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Abstract

A tracking software module for tracking a moving image entity in a video display has an interface for receiving and processing a video data stream while the video presentation provided by the data stream is presented on a display as a series of bitmapped images having a moving image entity to be tracked. There is in the module a graphical user interface usable by an editor for creating, selecting and centering a predefined matrix of signature pixel positions on the moving entity to be tracked in a first frame of the video presentation, and for initiating a tracking process. A determination function determines the color values of the signature pixels in the first frame and stores the values as an image signature. An estimation function assumes a next position for the moving entity, and a test function determines the color signature of the signature pixels at the assumed position and at a plurality of test positions in the immediate vicinity of the assumed position and tests the determined values against the color signature recorded for the entity. Finally a recording function accepts the position wherein the pixel signature most closely matches the image signature; in each frame, and a data stream synchronous with the input data stream and having centerpoint coordinates frame-by-frame for the moving entity is provided as a result.

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