Integrating feature maps and competitive layer architectures for motion segmentation

We present a generic approach to integrate feature maps with a competitive layer architecture to enable segmentation by a competitive neural dynamics specified in terms of the latent space mappings constructed by the feature maps. We demonstrate the underlying ideas for the case of motion segmentation, using a system that employs Unsupervised Kernel Regression (UKR) for the creation of the feature maps, and the Competitive Layer Model (CLM) for the competitive layer architecture. The UKR feature maps hold learned representations of a set of candidate motions and the CLM dynamics, working on features defined in the UKR domain, implements the segmentation of observed trajectory data according to the competing candidates. We also demonstrate how the introduction of an additional layer can provide the system with a parametrizable rejection mechanism for previously unknown observations. The evaluation on trajectories describing four different letters yields improved classification results compared to our previous, pure manifold approach. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.