Patent ID: 6192080
Filing Date: 2001-02-20
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
In an electronic image sequence reproduction system, wherein digitally encoded picture information is supplied, including true motion vector data associated with individual blocks of image information, a method of image data interpolation comprising:decoding from said digitally encoded picture information said true motion vector data for said blocks of image information, with said true motion vector data being dependent in part on neighboring image block proximity weighting factors;interpolating from supplied picture information, image sequence signal data corresponding to intermediate image time intervals absent from said supplied picture information, said absent image time intervals corresponding to intermediate image information occurring during said intermediate image time intervals in sequence between supplied image time intervals associated with said supplied picture information, said interpolating comprising the steps ofconstructing image pixels for image blocks in each said intermediate image time interval, based upon corresponding pixels in corresponding blocks in said supplied picture information occurring immediately before and after said intermediate image time interval, by distributing to constructed image pixels a fractional portion of image intensity difference information between said corresponding pixels occurring before and after said intermediate time to produce averaged intensity pixels for said intermediate image time interval;associating with each constructed image pixel in each said intermediate time interval a corresponding true motion vector equal in magnitude to a fractional part of the true motion vector information associated with the block in which the corresponding pixel is located in a reference supplied time interval, said fractional part being determined according to the number of intermediate image time intervals inserted between supplied time intervals; andassociating each said constructed averaged intensity pixel with a spatial location in said intermediate image time interval according to said fractional part of said corresponding decoded true motion vector.