Video object tracking in the compressed domain using spatio-temporal Markov random fields

Despite the recent progress in both pixel-domain and compressed-domain video object tracking, the need for a tracking framework with both reasonable accuracy and reasonable complexity still exists. This paper presents a method for tracking moving objects in H.264/AVC-compressed video sequences using a spatio-temporal Markov random field (ST-MRF) model. An ST-MRF model naturally integrates the spatial and temporal aspects of the object's motion. Built upon such a model, the proposed method works in the compressed domain and uses only the motion vectors (MVs) and block coding modes from the compressed bitstream to perform tracking. First, the MVs are preprocessed through intracoded block motion approximation and global motion compensation. At each frame, the decision of whether a particular block belongs to the object being tracked is made with the help of the ST-MRF model, which is updated from frame to frame in order to follow the changes in the object's motion. The proposed method is tested on a number of standard sequences, and the results demonstrate its advantages over some of the recent state-of-the-art methods.