Power optimized collocated motion estimation method

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of motion estimation for use in a device adapted to process a sequence of frames, a frame being divided into blocks of data samples. Said motion estimation method comprises a step of computing a residual error block associated with a motion vector candidate (MV) on the basis of a current block (cb) contained in a current frame (CF) and of a reference block (rb) contained in a reference frame (RF), said reference block having a same position in the reference frame as the current block has in the current frame. The motion vector candidate defines a relative position of a virtual block (vb) containing a first reference portion (rbp1) of the reference block with reference to said reference block. The residual error block is then computed from a first difference between data samples of the first reference portion and corresponding data samples of a first current portion (cbp1) of the current block, and a second difference between a prediction of data samples of a second reference portion (pred) of the virtual block, which is complementary to the first reference portion, and data samples of a second current portion (cbp2) of the current block, which is complementary to the first current portion.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a motion estimation method and apparatus suitable for processing a sequence of frames, wherein the frames are divided into blocks of data samples. [0002] The present invention relates to a predictive block based coding method including such a motion estimation method. Corresponding encoders are also involved. [0003] The invention finally relates to a computer program product for implementing said motion estimation method. [0004] The invention is particularly relevant to products incorporating a digital video encoder, such as home servers, digital video recorders, camcorders, especially mobile phones or personal digital assistants, said devices including a built-in camera capable of capturing video data and Encode the video data before sending it. Background technique [0005] In conventional video encoders, most of the memory dump (and thus most of the power consumption) comes from motion estimation. Motion es...

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Problems solved by technology

[0008] In the time domain, C.De Vleeschouwer and T.Nilsson titled "Motion Estimation for Low-Power Devices" (ICIP2001, pp. 953-959, September 2001) propose a simplification of conventional motion estimation , but at the cost of reduced compression performance

[0009] The disadvantage of these prior art methods is either that the motion estimation method degrades the video too much, or it does not achieve sufficient memory dump savings

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