MOTION DETECTION USING NORMAL OPTICAL FLOW

A system and method allow for the detection, segmentation and analysis of regions of motion. The system and method use a motion history image generated by observing an object over a given period of time. The motion history image contains numerous regions captured at different time intervals. In one method, the most recent region(s) are located and adjacent older regions are labeled with a unique identifier to perform a down fill operation. Each down fill operation can identify a single motion contained in the motion history image. If a down filled region of the motion history image contains more than one movement, separate up fill operations can be performed to help separate the movements. Each up fill operation begins at a set of oldest or lowest value regions and progresses toward the most recent region. The down fill and up fill operations can be combined to provide an image mask(s) to separate the multiple motions from the motion history image.