Apparatus and method for detecting motion in continuous images

The motion detection apparatus of 1, wherein the first color signal motion detector comprises:

• a low pass filter adapted to low-pass-filter the first frame signal, the second frame signal and the third frame signal, and to output a first frame first color component signal, a second frame first color component signal and a third frame first color component signal;
• a first subtracter adapted to calculate a difference between the second frame first color component signal and the third frame first color component signal;
• a second subtracter adapted to calculate a difference between the second frame first color component signal and the first frame first color component signal;
• and
• a comparator adapted to output the first color motion flag indicating that there is no first color motion in the color image when a first first color difference value output from the first subtracter is smaller than the first color motion threshold value and a second first color difference value output from the second subtracter is smaller than the first color motion threshold value.

A motion detection method for determining motion in an image, the method comprising:

• receiving a first frame signal, a second frame signal and a third frame signal, and determining whether there is motion in a black-and-white image;
• receiving the first frame signal, the second frame signal and the third frame signal, and determining whether there is first color motion in a color image;
• receiving the first frame signal and the third frame signal, and determining whether there is second color motion in the color image;
• and
• outputting a final motion flag in accordance with the black-and-white motion determination, the first color motion determination and the second color motion determination.

An article of manufacture having a non-transitory machine-accessible medium storing program instruction that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method of determining motion in an image, the method comprising:

• receiving a first frame signal, a second frame signal and a third frame signal, and determining whether there is motion in a black-and-white image;
• receiving the first frame signal, the second frame signal and the third frame signal, and determining whether there is first color motion in a color image;
• receiving the first frame signal and the third frame signal, and determining whether there is second color motion in the color image;
• and
• outputting a final motion flag in accordance with the black-and-white motion determination, the first color motion determination and the second color motion determination.