Patent Document ID: 20150310628
Application ID: 14261510
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A video image processing method for tracking objects, the method comprising: receiving a video image frame including video data; updating locations of existing object trackers based on the received video data; identifying regions in the video image that qualify as object detection blobs based on the video data and blob classification rules; for each identified object detection blob: determining if an existing tracker is associated with a location within the blob region; increasing an age or importance parameter value of any infant tracker that is the only tracker determined to be associated with the object detection blob; increasing an age or importance parameter value of any infant tracker that is the oldest infant tracker or is associated with the highest valued importance parameter among a plurality of infant trackers that are associated with the object detection blob, if the object detection blob is not associated with an existing adult tracker; initializing an infant tracker for each identified object detection blob region that is not associated with at least one existing tracker; decreasing the age or importance parameter value of any infant tracker associated with a location within the blob region that is also associated with an adult tracker or is also associated with at least one infant tracker having an older age or greater importance parameter value than the infant tracker; and promoting to adult tracker status any infant tracker having an age or importance parameter value above a threshold age or importance parameter value.