Simultaneous estimation of optical flow and 3D-motion parameters

Spatiotemporal gradient method is one of the methods to measure the velocity distribution (optical flow). This method utilizes the optical flow constraint that gradient and temporal derivative of image are related with flow velocity by a constraint equation, which is often referred to as optical flow equation. The method is effective in real-time visual sensing. However, the optical flow equation had a problem that it was necessary to assume that the motion of the target is translation even when it contains 3D-rotation or divergence in moving image. In this paper, we suggest the method that can estimate 3D motion parameters and optical flow at the same time by approximating the surface of interest on the object by tangential plane, and representing the 3D motion of objects.