Tracking multiple objects through occlusions

• Published in: 2005 IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR'05) Vol. 2; p. 1182 vol. 2
• Main Authors: Huang, Y., Essa, M.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2005
• Subjects: Computer interfaces; Constraint optimization; Educational institutions; Games; Genetic algorithms; Intrusion detection; Prototypes; Surveillance; User interfaces; Video sequences
• DOI: 10.1109/CVPR.2005.351
• ISBN: 0769523722; 9780769523729
• ISSN: 1063-6919

Visual tracking of multiple objects with continuous interactions is important for many applications such as surveillance and effective user interfaces. Complex interactions between objects results in both temporally and spatially significant occlusions, making multi-object tracking a challenging problem. We present an approach for tracking varying number of objects through significant occlusions. Our approach builds on the idea of object permanence. That is, partially or fully occluded objects, even though not observable, still exist in the close proximity of their occluders. To demonstrate the viability of this approach, we have concentrated on tracking hands and objects as a person interacts with multiple objects on a desktop. We experimented with 5 indoor video sequences and present the results of two representative ones: lego sequence and shell game.