Patent Document ID: 20020012452
Application ID: 09850348
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method of choosing an optimal candidate value to be used for matching a block from a first image with an area from a second image, the method comprising: (a) making a set ( 45 ) of candidate values ( 20, 21, 22, 23 ) for determining an area to be matched from the second image, (b) for each candidate value from the set ( 45 ), determining an area to be matched from the second image, based on said candidate value, matching the block from the first image with this area and calculating a matching error, and (c) choosing the optimal candidate value from the set ( 45 ) based on the calculated matching errors ( 24 ), characterized in that, when the chosen optimal candidate value is an extreme value of the set ( 45 ), the following steps are executed: (d) extending the set ( 45 ) by a first candidate value ( 30 ) outside the interval determined by a minimum ( 20 ) and a maximum ( 23 ) of the set ( 45 ), (e) determining, based on the first candidate value ( 30 ), an area to be matched from the second image, matching the block from the first image with this area and calculating a matching error, and (f) choosing the optimal candidate value from the extended set ( 45 ′) based on the calculated matching errors ( 24 ).