# US 11,122,291 B2 · Apparatus and method for motion estimation of isolated objects > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,122,291 B2 - Document ID: US11122291B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/792,897 - Filed: 2020-02-18 - Published: 2021-03-11 - Granted: 2021-09-14 - Earliest claimed: 2019-09-11 - Assignees: Realtek Semiconductor Corp. - Applicants: Realtek Semiconductor Corp. - Inventors: Guangyu San; Yanting Wang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11122291B2 ## CPC - H04N 19/56: Motion estimation with initialisation of the vector search, e.g. estimating a good candidate to initiate a search - G06T 7/215: Motion-based segmentation - G06T 7/223: using block-matching - G06T 7/254: involving subtraction of images - H04N 19/176: the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock - H04N 19/20: using video object coding - H04N 19/46: Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process (H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence) - H04N 19/513: Processing of motion vectors - H04N 19/521: {for estimating the reliability of the determined motion vectors or motion vector field, e.g. for smoothing the motion vector field or for correcting motion vectors} - H04N 19/57: Motion estimation characterised by a search window with variable size or shape - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL ## Abstract An apparatus and a method for motion estimation of isolated objects are provided. The apparatus includes a dividing circuit, a flag circuit, an analyzing circuit, a calculating circuit and a determination circuit. The dividing circuit divides each of a first image and a second image into a plurality of blocks. The flag circuit adds a flag to each block within the blocks having image information different from background information. The analyzing circuit analyzes continuity of the flag to find a target isolated object having a size less than or equal to a predetermined size. The calculating circuit obtains an initial motion vector of the target isolated object according to locations of the target isolated object in the first image and the second image. The determination circuit determines whether the initial motion vector is correct according to a sum of absolute differences corresponding to the initial motion vector. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An apparatus for motion estimation of isolated objects, comprising: a dividing circuit, configured to divide each of a first image and a second image into a plurality of blocks, wherein the first image and the second image are images of two consecutive frames; a flag circuit, coupled to the dividing circuit, configured to add a flag to each block within the blocks having image information different from background information to find one or more isolated objects via searching for consecutively adjacent flags; an analyzing circuit, coupled to the flag circuit, configured to analyze continuity of the flag in the first image and the second image to find a target isolated object having a size less than or equal to a predetermined size from the one or more isolated objects, wherein when a number of consecutively adjacent flags corresponding to a specific isolated object within the one or more isolated objects is greater than a predetermined number, the analyzing circuit discards the specific isolated object; a calculating circuit, coupled to the analyzing circuit, configured to obtain an initial motion vector of the target isolated object according to locations of the target isolated object in the first image and the second image; and a determination circuit, coupled to the calculating circuit, configured to determine whether the initial motion vector is correct according to a sum of absolute differences (SAD) corresponding to the initial motion vector. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in response to color information of said each block being different from color information of at least one surrounding region of said each block, the flag circuit adds the flag to said each block. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein when the SAD corresponding to the initial motion vector is greater than a threshold value, the initial motion vector is incorrect. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the location of the target isolated object in the first image is represented by a first block corresponding to the target isolated object in the first image, and the location of the target isolated object in the second image is represented by a second block corresponding to the target isolated object in the second image. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The apparatus of claim 4, wherein when the determination circuit determines the initial motion vector is incorrect, the determination circuit applies an offset to the location of the first block or the location of the second block to obtain a modified motion vector of the target isolated object, and determines whether the modified motion vector is correct according to an SAD corresponding to the modified motion vector. ### Claim 6 A method for motion estimation of isolated objects, comprising: utilizing a dividing circuit to divide each of a first image and a second image into a plurality of blocks, wherein the first image and the second image are images of two consecutive frames; utilizing a flag circuit to add a flag to each block within the blocks having image information different from background information to find one or more isolated objects via searching for consecutively adjacent flags; utilizing an analyzing circuit to analyze continuity of the flag in the first image and the second image to find a target isolated object having a size less than or equal to a predetermined size from the one or more isolated objects, and when a number of consecutively adjacent flags corresponding to a specific isolated object within the one or more isolated objects is greater than a predetermined number, utilizing the analyzing circuit to discard the specific isolated object; utilizing a calculating circuit to obtain an initial motion vector of the target isolated object according to locations of the target isolated object in the first image and the second image; and utilizing a determination circuit to determine whether the initial motion vector is correct according to a sum of absolute differences (SAD) corresponding to the initial motion vector. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the step of utilizing the flag circuit to add the flag to said each block within the blocks having image information different from background information to find the one or more isolated objects comprises: in response to color information of said each block being different from color information of at least one surrounding region of said each block, utilizing the flag circuit to add the flag to said each block. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein when the SAD corresponding to the initial motion vector is greater than a threshold value, the initial motion vector is incorrect. ### Claim 9 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the location of the target isolated object in the first image is represented by a first block corresponding to the target isolated object in the first image, and the location of the target isolated object in the second image is represented by a second block corresponding to the target isolated object in the second image. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, further comprising: when the determination circuit determines the initial motion vector is incorrect, utilizing the determination circuit to apply an offset to the location of the first block or the location of the second block to obtain a modified motion vector of the target isolated object, and determining whether the modified motion vector is correct according to an SAD corresponding to the modified motion vector.