Digital image segmenting method and device

A method of tracking regions in an image segmented by a digital image segmenting method, which comprises grouping an image data stream into a plurality of frame groups, setting, in each of said frame groups, one arbitrary frame as an I frame and the other frames as P frames, segmenting said I frame into a plurality of regions, obtaining a motion vector for each of said plurality of regions of said I frame with respect to one of said P frames in a corresponding frame group, segmenting said one of said P frames by moving each of said plurality of regions of said I frame by a corresponding motion vector in said I frame, and setting each moved I frame region as a segmented P frame region in said one of said P frames, and repeating said obtaining step and said segmenting step for remaining ones of said P frames in said corresponding frame group, said tracking method comprising:

• tracking said plurality of regions of said I frame using an affine motion compensation method of moving one of said plurality of regions of said I frame in one of said plurality of frame groups with respect to an I frame in another one of said plurality of frame groups by a predetermined displacement, determining a region of said I frame in said another one of said plurality of frame groups which has a minimum difference from said one of said plurality of regions of said I frame in said one of said plurality of frame groups, and setting said region as an affine matching region in said another one of said plurality of frame groups;
• and
• tracking a segmented P frame region corresponding to said one of said plurality of regions of said I frame based upon said affine matching region.

A digital image segmentation device, comprising:

• a grouping unit which groups an image data stream into a plurality of frame groups and which sets, in each of said frame groups, one arbitrary frame as an I frame and the other frames as P frames;
• an I frame segmenting unit which receives and segments said I frame into a plurality of regions, and outputs segmented I frame regions;
• an affine matching unit which receives said segmented I frame regions and said P frames in a corresponding frame group, and which determines a motion vector for each of said segmented I frame regions with respect to each one of said P frames;
• and
• a P frame segmenting unit which receives each one of said P frames and said motion vector for each of said segmented I frame regions, and segments each one of said P frames by moving said segmented I frame regions by a corresponding motion vector and setting each moved I frame region as a segmented P frame region in each one of said P frames.

A digital image segmentation device, comprising:

• means for grouping an image data stream into a plurality of frame groups and seting, in each of said frame groups, one arbitrary frame as an I frame and the other frames as P frames;
• means for receiving and segmenting said I frame into a plurality of regions, and outputting segmented I frame regions;
• means for receiving said segmented I frame regions and said P frames in a corresponding frame group, and determining a motion vector for each of said segmented I frame regions with respect to each one of said P frames;
• and
• means for receiving each one of said P frames and said motion vector or each of said segmented I frame regions, and segmenting each one of said P frames by moving said segmented I frame regions by a corresponding motion vector and setting each moved I frame region as a segmented P frame region in each one of said P frames.