Patent Document ID: 9369707
Application ID: 13817222
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of motion estimation for processing images in an image sequence comprising: at least a first image and a second image, a motion vector being associated to said first and second images and being defined in a coordinate system having at least a first direction and a second direction, said second direction being different from said first direction; said motion vector having a first previous component value in the first direction; said method comprising the steps of: /a/ defining, by processing circuitry, a first image portion in the first image and a second image portion in the second image based on said first previous component value of the motion vector, wherein the first image portion and the second image portion are a common overlap area of a scene in both the first and second images, and wherein a portion of the first image without the first image portion is composed of pixels that would be sent off of the first image when adjusted in the first direction based on the first previous component value and a portion of the second image without the second image portion is composed of pixels that would be sent off of the second image when adjusted in the first direction based on the first previous component value; /b/ determining, by the processing circuitry, a first characteristics vector for the first image in the first image portion and a second characteristics vector for the second image in the second image portion; /c/ estimating, by the processing circuitry, a first shift value between said first and second images by comparing said first and second characteristics vectors; /d/ obtaining, by the processing circuitry, a second current component value based on said first shift value; and /e/ obtaining, by the processing circuitry, a first current component value by defining a third image portion in the first image and a fourth image portion in the second image based on the second current component value, wherein a portion of the first image without the third image portion is composed of pixels that would be sent off of the first image when adjusted in the second direction based on the second current component value and a portion of the second image without the fourth image portion is composed of pixels that would be sent off of the second image when adjusted in the second direction based on the second current component value; determining a third characteristics vector for the first image in the third image portion and a fourth characteristics vector for the second image in the fourth image portion; estimating a second shift value between said first and second images by comparing said third and fourth characteristics vectors; and obtaining the first current component value based on said second shift value; wherein the motion vector is defined by the first and second current component values.