Patent ID: 8111873
Filing Date: 2012-02-07
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
1. A method for tracking objects in a scene being viewed by a sequence of digital images, said method comprising: separating, by a processor, a region of interest in the digital images into a plurality of spatially smaller, overlapping modules, defining, by a processor, a hidden Markov model for each module, said hidden Markov model having a state space describing a grid of center points of objects within the module, observing, by a processor, detections of positions of possible objects at different times by performing image analysis of the sequence of images, considering, by a processor, a set of states at a point of time (t backtracking, by the processor, through the sequence of digital images for each hidden Markov model to shrink the set of states that are possible for earlier parts of the sequence of digital images, wherein said backtracking includes starting backtracking from each state in said set of states at a point of time (t wherein only the most probable state sequences are stored and wherein a sum of probabilities of discarded state sequences is calculated to verify that a global optimum is determined.