Background subtraction based on cooccurrence of image variations

This paper presents a novel background subtraction method for detecting foreground objects in dynamic scenes involving swaying trees and fluttering flags. Most methods proposed so far adjust the permissible range of the background image variations according to the training samples of background images. Thus, the detection sensitivity decreases at those pixels having wide permissible ranges. If we can narrow the ranges by analyzing input images, the detection sensitivity can be improved. For this narrowing, we employ the property that image variations at neighboring image blocks have strong correlation, also known as "cooccurrence". This approach is essentially different from chronological background image updating or morphological postprocessing. Experimental results for real images demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.