Patent ID: 8855206

Claim:
A method for encoding a sequence of images, comprising: encoding at least one block of a current image of the sequence, implementing a prediction associating said block with at least one corresponding block in a reference image of said sequence, wherein said prediction comprises the following steps performed by an encoding device for at least one given block of the current image or of the reference image respectively: determining a plurality of control vectors for said block, each of said control vectors representing a shift between a characteristic point of said block and a corresponding position of said characteristic point in the reference image or in the current image respectively, and each of said control vectors being determined by taking into account a motion vector of said block and at least one connection flag representing a motion between the given block and at least one neighboring block in said reference and current images, a value of said connection flag representing a common ridge both in the current and in the reference image between said given block and said at least one neighboring block; subdividing said block into sub-blocks at least once; determining a plurality of control vectors for said sub-blocks from the control vectors for said block; and determining a value of prediction for at least one point of said current image, from a motion compensation of at least one of said sub-blocks, performed from the control vectors determined for said sub-block; and inserting said motion vector and information for reconstructing said control vectors for said given block into a signal representing said sequence, said information for reconstructing said control vectors including the at least one connection flag representing a motion between said given block and said at least one neighboring block.