SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MOTION VECTOR ESTIMATION USING CONTENT ASSOCIATIVITY
A method and apparatus that is able to favor keeping objects in motion intact is provided. Additionally a method and apparatus regularizing a motion vector field that has been previously determined by a traditional algorithm is provided. Finally, a mechanism is provided that allows for improving a contextual understanding of an object structure even when the group of pixels under consideration is much smaller than the object in motion.
1 . A method of motion estimation, the method comprising:
determining a first motion estimate by comparing a first portion from a first image to a second portion from a second image;
determining a second motion estimate by comparing a third portion from said first image to a fourth portion from said second image calculating a cost element, based on said first and second motion estimates, wherein the cost element determines a cost of dissociating said first portion from said third portion; and
generating a plurality of motion vectors based on said motion estimates and the cost element.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the cost element further comprises:
calculating a contour integral of an image; and
calculating a weighting function, wherein the weighting function captures the behavior of a candidate motion vector.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first motion estimate is determined using block matching.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first motion estimate is determined using phase plane correlation.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the contour integral is determined using a watershed algorithm.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating a value for a dissimilarity in direction and dissimilarity in magnitude of two motion vectors; and
calculating a cost element including the value for the dissimilarity in direction and the dissimilarity in magnitude.
7 . A system for motion estimation, the system comprising:
a processor configured to determine a first motion estimate by comparing a first portion from a first image to a second portion from a second image and to determine a second motion estimate by comparing a third portion from said first image to a fourth portion from said second image calculating a cost element, based on said first and second motion estimates, wherein the cost element determines a cost of dissociating said first portion from said third portion; and
a motion vector generator to generate a plurality of motion vectors based on the second motion estimate and the cost element.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the first motion estimate using block matching.
9 . The system of claim 7 , further comprising:
a phase plane correlator configured to determine the first motion estimate using phase plane correlation.
10 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the first motion estimate using optical flow.
11 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the first motion estimate is based on a fit error.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the fit error using a sum of absolute differences calculation.
13 . The system of claim 7 , further comprising:
the processor configured to determine a dissimilarity in direction and determining a dissimilarity in magnitude of two motion vectors; and
the motion vector estimator configured to calculate the cost element based on the dissimilarity in direction and dissimilarity in magnitude of two motion vectors.
14 . A method of motion estimation, the method comprising:
determining a first motion estimate for a first portion of an image;
determining a second motion estimate for a second portion of said image, located in proximity to said first portion;
calculating a cost element, based on said first and second motion estimates, wherein the cost element determines a cost of dissociating said first portion from said third portion; and
determining whether or not to separate said first and second portions based upon said cost element.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein calculating the cost element further comprises:
calculating a contour integral of an image; and
calculating a weighting function, wherein the weighting function captures the behavior of a candidate motion vector.
16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the motion estimate is determined using block matching.
17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the motion estimate is determined using phase plane correlation.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the contour integral is determined using a watershed algorithm.
19 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
calculating a value for a dissimilarity in direction and dissimilarity in magnitude of two motion vectors; and
calculating a cost element including the value for the dissimilarity in direction and the dissimilarity in magnitude.
20 . A method for generating an image using motion vectors, the method comprising:
determining a first motion estimate by comparing a first portion from a first image to a second portion from a second image;
determining a second motion estimate by comparing a third portion from said first image to a fourth portion from said second image calculating a cost element, based on said first and second motion estimates, wherein the cost element determines a cost of dissociating said first portion from said third portion;
generating a plurality of motion vectors based on said motion estimates and the cost element; and
generating at least one image using the plurality of generated motion control vectors.