tracks of the assigned object track pairs corresponding to the overlapping fields-of-view portions within their fields-of-view as locations of the object on the each of said tracks at an ending of the temporally overlapping period of time;
• and
• defines boundary lines for the overlapping fields-of-view portions within their corresponding first and second camera fields-of-view as a function of the determined entry and exit points in their respective fields-of-view.

A computer program product for automatically determining field of view overlap among multiple cameras as a function of the temporal overlap of object tracks, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable hardware storage device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer processing unit, cause the computer processing unit to:
• determine a value of similarity for potential pairings of each of a plurality of object tracks determined in appearance information data of a field-of-view of a first camera with each of a plurality of object tracks determined in appearance information data of a field-of-view of a second camera, wherein said object tracks define movement of a tracked object over time through scene image data of respective ones of the first and second camera fields of view;
• assign into pairs each of the object tracks determined within the first camera field-of-view to ones each of the object tracks determined within the second camera field-of-view that each have a highest determined similarity value of the similarity values determined for their respective potential pairings;
• determine that the assigned object track pairs correspond to overlapping portions of the fields-of-view of the first and second paired cameras if portions of each of the assigned object track pairs have a temporally overlapping period of time;
• determine scene entry points on each of the tracks of the assigned object track pairs corresponding to the overlapping fields-of-view portions within their fields-of-view as locations of the object on the each of said tracks at a beginning of the temporally overlapping period of time;
• determine scene exit points on each of tracks of the assigned object track pairs corresponding to the overlapping fields-of-view portions within their fields-of-view as locations of the object on the each of said tracks at an ending of the temporally overlapping period of time;
• and
• define boundary lines for the overlapping fields-of-view portions within their corresponding first and second camera fields-of-view as a function of the determined entry and exit points in their respective fields-of-view.