SOLUTION AND UNIQUENESS OF IMAGE FLOW EQUATIONS FOR RIGID CURVED SURFACES IN MOTION.

A method is described for interpreting image flow (or optical flow). Given the spatial derivatives of the image flow up to second order, closed-form solutions for the motion, orientation and curvatures of a rigid surface are derived. Some theoretical results concerning the existence of multiple interpretations are presented, along with numerical examples for some interesting cases where multiple solutions exist. The solution method described is simpler and more direct in comparison with previous methods. The method and the representation are part of a unified approach for the interpretation of image motion in a variety of cases (e. g. , planar/curved surfaces, constant/accelerated motion, etc. ).