Patent US 5,912,980

A method for automatically locating a predetermined target class of objects in a video image stream, comprising the steps of determining typical colors found in objects of the predetermined target class, detecting a moving area in the video image stream, determining the colors in the moving area, and determining whether the moving area contains colors similar to the predetermined target class typical colors. Additionally the method allows tracking of such located target objects in subsequent frames of the video image stream based upon the colors in the target objects.