Estimating method of predicted motion vector

• US 9,420,306 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2012
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Novatek Microelectronics Corporation (Novatek Microelectronics Corp Limited)
• Original Assignee: Novatek Microelectronics Corporation (Novatek Microelectronics Corp Limited)
• Inventors: Chen, Tsui-Chin, Liu, Yu-Shu, Hsieh, Wan-Hsi, Hu, Yu-Tsung
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jay
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huang, Frank
• Application Number:
  US13/345,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20130051473A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,681 Days
• Field of Search: 375/240.16
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/533 Motion estimation using multistep search, e.g. 2D-log search or one-at-a-time search [OTS]

Abstract

An estimation method of a predicted motion vector for an image block having one or more pixels, which includes calculating a pixel difference value corresponding to a current frame and a reference frame for each pixel of the image block, determining a pixel difference area according to the pixel difference values corresponding to the plurality of pixels, and determining a predicted motion vector according to the pixel difference area.

Claims

1. An estimation method of a predicted motion vector for an image block having one or more pixels, the estimation method comprising:

calculating a pixel difference value corresponding to a current frame and a reference frame which is generated based on at least one frame preceding to the current frame, for each pixel of the image block;

determining a pixel difference area corresponding to the current frame and the reference frame according to the pixel difference values corresponding to the plurality of pixels; and

determining a predicted motion vector of the image block according to the pixel difference area corresponding to the current frame and the reference frame, wherein the step of determining the predicted motion vector of the image block comprises;

determining at least one of a horizontal component and a vertical component of the predicted motion vector, according to at least one of a horizontal length and a vertical length of the pixel difference area.

2. The estimation method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating the pixel difference value corresponding to the current frame and the reference frame for each pixel of the image block comprises:

detecting a current pixel value corresponding to the current frame and a reference pixel value corresponding to the reference frame for each pixel of the image block; and

calculating a difference value between the current pixel value and the reference pixel value as the pixel difference value.

3. The estimation method of claim 2, wherein each of the current pixel value and the reference pixel value is a brightness value, and the pixel difference value is a brightness difference value.

4. The estimation method of claim 2, wherein each of the current pixel value and the reference pixel value is a chroma value, and the pixel difference value is a chroma difference value.

5. The estimation method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the pixel difference area corresponding to the current frame and the reference frame according to the pixel difference values corresponding to the plurality of pixels comprises:

comparing the pixel difference value of each pixel with a variation threshold value to generate a comparison result; and

selecting pixels having pixel difference values greater than the variation threshold value to form the pixel difference area corresponding to the current frame and the reference frame according to the comparison result.

6. The estimation method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the predicted motion vector according to the pixel difference area corresponding to the current frame and the reference frame comprises determining a direction of the predicted motion vector according to a correlation between a shape of the pixel difference area and an object.

7. The estimation method of claim 6, wherein the step of determining the predicted motion vector according to the pixel difference area corresponding to the current frame and the reference frame comprises determining the direction of the predicted motion vector according to a correlation between the shape of the pixel difference area and an edge of the object.

8. The estimation method of claim 1, wherein the reference frame is a previous frame.