Computing optical flow based on the mass-conserving assumption

The image formation process involves both geometric and photometric aspects. The definition of optical flow is descriptive and the conformity of optical flow to motion flow is closely related to the algorithm, or the assumption that one takes for optical flow computation. This paper presents an algorithm for optical flow computation based on the mass-conserving assumption by first showing that this assumption is valid under appropriate conditions in both geometric and photometric views. Further discussions on these issues and preliminary experimental results are given.