US 6,687,295 B1 · Method and apparatus for motion estimation for encoding sequential frames

Abstract

A method and apparatus for motion estimation for encoding sequential frames is described. One embodiment of the invention provides efficiency by checking only four points surrounding a given point. Scores may be calculated corresponding to a level of difference between the given point in a reference frame and the points in a candidate frame. The efficiency may be further enhanced by storing scores of previously examined points for later use. The scores may be stored in a table. The table may be initialized to have invalid scores or scores corresponding to a great difference along search window boundaries to prevent searching outside of the search window boundaries. One embodiment of the invention implements a sliding window technique for efficient computation.

Claims44

Dependent claims

A method of motion estimation for encoding sequential frames comprising the steps of:

dividing a reference frame of the sequential frames into a plurality of reference frame blocks;
dividing a first reference frame block of the plurality of reference frame blocks into a plurality of reference frame block regions;
averaging over a first reference frame block region of the plurality of reference frame block regions to obtain a first average;
defining a first candidate block in a current frame;
dividing the first candidate block into a plurality of candidate block regions;
averaging over a plurality of first candidate frame block regions of the plurality of candidate frame block regions to obtain a plurality of averages;
using the first average and the plurality of averages to determine a similarity of the first reference frame block to a plurality of regions of the first candidate block.

4 more elements

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of motion estimation for encoding sequential frames, the method comprising the steps of:

dividing a reference frame of the sequential frames into a plurality of reference frame blocks;
dividing a first reference frame block of the plurality of reference frame blocks into a plurality of reference frame block regions;
averaging over a first reference frame block region of the plurality of reference frame block regions to obtain a first average;
defining a first candidate block in a current frame;
dividing the first candidate block into a plurality of candidate block regions;
averaging over a plurality of first candidate frame block regions of the plurality of candidate frame block regions to obtain a plurality of averages;
using the first average and the plurality of averages to determine a similarity of the first reference frame block to a plurality of regions of the first candidate block.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method and apparatus for motion estimation for encoding sequential frames

Life of this patent

Method and apparatus for motion estimation for encoding sequential frames

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims44