Motion estimation using segmentation and consistency constraint

This paper presents an approach to realistic motion field estimation. In this approach, an image is first segmented into homogeneous regions using a new multiscale gradient algorithm followed by watershed transformation. The multiscale gradient algorithm efficiently solves the over- segmentation problem of watershed transformation, increases segmentation accuracy and reduces the computational cost. The motion field is then estimated using block-matching with a consistency constraint. The consistency constraint function is defined by the neighboring motion vectors and the segmentation map. Simulation results show that the motion fields generated by the block-matching with consistency constraint are very smooth within each object, approaching realistic motion fields, even when a small block size is used.