System and method for electronic image stabilization
First Claim
1. In an electronic image stabilization method responsive to a sequence of successive pairs of image frames in digital form, wherein said method includes the steps of(a) employing an iteratively-operated feedback loop comprising a first image warper, a displacement estimator, an adder and a memory to reduce a most erroneous initial estimate of displacement between images depicted by each pair of image frames of said sequence to a least erroneous final estimate of displacement, and(b) storing said final estimate of displacement in said memory;
- the improvement comprising the further steps of;
(c) converting said final estimate of displacement stored in said memory into output transformation parameters in accordance with a given image-change model that includes at least one of zoom, parallax translation, rotation, dilation. and lens distortion; and
(d) employing a second image warper to warp a certain image frame of each of said successive pairs of image frames in accordance with said output transformation parameters.
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Abstract
The invention is a system and method for electronic stabilization of a image produced by an electronic imaging device. The input may be any sequence of image frames from an image source, such as a video camera, an IR or X-ray imager, radar, or from a storage medium such as computer disk memory, video tape or a computer graphics generator. The invention can also be used with images from multiple sources when these must be stabilized with respect to one another. The invention uses a feedback loop and second image warp stage to achieve precise image alignment as part of the displacement estimation process. The output of the stabilization system is a modified image sequence in which unwanted components of image motion have been reduced or removed, or in which new motion of a desired form has been introduced. The output may also include information derived from the input sequence, such as estimated frame-to-frame displacement vectors or motion flow fields, and derived image sequences with reduced noise or highlighted change.
191 Citations
15 Claims
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1. In an electronic image stabilization method responsive to a sequence of successive pairs of image frames in digital form, wherein said method includes the steps of
(a) employing an iteratively-operated feedback loop comprising a first image warper, a displacement estimator, an adder and a memory to reduce a most erroneous initial estimate of displacement between images depicted by each pair of image frames of said sequence to a least erroneous final estimate of displacement, and (b) storing said final estimate of displacement in said memory; - the improvement comprising the further steps of;
(c) converting said final estimate of displacement stored in said memory into output transformation parameters in accordance with a given image-change model that includes at least one of zoom, parallax translation, rotation, dilation. and lens distortion; and (d) employing a second image warper to warp a certain image frame of each of said successive pairs of image frames in accordance with said output transformation parameters. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- the improvement comprising the further steps of;
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8. In an electronic image stabilization apparatus responsive to a sequence of successive pairs of image frames in digital form;
- wherein said apparatus includes (a) an iteratively-operated feedback loop comprising a first image warper, a displacement estimator, an adder and a memory for reducing a most erroneous initial estimate of displacement between images depicted by each pair of image frames of said sequence to a least erroneous final estimate of displacement, and (b) means for storing said final estimate of displacement in said memory;
the improvement comprising;means for converting said final estimate of displacement stored in said memory into output transformation parameters in accordance with a given image-change model that includes at least one of zoom, parallax translation, rotation, dilation and lens distortion; and means for employing a second image warper to warp a certain image frame of each of said successive pairs of image frames in accordance with said output transformation parameters. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- wherein said apparatus includes (a) an iteratively-operated feedback loop comprising a first image warper, a displacement estimator, an adder and a memory for reducing a most erroneous initial estimate of displacement between images depicted by each pair of image frames of said sequence to a least erroneous final estimate of displacement, and (b) means for storing said final estimate of displacement in said memory;
Specification