The invention provides a target tracking method and a target tracking device in
video monitoring. The method comprises the steps that the state value corresponding to a target in a previous frame is obtained; a current frame is subjected to target detection, and the observed value corresponding to the target observing in the current frame is obtained; a
cost matrix is built according to the state value and the observing value, in addition, an EMD (earth mover's distance)
algorithm is applied for solving the
cost matrix, and an allocation matrix is obtained; and the target in the current frame is recognized according to the allocation matrix. The device comprises an obtaining module, a target detecting module, an operation module and a recognition module, wherein the obtaining module is used for obtaining the state value corresponding to the target in the previous frame, the target detecting module is used for carrying out the target detection on the current frame to obtain the observed value corresponding to the target observing in the current frame, the operation module is used for building the
cost matrix according to the state value and the observing valve and applying the EMD
algorithm for solving the cost matrix to obtain the allocation matrix, and the recognition module is used for recognizing the target in the current frame according to the allocation matrix. When the target tracking method and the target tracking device are adopted, the accuracy can be improved.