Multi-frame scene-flow estimation using a patch model and smooth motion prior

This paper addresses the problem of estimating the dense 3D motion of a scene over several frames using a set of calibrated cameras. Most current 3D motion estimation techniques are limited to estimating the motion over a single frame, unless a strong prior model of the scene (such as a skeleton) is introduced. Estimating the 3D motion of a general scene is difficult due to untextured surfaces, complex movements and occlusions. In this paper, we show that it is possible to track the surfaces of a scene over several frames, by introducing an effective prior on the scene motion. Experimental results show that the proposed method estimates the dense scene-flow over multiple frames, without the need for multiple-view reconstructions at every frame. Furthermore, the accuracy of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing the estimated motion against a ground truth