Method and apparatus for motion estimation

1. A method of estimating motion between a pair of image frames of a given scene comprising the steps of:

a) calculating respective integral images for each of said image frames;

b) selecting at least one corresponding region of interest within each frame; and

c) for each region of interest:

i. calculating an integral image profile from each integral image, each profile comprising an array of elements, each element comprising a sum of pixel intensities from successive swaths of said region of interest for said frame;

ii. correlating said integral image profiles to determine a relative displacement of said region of interest between said pair of frames; and

iii. dividing each region of interest into a plurality of further regions of interest; and

d) repeating step c) until a required hierarchy of estimated motion for successively divided regions of interest is provided, wherein said calculating an integral image profile comprises sub-sampling said integral image at a first sub-sampling interval at a first selected level of said required hierarchy and for each repetition of step c), sub-sampling said integral image at successively smaller sub-sampling intervals.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein step b) comprises initially selecting a complete image frame as a region of interest.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said dividing comprises dividing each region horizontally and vertically into an integer number of regions of interest.

4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein said integer number is 2.

5. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising: designating a first of said image frames as a reference frame and a second of said image frames as a target frame, displacing said divided regions of said target frame at one level of said required hierarchy according to a relative displacement determined for a region of interest corresponding to said divided regions of interest at a higher level of the required hierarchy.

6. A method according to claim 5 , wherein said displacing is responsive to said correlating determining more than one displacement within said region of interest for displacing said divided regions of interest within said target image differently according to said more than one displacement.

7. A method according to claim 5 , wherein said dividing is responsive to said correlating determining more than one displacement within said region of interest for determining a non-uniform division of said region of interest and for dividing said region of interest differently according to said non-uniform division.

8. A method according to claim 5 , further comprising calculating a full size integral image for a target frame and calculating a reduced size integral image for a reference frame, said reduced size integral image comprising only integral image data for pixels of said reference frame corresponding to boundaries of regions of interest within said required hierarchy.

9. A method according to claim 8 , further comprising selecting said reference and target frames from a sequence of image frames so that said reference frame alternately precedes and succeeds said target frame.

10. A method according to claim 5 , further comprising receiving from a camera motion sensor, a measure of a camera movement between said pair of image frames; and wherein said selecting comprises selecting a plurality of regions within said image, at least one region of interest within said target frame being displaced according to said measure of camera movement.

11. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising sampling each pixel of said integral image at a bottom level of said required hierarchy.

12. A method according to claim 11 , further comprising interpolating said integral image profiles for each of said image frames at bottom level of said required hierarchy to provide a sub-pixel measure of displacement for regions of interest at the bottom level of said required hierarchy.

13. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising generating a geometrical transformation indicating a relative movement of said pair of frames, based on an array of motion vectors determined for regions of interest at a bottom level of said required hierarchy.

14. A method according to claim 13 , further comprising filtering said motion vectors prior to said generating to eliminate outlying motion vectors.

15. A method according to claim 1 , wherein, for each repetition of step c), said sub-sampling intervals are halved.

16. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said relative displacement comprises one or both of vertical displacement or horizontal displacement.

17. A method of estimating motion between a pair of image frames of a given scene comprising:

a) receiving from a camera motion sensor, a measure of camera movement between said pair of image frames;

b) for a first of said image frames designated as a reference frame and for a second of said image frames designated as a target frame, calculating an integral image profile based on integral images of the reference and target frames;

c) selecting a plurality of regions of interest within each frame;

d) displacing at least one of said regions of interest within said target frame according to said measure of camera movement;

e) for each region of interest: i. based on the integral image profiles of the reference and target frames, correlating image information for said region of interest to determine a relative displacement of said region of interest between said pair of frames; and ii. dividing said region of interest into a plurality of further regions of interest; and

f) repeating step e) until a required hierarchy of estimated motion for successively divided regions of interest is provided, wherein said calculating an integral image profile comprises sub-sampling said integral images at a first sub-sampling interval at a first selected level of said required hierarchy and for each repetition of step e), sub-sampling said integral images at successively smaller sub-sampling intervals.

18. An image processing device arranged to acquire a sequence of image frames of a scene and to estimate motion between a pair of image frames of said scene, comprising:

an integral image generator that:

calculates a first integral image for a first image frame; and

calculates a second integral image for a second image frame;

a registration engine that performs the steps of:

selecting a plurality of corresponding regions of interest within the first image frame and the second image frame; and

for each region of interest of the plurality of corresponding regions of interest:

calculating a first integral image profile based on the first integral image and a second integral image profile based on the second integral image;

correlating the first integral image profile with the second integral image profile to determine a relative displacement of the region of interest between the first image frame and the second image frame;

dividing each region of interest into a plurality of further regions of interest; and

repeating the calculating, correlating, and dividing steps until a hierarchy of estimated motion for successively divided regions of interest is provided, wherein the registration engine calculates each integral image profile by sub-sampling said integral images at a first sub-sampling interval at a first selected level of said hierarchy and, for each repetition of dividing, sub-sampling said integral images at successively smaller sub-sampling intervals.

19. An image processing device according to claim 18 , further comprising any one of a digital camera, a video camera, a camera phone or a camera enabled tablet device.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more computer readable instructions which, when executed on an image processing device, cause the image processing device to perform:

calculating a first integral image for a first image frame;

calculating a second integral image for a second image frame;

selecting a plurality of corresponding regions of interest within the first image frame and the second image frame; and

for each region of interest of the plurality of corresponding regions of interest:

calculating a first integral image profile based on the first integral image and a second integral image profile based on the second integral image;

correlating said integral image profiles to determine a relative displacement of said region of interest between said first and second image frames; and

dividing each region of interest into a plurality of further regions of interest; and

repeating the calculating, correlating and dividing steps until a hierarchy of estimated motion for successively divided regions of interest is provided, wherein said calculating the first and second integral image profiles comprises sub-sampling each integral image at a first sub-sampling interval at a first selected level of said hierarchy and, for each repetition of dividing, sub-sampling each integral image at successively smaller sub-sampling intervals.