001/**
002 * Copyright (c) 2011, The University of Southampton and the individual contributors.
003 * All rights reserved.
004 *
005 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification,
006 * are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
007 *
008 *   *  Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
009 *      this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
010 *
011 *   *  Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
012 *      this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
013 *      and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
014 *
015 *   *  Neither the name of the University of Southampton nor the names of its
016 *      contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
017 *      software without specific prior written permission.
018 *
019 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
020 * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
021 * WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
022 * DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR
023 * ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
024 * (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
025 * LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
026 * ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
027 * (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
028 * SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
029 */
030package org.openimaj.image.processing.face.tracking;
031
032import java.util.List;
033
034import org.openimaj.image.Image;
035import org.openimaj.image.processing.face.detection.DetectedFace;
036
037/**
038 *      An interface for classes that are able to track faces within images. 
039 * 
040 *  @author David Dupplaw (dpd@ecs.soton.ac.uk)
041 *      
042 *      @created 13 Oct 2011
043 *
044 *  @param <I> The type of image on which the face tracker will operate
045 */
046public interface FaceTracker<I extends Image<?,I>>
047{
048        /**
049         *      Given the image, can a face be tracked on the image. The implementation
050         *      must deal with finding the face in the first place, if this is the first
051         *      frame it's seen, and it must deal with storage of state as the tracking
052         *      takes place.
053         * 
054         *  @param img The image to track a face in
055         *  @return A list of detected/tracked faces which could be empty
056         *      if no faces are found in the image. 
057         */
058        public List<DetectedFace> trackFace( I img );
059}