Patent ID: 7420589

Claim:
A mobile unit identification method dividing each of time series pictures to blocks each including a plurality of pixels to process said pictures, wherein said method assigns identification codes of a plurality of mobile units included in a frame picture at a time t in units of the block, and obtains motion vectors of said plurality of mobile units in units of the block, in a case where identification codes of said plurality of mobile units included in a frame picture at a time (t−1) have been assigned in units of the block, and motion vectors of said plurality of mobile units have been obtained in units of the block, said method comprises: (a) moving a block j at the time (t−1), whose identification code is IDj and whose motion vector is Vj, by the vector Vj to obtain a substantially corresponding block i at the time t and moving said block i by a vector −Vj to obtain a first box at the time (t−1), to calculate an evaluation value associated with a correlation between an image in said first box at the time (t−1) and an image of said block i at the time t; (b) moving a block k at the time (t−1), whose identification code is IDk and whose motion vector is Vk, by the vector Vk to obtain a substantially corresponding block which is said block i at the time t and moving said block i by a vector −Vk to obtain a second box at the time (t−1), to calculate an evaluation value associated with a correlation between an image in said second box at the time (t−1) and said image of said block i at the time t; and (c) assigning said IDj or said IDk to said block i at the time t on the basis of magnitudes of said evaluation values calculated in the steps (a) and (b).