Patent ID: 6990145

Claim:
A method of video motion estimation for determining the dominant motion in a video image, said dominant motion being defined by a parametric transform which maps the movement of an image block from a first frame of the video to a second frame; the method comprising: (a) selecting a plurality of blocks in the first frame, and matching said blocks with their respective block positions in the second frame; (b) from the measured movements of the blocks between the first and second frames, calculating a plurality of estimates for a parameter of the transform; (c) sorting the parameter estimates into an ordered list; and (d) determining a best global value for the parameter by examining the ordered list wherein the best global value is determined by differentiating the ordered list to create an output list, and selecting a minimum value of the output list and wherein the determination of the best global value includes the step of selecting the longest run of values in the output list below a threshold value.