Distinguishing—in an image—human beings in a crowd

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method performed by a people distinguishing system () for in an image distinguishing human beings in a crowd. The people distinguishing system identifies () one or more detected objects classified as human beings () in an image () derived from a thermal camera () adapted to capture a scene in an essentially forward-looking angle. The people distinguishing system further identifies at least a first grouping () of adjoining pixels in the image, not comprised in the one or more detected human beings, having an intensity within a predeterminable intensity range. Moreover, the people distinguishing system determines () a grouping pixel area () of the at least first grouping in the image. Furthermore, the people distinguishing system determines () for at least a first vertical position (y) in the image, based on head size reference data (), an expected pixel area (x) of a human head at the at least first vertical position. The people distinguishing system further compares () at least a portion of the grouping pixel area with the expected head pixel area for the at least first vertical position. Moreover, the people distinguishing system determines () that the at least first grouping comprises at least a first overlapping human being (), when at least a first comparison resulting from the comparing exceeds a predeterminable conformity threshold. The disclosure also relates to a people distinguishing system in accordance with the foregoing, a thermal camera comprising such people distinguishing system, and a respective corresponding computer program product and non-volatile computer readable storage medium.