Object tracking method and system using iterative template matching

Abstract

A method and system for tracking a position and orientation of a target object that moves along a two-dimensional plane, a camera to generate video frames of the target object, and a processor configured to correct perspective scaling of a current one of the video frames; estimate a current location and angle of the target object using a motion model or its previous location/angle; cut out a region of interest from the current video frame around the estimated current location; resize the region of interest to shrink its size by a predetermined ratio M (width=width/M, height=height/M) or equivalently reducing the image resolution of the region of interest by the ratio M (resolution=resolution/M); track a new location of the target object by template matching the current region of interest with a previously stored template; and either conclude the tracked target object location and angle are accurate and updating the template if a stopping criterion is reached with indication of successful tracking, or proceed with a refinement method to refine the tracked location and angle until the stopping criterion is eventually reached.