Techniques and tools for signaling the number of reference fields for an interlaced forward-predicted field are described. For example, a video decoder processes a first signal indicating whether an interlaced forward-predicted field has one or two reference fields for motion compensation. If the first signal indicates the interlaced forward-predicted field has one reference field, the decoder processes a second signal identifying the one reference field from among the two reference fields. On t...

A motion vector detection method includes extracting a first block from the m-th picture, extracting second blocks having a large correlation with respect to the first block from a (m+n)-th picture ((m+n)>m-th), detecting first motion vectors between the first and second blocks, extracting a third block located in spatially the same position as that of the first block from a (m+i)-th picture ((m+n)>(m+i)>m-th), computing second motion vectors of (n-1)/n times the first motion vectors, e...

An apparatus including a first circuit, a second circuit and a third circuit. The first circuit may be configured to generate a plurality of first motion vectors and first error scores in response to a search of a macroblock of an image. The search generally includes a range of motion vectors of the macroblock. The second circuit may be configured to generate a plurality of second motion vectors and second error scores for a plurality of sub-blocks of the macroblock in response to a set of discr...

Global-adaptive deinterlacing systems and methods for reducing scintillation and feathering artifacts. Motion adaptive deinterlacing (MADI) local motion quantization thresholds are adaptively adjusted according to the amount of global motion present in the video sequence, thereby minimizing scintillation and feathering artifacts when deinterlacing the fields. A set of global motion scenarios are defined for the purpose of classifying fields, and a number of global motion indicators are used to d...

A method and apparatus for real-time tracking of a non-rigid target. The tracking is based on visual features, such as color and/or texture, where statistical distributions of those features characterize the target. A degree of similarity (.rho.(y.sub.0)) is computed between a given target (at y.sub.0) in a first frame and a candidate target (at y.sub.1) in a successive frame, the degree being expressed by a metric derived from the Bhattacharyya coefficient. A gradient vector corresponding to a ...

During transform-based video compression processing, motion vectors, which are identified during motion estimation and then used during motion-compensated inter-frame differencing, are constrained to coincide with block boundaries in the reference data. Block-based motion vectors have components that correspond to integer multiples of block dimensions. For example, for (8.times.8) blocks, allowable motion vector components are ( . . . , -16, -8, 0, +8, +16, . . . ). Constraining motion vectors i...

An encoding and decoding apparatus using a wavelet transformation and motion estimation is disclosed. The apparatus includes an input module for receiving an image data, a wavelet module for wavelet-transforming the image data received through the input module, an estimation/compensation module, a storage module for storing the image data being transmitted from the input module and transmitting the stored data in a request from the respective modules, an output module for outputting one bit stre...

The present invention provides an encoder and a decoder of digital picture data, and the encoder/decoder can realize high precision transform with less quantity of transferred data, when a parameter of the digital picture data is not an integer but has numbers of digits, to which the Affine transformation can be applicable. The encoder/decoder comprises the following elements: (a) picture compression means for encoding an input picture and compressing the data, (b) coordinates transform means fo...

There is disclosed a method and apparatus for detecting motion by a video encoder. The method starts with dividing a target block whose motion is to be detected into blocks at different pixel positions. A reference image block is extracted from a reference image. The degrees of similarity of the blocks to the reference image block are simultaneously calculated by a calculating unit. A block having the highest degree of similarity is determined, based on their degrees of similarity. A vector corr...

Disclosed is a machine element for use in a liquid treating system. The machine element has an antibacterial property at least at a portion thereof which is to come into contact with the treated liquid in the course of system operation.