A mixed-state CONDENSATION tracker with automatic model-switching

There is considerable interest in the computer vision community in representing and modelling motion. Motion models are used as predictors to increase the robustness and accuracy Of visual trackers, and as classifiers for gesture recognition. This paper presents a significant development of random sampling methods to allow automatic switching between multiple motion models as a natural extension of the tracking process. The Bayesian mixed-state framework is described in its generality, and the example of a bouncing ball is used to demonstrate that a mixed-state model can significantly improve tracking performance in heavy clutter. The relevance of the approach to the problem of gesture recognition is then investigated using a tracker which is able to follow the natural drawing action of a hand holding a pen, and switches state according to the hand's motion.