초록 ▼

Methods and systems of the present invention obtain a motion vector between two frames of video image data. Specifically, methods and systems of the present invention may be used to estimate a motion vector for each macroblock of a current frame with respect to a reference frame in a multi-stage ope

Methods and systems of the present invention obtain a motion vector between two frames of video image data. Specifically, methods and systems of the present invention may be used to estimate a motion vector for each macroblock of a current frame with respect to a reference frame in a multi-stage operation. In a first stage, an application implementing the process of the present invention coarsely searches a first search area of the reference frame to obtain a candidate supermacroblock that best approximates a supermacroblock in the current frame. In a second stage, the supermacroblock is divided into a plurality of macroblocks. Each of the macroblocks is used to construct search areas which are then searched to obtain a candidate macroblock that best appropriates a macroblock in the current frame. Additional stages may be used to further fine-tune the approximation to the macroblock. The methods and systems of the present invention may be used in optimizing digital video encoders, decoders, and video format converters.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method for obtaining a motion vector between first and second frames of video image data, comprising the steps of:(a) determining a current macroblock of the first frame comprising a two-dimensional array of equal-sized block of pixel information;(b) determining a curre

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method for obtaining a motion vector between first and second frames of video image data, comprising the steps of:(a) determining a current macroblock of the first frame comprising a two-dimensional array of equal-sized block of pixel information;(b) determining a current supermacroblock of the first frame comprising the current macroblock and a plurality of macroblocks;(c) selecting a first search area of the second frame based on the current supermacroblock and a first search range;(d) determining a best candidate supermacroblock in the first search area based on a displacement criterion and the current supermacroblock;(e) dividing the best candidate supermacroblock into a plurality of candidate macroblocks;(f) selecting a plurality of second search areas of the second frame based on the plurality of candidate macroblocks and a second search range;(g) determining a first best candidate macroblock in one of the plurality of second search areas based on the displacement criterion and the current macroblock; and,(h) determining a first motion vector representing the distance between the current macroblock and the first best candidate macroblock.