Automatic setting of optimal search window dimensions for motion estimation

摘要

A method of estimating the motion field of a digital picture sequence includes subdividing a current picture to examine in an integer number of macroblocks, for each macroblock of the current picture determining a search window centered on a macroblock of a preceding picture placed in the same position of the considered macroblock of the current picture, carrying out a motion estimation between the considered macroblock of the current picture and the macroblock most similar to it included in the window. At least a dimension of the search window is established as a function of the corresponding dimension of the search window used for the preceding picture, the estimated motion field of the preceding picture and certain threshold values.