METHOD OF FORMING AN IMAGE USING BLOCK MATCHING AND MOTION COMPENSATED INTERPOLATION

• US 20070140347A1
• Filed: 12/20/2006
• Published: 06/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Medison Co., Ltd. (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Medison Co., Ltd. (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Song, Young, Kim, Hye, MOON, Joo, Song, Jae
• Application Number:
  US11/613,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20070140347A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/240.160
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4007 based on interpolation, e.g. bilinear interpolation image demosaicing G06T3/4015; edge-driven or edge-based scaling G06T3/403
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0127 by changing the field or frame frequency of the incoming video signal, e.g. frame rate converter
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/014 involving the use of motion vectors motion estimation and compensation in video coding H04N19/51

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention may provide a method of forming an image by using block matching algorithm and motion compensating interpolation, said method comprising: a) receiving neighboring first and second frames, each frame being divided into a plurality of blocks; b) checking whether to form an interpolation frame to be inserted between the first and second frames based on a correlation between the first and second frames; c) if it is determined to form the interpolation frame, determining a first motion vector between each block in the interpolation frame and each block in the first frame, and determining a second motion vector between each of the blocks in the interpolation frame and each of the blocks in the second frame; d) determining a motion vector of each block in the interpolation frame based on the first and second motion vectors; e) reconstructing the interpolation frame by applying the motion vector of each block, wherein pixel values of the interpolation frame are determined based on pixel values of the first and second frames; and f) if brokenness of the interpolation frame is less than a threshold, adopting the interpolation frame.

Claims

1. A method of forming an image, comprising:

a) receiving neighboring first and second frames, each frame being divided into a plurality of blocks;

b) checking whether to form an interpolation frame to be inserted between the first and second frames based on a correlation between the first and second frames;

c) if it is determined to form the interpolation frame, determining a first motion vector between each block in the interpolation frame and each block in the first frame, and determining a second motion vector between each of the blocks in the interpolation frame and each of the blocks in the second frame;

d) determining a motion vector of each block in the interpolation frame based on the first and second motion vectors;

e) reconstructing the interpolation frame by applying the motion vector of each block, wherein pixel values of the interpolation frame are determined based on pixel values of the first and second frames; and

f) if brokenness of the interpolation frame is less than a threshold, adopting the interpolation frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step b) includes:

b1) comparing the correlation with a threshold;

b2) if the correlation is less than the threshold, returning to the step a); and

b3) if the correlation is greater than the threshold, determining on forming the interpolation frame.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step c) includes:

c1) setting search windows in an identical size in the first and second frames with reference to a reference block in the interpolation frame;

c2) selecting a first block from the first frame;

c3) determining the first motion vector based on median coordinates of the reference block and median coordinates of the first block;

c4) determining the second block matched with the first block in the second frame; and

c5) determining the second motion vector based on median coordinates of the reference block and median coordinates of the second block.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein in the step c4), the second block is determined by searching matching with a change of a pixel interval according to a quantity of the first motion vector.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the step c4) includes:

c4) if the quantity of the first motion vector is equal to a threshold, searching a block matching the first block by spirally moving from a center of the search window by a first pixel interval;

c42) if the quantity of the first motion vector is greater than the threshold, searching a block matching the first block by spirally moving from a center of the search window by a second pixel interval longer than the first pixel interval; and

c43) if the block matching the first block is searched at the step c42), determining the second block by searching a block matching the first block by moving from the matched block by a third pixel interval shorter than the second pixel interval.

6. The method of claim 1, after the step c), further comprising smoothening the first and second motion vectors through using vector median filtering.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein in the step e), a plurality of interpolation frames are formed through an interpolation technique using weighted information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step f) includes:

f1) calculating a sum of absolute difference (SAD) between blocks in the interpolation frame; and

f2) if the number of blocks having SAD greater than a threshold is less than a reference number, adopting the interpolation frame.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

g) identifying whether each block in the interpolation frame is broken based on SAD; and

h) recovering broken blocks.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

g1) determining blocks to filter boundaries thereof; and

g2) filtering the determined blocks.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step g1) includes:

g11) calculating a difference between motion vectors of neighboring blocks in the interpolation frame; and

g12) determining the blocks to filter boundaries thereof based on the calculated difference between the motion vectors.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the blocks to be filtered are determined based on SAD of the blocks in the interpolation frame at step g1).

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the blocks to be filtered are determined based on the calculated difference between the motion vectors and SAD.