LAYERED MOTION ESTIMATION

A layered motion estimation algorithm is proposed that permits quasi-s imultaneous motion estimation/segmentation up to a fixed maximum numbe r of layers. The estimation results in one motion parameter set per la yer, and a segmentation map that assigns these sets to different parts of the image (motion layers). Motion in a layer is modelled with at m aximum four parameters capable of describing pan, tilt and zoom. The c oncept shows some hierarchy, i.e. a ranking of the motion layers. In t his way the motion parameter estimation concerning one layer excludes those parts of the image that have been described by a layer ranked hi gher in the hierarchy and are not polluted by parts of the image that are better described by layers ranked lower in the hierarchy. The conc ept results in a very low operations count. It has been shown to perfo rm well even in critical scan rate conversion applications, particular ly in picture rate up-conversion. A variant including three layers has been scheduled to run in real-time on a Philips TriMedia processor.