An image or video sequence is a series of two-dimensional (2-D) images sequen tially ordered in time. Image sequences can be acquired, for instance, by video, motion picture, X-ray, or acoustic cameras, or they can be synthetically gen erated by sequentially ordering 2-D still images as in computer graphics and animation. The use of image sequences in areas such as entertainment, visual communications, multimedia, education, medicine, surveillance, remote control, and scientific research is constantly growing as the use of television and video systems are becoming more and more common. The boosted interest in digital video for both consumer and professional products, along with the availability of fast processors and memory at reasonable costs, has been a major driving force behind this growth. Before we elaborate on the two major terms that appear in the title of this book, namely motion analysis and image sequence processing, we like to place them in their proper contexts within the range of possible operations that involve image sequences. In this book, we choose to classify these operations into three major categories, namely (i) image sequence processing, (ii) image sequence analysis, and (iii) visualization. The interrelationship among these three categories is pictorially described in Figure 1 below in the form of an "image sequence triangle.""

The range of applications in the area of motion analysis and image sequence processing is expanding with the steady increase in the use of video and television systems in a variety of different fields. A consequence of this expansion is the increased interest in research in this area. Motion Analysis and Image Sequence Processing brings together the fundamentals of various aspects of image sequence processing, as well as the most recent developments and applications. An image sequence is a series of two-dimensional images that are sequentially ordered in time. The analysis of image motion, and processing of image sequences using the motion information is becoming more and more important as video and television systems are finding an increasing number of applications in the areas of entertainment, robot vision, education, personal communications, multimedia, and scientific research. The importance of motion analysis and image sequence processing is due to two major factors. First, the information that needs to be obtained from the sequence may be inherently time-dependent. In that case, spatial information that can be obtained from a single image frame may not bear any useful information, and hence one must utilize temporal information by considering a sequence of images. Second, in some applications it may be advantageous to consider the processing of a sequence of images instead of individual images. This is because one can utilize the naturally existing temporal relationship among the frames of an image sequence to obtain results that are superior to those obtained by frame-by-frame processing of the sequence. Motion Analysis and Image Sequence Processing contains a coherent and rigorous discussion of recent fundamental developments, as well as applications of motion estimation and image sequence processing. Motion Analysis and Image Sequence Processing is a useful reference for engineers, industrial and academic research scientists, graduate students and faculty who are either already active in research in the field or planning to pursue research in one or more aspects of image sequence processing. This book can be used as the textbook in an advanced level course and as a reference. (ABSTRACT) The range of applications in the area of motion analysis and image sequence processing is expanding with the steady increase in the use of video and television systems in a variety of different fields. A consequence of this expansion is the increased interest in research in this area. Motion Analysis and Image Sequence Processing brings together the fundamentals of various aspects of image sequence processing, as well as the most recent developments and applications. An image sequence is a series of two-dimensional images that are sequentially ordered in time. The analysis of image motion, and processing of image sequences using the motion information is becoming more and more important as video and television systems are finding an increasing number of applications in the areas of entertainment, robot vision, education, personal communications, multimedia, and scientific research. The importance of motion analysis and image sequence processing is due to two major factors. First, the information that needs to be obtained from the sequence may be inherently time-dependent. Motion Analysis and Image Sequence Processing contains a coherent and rigorous discussion of recent fundamental developments, as well as applications of motion estimation and image sequence processing. Motion Analysis and Image Sequence Processing is a useful reference for engineers, industrial and academic research scientists, graduate students and faculty who are either already active in research in the field or planning to pursue research in one or more aspects of image sequence processing. This book can be used as the textbook in an advanced level course and as a reference.