System and method for tracking movement of objects in a scene

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Briefly, the present invention is directed to a system and method for tracking movement of objects, such as people, through a scene.
A background image comprising image information representing a background of the scene is generated.
Image information for a video frame is compared with image information of the background image to generate regions in a video frame which potentially represent objects to be tracked in the scene.
Region clusters are formed by combinations of regions if such combination satisfy predetermined criteria, and the region clusters are hypotheses of objects to be tracked.
Each region cluster is evaluated to determine whether each represents an object to be tracked, based on object model information and correspondence to region clusters in a prior video frame.
A confidence value is generated for each region clusters that represents a likelihood that the region represents an object to be tracked.
A correspondence is determined between region clusters in consecutive video frames.
Tracks of objects through the scene over time are constructed based upon the correspondence determined between region clusters in consecutive video frames.
The objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent when reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.