Moving object segmentation in video sequences by user interaction and automatic object tracking

Abstract

The new MPEG-4 video coding standard consists of object based coding schemes for multimedia and enables content based functionalities. In order to apply the MPEG-4 visual standard, each frame of video sequences should be represented in terms of video object planes (VOFs). Video objects in still pictures or video sequences should be first identified before the encoding process starts. It requires a prior decomposition of sequences into VOPs so that each VOP represents an object. This paper addresses a user-assisted video segmentation method for separating moving objects from the background in video sequences. The proposed method comprises of intra-frame and inter-frame segmentation modules. The intra-frame segmentation incorporates user interaction in defining a high level semantic object of interest to be segmented and detects precise object boundary. The inter-frame segmentation involves boundary and region tracking to capture temporal coherence of moving objects with accurate object boundary information. The proposed method exhibits a consistent and faithful segmentation performance for various types of video sequences. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.