System for estimating motion vector with instant estimation of motion vector

Abstract

A motion vector estimating system comprises a current image storing unit 1, a reference image storing unit 2, a motion vector estimating circuit 3 for estimating a motion of a current image in relation to a reference image, and a global motion vector estimating circuit 10. The global motion vector estimating circuit 10 comprises at least a feature setting part 11 for setting and recording a feature being a partial region distinguishable from other regions of a principle object in a picture, a feature-coordinates extracting part 12 for searching the current image for the feature to extract the coordinates of the feature, and a feature-coordinates storing part 13 for storing the coordinates of the feature. When the feature-coordinates extracting part 12 extracts the coordinates of the feature from the current image, the motion vector estimating system derives a difference between the feature coordinates stored in the storing part 13 and the extracted feature coordinates on the basis of a feature presence information outputted from the feature-coordinates extracting part 12, in order to estimate a global motion vector. When the feature-coordinates extracting part 12 has not could extract the feature, the motion vector estimating system carries out the usual motion vector estimation. Thus, in addition to the usual motion vector estimation, the presence and coordinates of a feature are extracted from the whole screen of a picture to detect a motion vector to retrieve a correct motion vector at the initial stage of the retrieval, so that it is possible to save the electric power and decrease the estimation time.

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