Patent attributes
Optical flow refers to the pattern of apparent motion of objects, surfaces, and edges in a visual scene caused by the relative motion between an observer and a scene. Optical flow algorithms can be used to detect and delineate independently moving objects, even in the presence of camera motion. The present invention uses optical-flow algorithms to detect and remove marine snow particles from live video. Portions of an image scene which are identified as marine snow are reconstructed in a manner intended to reveal underwater scenery which had been occluded by the marine snow. Pixel locations within the regions of marine snow are replaced with new pixel values that are determined based on either historical data for each pixel or a mathematical operation, such as one which uses data from neighboring pixels.
