Patent ID: 7295217

Claim:
A video object clipping method comprising: storing, in a storage unit, a plurality of sequential original images representing a substantially constant movement of a to-be-clipped object and a plurality of prepared reference alpha images representing a plurality of sequential reference images representing a substantially constant movement of a reference object; determining a criteria original image and a criteria reference alpha image from the original images and the reference alpha images; determining a deformation parameter by deforming the criteria reference alpha image to correspond to the criteria original image, the deformation parameter representing at least one of a parallel movement of the original object, a scaling of the original object and a rotation of the original object; deforming remaining ones of the reference alpha images according to the determined deformation parameter to generate output alpha images corresponding to the original images, wherein determining the deformation parameter includes determining the deformation parameter based on matching of the criteria original image with the criteria reference alpha image, and wherein the string of the reference alpha images has a higher frame rate than the string of the sequential original images, generating a plurality of temporary reference alpha image strings with a plurality of phases by downsampling the string of the reference alpha images using a plurality of temporary criteria alpha images; generating a plurality of temporary output alpha image strings based on the temporary reference alpha image strings; and selecting one of the temporary output alpha images as a final output alpha image string.