Identification and 3D description of `shallow´ environmental structure in a sequence of images

A framework is presented for segmenting shallow structures from their background over a sequence of images. Shallowness is first quantified as affine describability. This is embedded in a tracking system within which hypothesized model structures undergo a cycle of prediction and model-matching. Structures emerge either as shallow or non-shallow based on their affine trackability. This paper rejects continuity heuristics for purely image motion in favor of temporal continuity defined as the consistency of generic 3-D models, namely shallow structures