Tracking with the EM Contour Algorithm

A novel active-contour method is presented and applied to pose refinement and tracking. The main innovation is that no "features" are detected at any stage: contours are simply assumed to remove statistical dependencies between pixels on opposite sides of the contour. This assumption, together with a simple model of shape variability of the geometric models, leads to the application of an EM method for maximizing the likelihood of pose parameters. In addition, a dynamical model of the system leads to the application of a Kalman filter. The method is demonstrated by tracking motor vehicles with 3-D models.

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