Abstract: A method for providing an accurately predicted current frame, comprising the steps of: selecting feature points in the previous frame and detecting a first set of motion vectors for the feature points; defining quadrangles by connecting the feature points; defining horizontally split triangles by splitting quadrangles and calculating a variance for each triangle and comparing the variance to select the smallest variance as first variance; defining vertically split triangles by splitting the quadrangles and calculating the variance for each triangle and comparing the variance to select the smallest variance value as second variance value; comparing the first and the second variance and selecting the smaller variance as a third variance and providing triangle information representing the split direction for the third variance; determining quasi-feature points on the current frame and a second set of motion vectors for the quasi-feature points; defining quadrangles formed by connecting the quasi-feature points,

Abstract: An apparatus, for use in an image signal encoding system, encodes a bidirectionally predictive frame (B frame) of a digital video signal to generate an encoded B frame signal. The apparatus selects two groups of pixels from pixels contained in a detected processing regions of a first and a second reference frames as a first and a second sets of feature points, respectively, by using a feature points selection circuit; and then determines a first set of motion vectors between the current and the first reference frames and a second set of motion vectors between the current and the second reference frames through the use of a feature point motion estimation circuit. Thereafter, the apparatus selects a set of motion vectors for the set of feature points from the first and the second sets of motion vectors to thereby generate a selected set of motion vectors and selection information representing the selected set as the encoded B frame.

Abstract: An inventive apparatus estimates correct motion vectors between a current and its previous frames for feature points selected from the previous frame. A motion vector detector first determines a set of initial motion vectors for the feature points. Subsequently, a displacement generator provides N number of displacements to an initial motion vector of a selected feature point to thereby produce a set of N candidate motion vectors for the selected feature point, wherein the selected feature point is surrounded by its, e.g., six neighboring feature points to form a previous hexagon having a set of six triangles. And then, a predictor provides quasi-feature points in the current frame from the neighboring feature points through the use of the initial motion vectors thereof; and also generates a set of N selected quasi-feature points from the selected feature point by using the N candidate motion vectors.

Abstract: A method for detecting and thinning a contour image of an object in a video frame comprises the steps of: (a) calculating edge magnitudes for pixels in the video frame and detecting edge points, (b) generating a contour image constituted by the detected edge points, and (c) thinning the contour image by comparing an edge magnitude for each of the edge points with each of the edge magnitudes included in a plurality of edge magnitude sets, each of the edge magnitude sets having a series of three edge magnitudes selected from the edge magnitudes corresponding to the neighboring pixels surrounding said each of the edge points.

Abstract: An apparatus, for use in a motion-compensated video signal encoder, for determining a predicted current frame based on a current and a previous frame, comprises: a feature point motion vector(MV) detector for detecting a first set of MVs for feature points; an edge point MV detector for, in each of the edges, detecting one or two neighboring feature points for each of edge points, and determining a second set of MVs for the edge points; a quasi-point detector for detecting quasi-feature points and a third set of MVs therefor, and detecting quasi-edge points and a fourth set of MVs therefor; a non-quasi-point MV detector for detecting a fifth set of MVs for all non-quasi-points, each of the fifth set of MVs being determined by averaging the MVs of one or more neighboring quasi-feature points for each of the non-quasi-points; an arrangement block for arranging the third, the fourth and the fifth sets of MVs to determine a group of MVs for all of the pixels in the current frame; and a motion compensator for prov

Abstract: An apparatus, for use in a motion-compensated video signal encoder, for determining a predicted current frame based on a current frame and a previous frame, includes: a feature point motion vector detector for selecting a number of feature points among edge points in the previous frame and detecting a first set of motion vectors therefor; an edge point motion vector detector for detecting a second set of motion vectors for non-selected edge points; a quasi-point detector for detecting quasi-feature points and a third set of motion vectors, and quasi-edge points and a fourth set of motion vectors; a non-quasi-point motion vector detector for selecting one or more influential quasi-feature points for all non-quasi-points such that straight line drawn between each of the non-quasi-points and each of the corresponding one or more influential quasi-feature points intersects none of the quasi-feature and the quasi-edge points, and detecting a fifth set of motion vectors for the non-quasi-points; an arrangement bloc

Abstract: An apparatus, for use in a motion-compensated video signal encoder, for determining a predicted current frame based on a current and a previous frame, includes: a feature point motion vector(MV) detector for detecting a first set of MVs for feature points and a second set of MVs for edge points in the previous frame; a quasi-point detector for detecting quasi-feature points and a third set of MVs therefor, and quasi-edge points and a fourth set of MVs therefor; a non quasi-point MV detector for determining a quasi-feature point range for each of the quasi-feature points by indexing each of non-quasi-points to its closest quasi-feature point, and detecting a distance between a quasi-feature point and each of the remaining pixels in a quasi-feature point range and setting the distance as a search radius for the remaining pixel, and determining one or more quasi-feature point ranges dispersed within the search radius from each of the remaining pixels, and detecting a fifth set of MVs for the remaining pixels, ea

Abstract: A method for adaptively selecting feature points according to motions of objects between the current frame and the reference frame, comprising: detecting a motion vector for each pixel in the current frame between the current frame and the reference frame; providing a pixel value from the reference frame based on the motion vector for each pixel in the current frame; subtracting the pixel value provided from the reference frame from a pixel value of said each pixel of the current frame to thereby provide a differential pixel value; comparing the differential pixel value with a threshold value TH and selecting regions having their respective differential pixel values larger than the threshold value TH; shifting the pixels within the selected regions to positions indicated by their respective motion vectors to thereby provide shifted regions; detecting edge points from the reference frame; determining processing regions from the shifted regions, wherein the shifted regions are overlapped with a portion of the e

Abstract: A method for adaptively selecting feature points according to motions of objects between the current frame and the previous frame, comprising the steps of: subtracting a pixel value of the previous frame from a pixel value of the current frame to thereby provide a differential pixel value; comparing the differential pixel value with a first threshold value TH1 and selecting processing regions having differential pixel values larger than the first threshold value TH1; detecting a motion vector for each pixel of the processing region in the previous frame; providing a pixel value of the current frame based on the motion vector for each pixel of the processing region in the previous frame; subtracting a pixel value of said each pixel of the processing region in the previous frame from the pixel value of the current frame to thereby provide an error pixel value; comparing the error pixel value with a second threshold value TH2 and selecting grid regions having error pixel values larger than the second threshold v