Method and apparatus for continuous time representation of multiple hypothesis tracking data
First Claim
1. A method of tracking objects comprising the steps of:
- generating a sequence of scans of a scene in which each scan includes a number of detections of potential targets;
establishing a set of primary tracks from a pool of potential targets, wherein a primary track includes the highest probability tracks within a particular cluster of the potential targets, each track being assigned a track number;
maintaining a running knowledge of the track numbers of previous scans which led to the assignment of the track numbers of a current scan;
eliminating redundant tracks by merging and deleting lower probability tracks;
generating a universal track file which contains a set of tracks that best represents the expected number of targets in the scene; and
outputting the universal track file to a system user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A multiple hypothesis tracking system (10) which generates a substantially continuous output to a system user. The multiple hypothesis tracking system (10) generates a primary set of tracks (12) which best represents the expected number of targets of interest in a cluster. For multiple sensor applications, a secondary set of tracks is generated having a less probability than the tracks in the primary set. A knowledge of track data is maintained from one scan to a subsequent scan such that tracks can be merged and deleted (14). A universal track file (16) is generated in which track associations from one scan to a subsequent scan are correlated such that the output of the track file remains consistent with respect to the number of tracks.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of tracking objects comprising the steps of:
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generating a sequence of scans of a scene in which each scan includes a number of detections of potential targets; establishing a set of primary tracks from a pool of potential targets, wherein a primary track includes the highest probability tracks within a particular cluster of the potential targets, each track being assigned a track number; maintaining a running knowledge of the track numbers of previous scans which led to the assignment of the track numbers of a current scan; eliminating redundant tracks by merging and deleting lower probability tracks; generating a universal track file which contains a set of tracks that best represents the expected number of targets in the scene; and outputting the universal track file to a system user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A multiple hypothesis tracking system for tracking multiple targets in a scene, said system comprising:
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means for generating a sequence of scans of the scene in which each scan includes a number of detections of potential targets; primary track generating means for generating a set of primary tracks from a pool of potential targets from the means for generating, wherein a primary track includes the highest probability tracks within a particular cluster of the potential targets, each primary track being assigned a track number, said primary track generating means maintaining a running knowledge of the track numbers of previous scans which led to the assignment of the track numbers of a current scan; track merging means for eliminating redundant tracks by merging and deleting lower probability tracks; universal track file means for generating a universal track file which contains a set of tracks that best represents the expected number of targets in a scene, and outputting means for outputting the universal track file to a system user. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification