Classifier grids for robust adaptive object detection

In this paper we present an adaptive but robust object detector for static cameras by introducing classifier grids. Instead of using a sliding window for object detection we propose to train a separate classifier for each image location, obtaining a very specific object detector with a low false alarm rate. For each classifier corresponding to a grid element we estimate two generative representations in parallel, one describing the object´s class and one describing the background. These are combined in order to obtain a discriminative model. To enable to adapt to changing environments these classifiers are learned on-line (i.e., boosting). Continuously learning (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) requires a stable system. In our method this is ensured by a fixed object representation while updating only the representation of the background. We demonstrate the stability in a long-term experiment by running the system for a whole week, which shows a stable performance over time. In addition, we compare the proposed approach to state-of-the-art methods in the field of person and car detection. In both cases we obtain competitive results.