Patent ID: 7400344

Claim:
An object tracking method for detecting and tracking a moving object in a picked-up image based on an image signal acquired by an imaging unit, comprising the steps of: a) producing a template image cut out from the image acquired from said imaging unit so as to include a part of said object; b) conducting a template matching by calculating correlations between a present image from said imaging unit and said template image, detecting a position of a part of said present image matched with said template image, and updating a position of a current template image by said detected position; c) detecting an image changing area between at least two frames of images picked up at different time points by said imaging unit; d) correcting said detected position of said object to a new position in which said image changing area is detected in a manner different from the detecting of a position of the part of said present image matched with said template image according to said template matching of said step b; and e) updating a template image by an image output as a new template image based on the updated position of said object, wherein said step b to said step e are repeatedly executed while tracking the object.