Compensating for sub-pixel shift in motion estimation

In block-based sub-pixel motion estimation, most methods are based on a comparison of the target block to a number of sub-pixel shifted versions of a reference block. This means that the two blocks, reference and target, are not treated equally, as one is takes as-is, while the other suffers sub-pixel shifting, which invariably results in loss of information and degradation. In this paper we propose a method for sub-pixel motion estimation that treat reference and target block identically, and calculates sub-pixel motion via a third block, constructed on the spot, from which the reference and target blocks may be approximated by appropriate sub-pixel shifts. Tests on a number of test sequences show that the proposed method performs much better than standard sub-pixel motion estimation.

[1]  Cedric Nishan Canagarajah,et al.  Interpolation Free Subpixel Accuracy Motion Estimation , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology.

[2]  David R. Bull,et al.  Sub-pixel motion estimation using kernel methods , 2010, Signal Process. Image Commun..

[3]  K. J. Ray Liu,et al.  Interpolation-free subpixel motion estimation techniques in DCT domain , 1998, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol..

[4]  Jechang Jeong.  Fast sub-pixel motion estimation having lower complexity , 2003, 2003 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics, 2003. ICCE..

[5]  Fang-Hsuan Cheng,et al.  New fast and efficient two-step search algorithm for block motion estimation , 1999, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol..

[6]  Jian Chen,et al.  A fast two-step search algorithm for half-pixel motion estimation , 2003, 10th IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems, 2003. ICECS 2003. Proceedings of the 2003.

[7]  Avishek Saha,et al.  A neighborhood elimination approach for block matching in motion estimation , 2011, Signal Process. Image Commun..

[8]  Vasileios Argyriou,et al.  Using gradient correlation for sub-pixel motion estimation of video sequences , 2004, 2004 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing.

[9]  Jechang Jeong,et al.  Fast sub-pixel motion estimation techniques having lower computational complexity , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics.

[10]  Vasileios Argyriou,et al.  Sub-pixel motion estimation using gradient cross-correlation , 2003, Seventh International Symposium on Signal Processing and Its Applications, 2003. Proceedings..

[11]  P. Agathoklis,et al.  Sub-pixel accuracy motion estimation using linear approximate model of the error criterion function , 2005, PACRIM. 2005 IEEE Pacific Rim Conference on Communications, Computers and signal Processing, 2005..

[12]  Xiaoming Li,et al.  A locally quadratic model of the motion estimation error criterion function and its application to subpixel interpolations , 1996, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol..

[13]  Sanjit K. Mitra,et al.  Fast motion estimation for H.264 , 2009, Signal Process. Image Commun..

[14]  Julian Magarey,et al.  Motion estimation using complex wavelets , 1996, 1996 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing Conference Proceedings.

[15]  Oscar C. Au,et al.  Fast sub-pixel inter-prediction - based on texture direction analysis (FSIP-BTDA) [video coding applications] , 2005, 2005 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[16]  Vasileios Argyriou,et al.  Performance study of gradient correlation for sub-pixel motion estimation in the frequency domain , 2005 .

[17]  Yao Wang,et al.  Video Processing and Communications , 2001 .

[18]  Jinchang Ren,et al.  High-Accuracy Sub-Pixel Motion Estimation From Noisy Images in Fourier Domain , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[19]  Zhang Xudong,et al.  A new full-pixel and sub-pixel motion vector search algorithm for fast block-matching motion estimation in H.264 , 2004, Third International Conference on Image and Graphics (ICIG'04).

[20]  J. J. Moré,et al.  Levenberg--Marquardt algorithm: implementation and theory , 1977 .