Structure-from-motion by tracking occlusion boundaries

Abstract

Active visual tracking of points on occlusion boundaries can simplify certain computations involved in determining scene structure and dynamics based on visual motion. Tracking is particularly effective at surface boundaries where large, discontinuous changes in depth are occurring. Two such techniques are described here. The first provides a measure of ordinal depth by distinguishing between occluding and occluded surfaces at a surface boundary. The second can be used to determine the direction of observer motion through a scene.