Class-Based Matching of Object Parts

We develop a novel technique for class-based matching of object parts across large changes in viewing conditions. Given a set of images of objects from a given class under different viewing conditions, the algorithm identifies corresponding regions depicting the same object part in different images. The technique is based on using the equivalence of corresponding features in different viewing conditions. This equivalence-based matching scheme is not restricted to planar components or affine transformations. As a result, it identifies corresponding parts more accurately and under more general conditions than previous methods. The scheme is general and works for a variety of natural object classes. We demonstrate that using the proposed methods, a dense set of accurate correspondences can be obtained. Experimental comparisons to several known techniques are presented. An application to the problem of invariant object recognition is shown, and additional applications to wide-baseline stereo are discussed.