Patent ID: 8325815
Filing Date: 2012-12-04
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A method of hierarchical motion estimation, comprising: downsampling a reference frame and a current frame; storing the downsampled reference frame; generating a coarse motion vector (MV) map according to the downsampled reference frame and the downsampled, current frame; retrieving and then storing scan lines adjacent to a center scan line corresponding to a downsampled scan line in the downsampled reference frame; and generating a refined MV map according to the coarse MV map, the current frame and the stored scan lines adjacent to the center scan line; wherein a height of the reference/current frame is downsampled, by a downsampling factor of N, and a width of the reference/current frame is downsampled, by a downsampling factor of M, such that one pixel is selected every N pixels vertically, and one pixel is selected every M pixels horizontally, thereby causing a size of the reference frame to be reduced, by (1/N)*(1/M), with N and M being positive integers; wherein the stored scan lines adjacent to the center scan line comprises: N scan lines above the center scan line; and N scan lines below the center scan line; thereby corresponding to 2*N+1) scan lines being stored.