TextTrail: A robust text tracking algorithm in wild environments

Abstract

In this paper, we propose TextTrail, a robust new algorithm dedicated to text tracking in uncontrolled environments (strong motion of camera and objects, partial occlusions, blur, etc.). It is based on a particle filter framework whose correction step has been improved. First, we compare some likelihood functions and introduce a new one that integrates tangent distance. We show that the likelihood function has a strong influence on the text tracking performances. Secondly, we compare our tracker with another and finally present an example of application. TextTrail has been tested on real video sequences and has proven its efficiency. In particular, it can track texts in complex situations starting from only one detection step without needing another one to reinitialize the tracking model.