Contour-based motion estimation and object tracking for real-time applications

A new approach for fast motion estimation and object tracking is presented. Motion is estimated along contours, which are tracked over time. Contour tracking can easily be extended to object tracking. To track contours a transformation is estimated which allows an optimal match of contour parts. This is measured by distance values. Using the distance transformation of contour images, contour tracking can be formulated as a correlation approach. Contour tracking works robustly in real-world image sequences. Furthermore it allows real-time implementations of motion estimation and object tracking on a Pentium III processor. This is essential for using motion information in real-time applications.