On the analysis of accumulative difference pictures from image sequences of real world scenes.

The count of events where sample areas from the second and subsequent frames of a TV-image sequence are incompatible with the corresponding sample area of the first frame are accumulated in a first-order difference picture (FODP). Analysis of this FODP provides a separate estimate for images of moving objects and of stationary scene components. We start from the hypothesis that the first frame represents the stationary scene component. Once it has been recognized that a subarea of this initial estimate corresponds to the image of a moving object, the grey values in this subarea are replaced by later estimates of the stationary background at this position. No knowledge specific to a particular scene is utilized in the algorithm. The results for two scene sequences are presented.