Active contours approach to object tracking in image sequences with complex background

Abstract Active contour models (“snakes”) are a powerful tool for deformable object tracking in moving images. But the existing snake models are not well-adapted for tracking corners and objects on a complex background. In this paper, we present a novel active contour model, the “Adjustable Polygons”, which is a set of active segments that can fit any object shape (including comers). A new energy based on textural characteristics of objects is also proposed, in order to resolve conflict situations while tracking objects on multiple contour background.