Patent ID: 6954544

Claim:
A visual motion analysis method for analyzing an image sequence depicting a three-dimensional event including a plurality of objects moving relative to a background scene, the image sequence being recorded in a series of frames, each frame including image data forming a two-dimensional representation including a plurality of image regions depicting the moving objects and the background scene at an associated point in time, the method comprising: identifying a first moving object of the plurality of moving objects by comparing a plurality of frames of the image sequence and identifying a first image region of the image sequence including the first moving object, wherein the first image region includes a central portion surrounded by an outer edge; and generating a layered global model including a background layer and a foreground component, wherein the foreground component includes exclusive spatial support region including image data located in the central portion of the first image region, and a probabilistic boundary region surrounding the exclusive spatial support region and including image data associated with the outer edge of the first image region.