KR101263136B1 - Method and apparatus for estimating motion using motion vector sharing based on multi core - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus for estimating motion vector sharing based on multi cores is provided to search the location of a sharing variable more rapidly by enabling each object searcher to share a sharing variable required in searching a reference block. CONSTITUTION: A motion estimation device inputs video data consisting of a number of frames(S100). The device generates at least one object searcher(S200). When the object searcher searches a reference block in the previous frame image, the device stores distance data where the positioning between a current block and the reference block outputted from the result of the object search(S300). The device compares the distance data of at least one object searcher, and designates a minimum value as a sharing variable(S400). [Reference numerals] (AA) Start; (BB) End; (S100) Receive video data consisting of a number of frames; (S200) Generate at least one searcher to search the same object with an object located in a current block within a current image frame of the video data in a previous video frame; (S300) Store data about the minimum positioning distance of the object outputted by the result of object search when the object searcher searches the object in a previous frame image; (S400) Compare the distance data of at least one object searcher, and designate a minimum value as a sharing variable

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTIMATING MOTION USING MOTION VECTOR SHARING BASED ON MULTI CORE}

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for motion estimation using multicore-based motion vector sharing, and in particular, to share a minimum distance data and to use the multicore-based motion vector sharing to quickly search for minimum distance data with low complexity. The present invention relates to a motion estimation method and apparatus.

In general, video data has a lot of overlapping information, and therefore requires a large amount of data to process a digital video. Recently, various transmission and storage media using VLSL and signal processing technologies have appeared to process, store, and transmit such digital images. However, considering the bandwidth of the communication line required for transmission, the storage capacity required for information storage, and the like, a data compression technique having a high compression ratio is required.

Among the methods proposed to meet this demand, there is an image motion estimation method. The method finds the block most similar to the block of the current picture in the reference picture or reference pictures, and represents the displacement between the block of the current picture and the corresponding block in the reference picture as a motion vector.

Among motion estimation methods of a video, there is a full search method. This is a method of first determining a search region in a reference image and determining the displacement between the current block and the block having the smallest prediction error among all possible blocks within the maximum displacement of the search region as a motion vector. The full-area search method can obtain motion information with very high accuracy when the maximum motion does not leave the search area.

However, a high memory bandwidth is required to implement a motion estimation and compensation algorithm used for video compression and decompression. In a real time encoder, a search area for motion estimation is limited by limited resources.

Therefore, a motion estimation method that can have a high compression rate without limiting the search area has been required, and Korean Patent Publication No. 10-0492127 discloses such a technique.

However, the process of finding a reference block using such a motion estimation method has a problem in that the computation amount and complexity are high, resulting in an increase in time caused by an operation and an accompanying system construction cost.

Korean Registered Publication No. 10-0492127

An embodiment of the present invention has been devised to solve the above-described problem, and uses a multicore-based motion vector sharing to allow each object searcher to share the minimum value of the distance data to the reference block searched by the object searcher as a shared variable. It is an object to provide an estimation method and apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, by sharing the shared variables required to find the reference block with each object searcher, the location of the shared variables can be found more quickly, and thus the multicore-based motion vector sharing can reduce the complexity of the spiral search method. An object of the present invention is to provide a motion estimation method and apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each object searcher updates distance data having a value smaller than the distance data of the shared variable in its area, and updates the shared data with the shared variable, otherwise, maintains the shared variable and moves to the next area. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a motion estimation method and apparatus using multicore-based motion vector sharing, which can reduce the amount of computation.

In order to achieve the object as described above, the present invention, in the embodiments of the present invention, the step of receiving the image data consisting of a plurality of frames, the same object located in the current block in the current image frame of the image data, the previous image frame Generating at least one object searcher for searching within the object; when the object searcher executes an object search within a previous frame image, distance data for which the positional movement of the object output as a result of the object search is minimized The task can be solved using a motion estimation method using multi-core-based motion vector sharing, which includes storing and comparing distance data of the at least one object searcher and designating a minimum value as a critical section. Is done.

In one or more embodiments, a receiver configured to receive image data including a plurality of frames, and generate at least one object searcher to search for an object identical to an object located in a current block within a current image frame of the image data within a previous image frame. A generation unit, a storage unit which stores distance data for minimizing the positional movement of the object output as a result of the object search when the object searcher executes the object search in the previous frame image, and the at least one object The problem can be solved by using a motion estimation apparatus using multi-core-based motion vector sharing including a designator that compares distance data of searchers and designates a minimum value as a critical section.

As described above, according to the disclosed technology of the present invention having the above-described configuration, each object searcher shares a shared variable required to find a reference block, so that the location of the shared variable can be found more quickly. A motion estimation method and apparatus using multicore-based motion vector sharing that can reduce complexity can be provided.

In addition, in the present invention, each object searcher updates the distance data having a smaller value than the distance data of the shared variable in its area, and updates the shared data with the shared variable, otherwise, maintains the shared variable and moves to the next area. A motion estimation method and apparatus using multicore-based motion vector sharing can be provided.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a motion estimation according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a motion estimation according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a spiral search method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a block diagram illustrating a motion estimation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a view for explaining a motion estimation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a motion estimation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, a detailed description of known techniques well known to those skilled in the art may be omitted.

In describing the constituent elements of the present invention, the same reference numerals may be given to constituent elements having the same name, and the same reference numerals may be given thereto even though they are different from each other. However, even in such a case, it does not mean that the corresponding component has different functions according to the embodiment, or does not mean that the different components have the same function. It should be judged based on the description of each component in the example.

In the following description of the embodiments of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

In addition, in describing the component of this invention, terms, such as 1st, 2nd, A, B, (a), (b), can be used. These terms are intended to distinguish the constituent elements from other constituent elements, and the terms do not limit the nature, order or order of the constituent elements. When a component is described as being "connected", "coupled", or "connected" to another component, the component may be directly connected or connected to the other component, Quot; may be "connected," "coupled," or "connected. &Quot;

It should be understood that the singular " include "or" have "are to be construed as including a stated feature, number, step, operation, component, It is to be understood that the combination is intended to specify that it does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

In each step, the identification code (e.g., a, b, c, etc.) is used for convenience of explanation, the identification code does not describe the order of each step, It may occur differently from the order specified. That is, each step may occur in the same order as described, may be performed substantially concurrently, or may be performed in reverse order.

Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a motion estimation according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a motion estimation according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a spiral search according to an embodiment of the present invention. A diagram illustrating the method.

First, in the video field, when a current block is compressed, a reference block is found in a previous frame image and the difference component is compressed and transmitted. If the size of the reference block and the current block is MxN, the reference block is determined as a position that minimizes the difference between the current block as shown in Equation 1 below.

Where Ic is the current image frame, Ir is the previous image frame, Ic (x, y) is the x, y position pixel value of the Ic frame, and Ir (x, y) is the x, y position pixel value of the Ir frame. Where dx and dy are values indicating the position of the reference picture, and (dx, dy) is referred to as a motion vector.

That is, (a) assuming that there is a current block of size MxN existing in the t th frame, (b) the difference between the current block and the sum absorptive difference (SAD) in the wxw search window around the current block in the t-1 th frame. Finds the block with the smallest position, it can be set as a reference block.

Then, (c) the position change between the current block and the reference block is recognized as a motion vector. The process of finding the reference block is called motion estimation (ME), and since the complexity of the motion estimation is very high, various algorithms have been developed.

The present invention proposes a method for improving spiral search, which is one of motion estimation methods. To this end, the present invention effectively partitions an area for finding a reference block using a multicore system.

 Referring to FIG. 3, the spiral search method takes an origin as a reference point in a previous image frame and searches for a reference block most similar to the center from the center. The helical search order is as shown in Equation 2 below, and the helical search method is calculated by substituting the distance data D of two blocks, the current block and the reference block at each position, into Equation 1 above.

In this case, as soon as the reference block, that is, the position where the distance data is minimized, is found, the subsequent search position may be omitted or simplified. That is, as soon as the distance data D detects a minimum or small location, the complexity of the spiral search method may be lowered.

4 is a view for explaining a motion estimation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 is a view for explaining a motion estimation method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Since the receiver 10, the generator 30, the storage 50, and the designator 70 illustrated in FIG. 4 are merely illustrated for convenience of description, the motion estimation apparatus 1 of the present disclosure is illustrated in FIG. 4. It should not be classified and set as, and is not limited to those shown in FIG.

The receiver 10 may receive image data composed of a plurality of frames. This may be for any one of encoding, decoding, encoding, and decoding video or video data. Operations other than the configuration described in the present invention are obvious to those skilled in the art related to the encoding, decoding, encoding, and decoding techniques, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The generation unit 30 may generate at least one object searcher that searches for a reference block in a previous image frame that is the same object as the current block in the current image frame of the image data. Here, the object searcher may match 1: 1 with at least one core. That is, the object searcher is a configuration for searching for a reference block that is the same object in the previous image frame with reference to the current block of the current image frame. At least one core may be provided to drive the configuration. Here, the object searcher itself may be the core, or the core may be the object searcher itself, and may be variously configured according to a system and an implementation method.

In addition, the object searcher may use a spiral search algorithm, and at least one object searcher may search for a reference block that is an object simultaneously or sequentially. For example, a search may be started or sequentially searched to find a reference block that is simultaneously assigned to each divided region and is spiraled from the origin as the reference point, which is the same object as the current block of the current image frame. Alternatively, when the cores for driving the object searcher are matched 1: 1, driving may be started for searching at the same time in order to find a reference block that is the same object as the current block of the current image frame. You can also drive for.

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When the object searcher searches for a reference block that is an object in the previous frame image, the storage unit 50 may store distance data for minimizing the positional movement between the reference block output as a result of the object search and the current block.

In addition, if the at least one object searcher obtains distance data smaller than the value designated as the shared variable, the designation unit 70 may update the shared variable with the obtained distance data. Here, when the distance data searched by the at least one object searcher is larger than the distance data stored in the shared variable, the designation unit 70 may maintain the distance data stored in the shared variable, and the at least one object searcher may move to the next area. have.

Referring to FIG. 5, for example, it is assumed that a reference block searched by an object searcher in a previous image frame is 2 cm away from the current block, which is stored as a shared variable. Of course, initially, all object searchers perform a search to database the distance from the current block, and then assume that the distance data, which is the minimum value of the distance data, is already designated as a shared variable. Here, before the database operation, the shared variable can be specified even with only one initial value, and it can be updated in a tournament manner. Then, if the reference block searched by another arbitrary object searcher in the previous image frame is 3.5cm away from the current block, the object searcher moves to the next area without applying its distance data to the shared variable. . If it is 1.5cm away from the current block, the object finder applies its distance data to the shared variable.

In this way, the complexity of the spiral search method can be significantly lowered by all object searchers sharing the shared variable which is the distance data having the minimum value.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a motion estimation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, image data consisting of a plurality of frames is received (S100).

Then, at least one object searcher is generated to generate at least one object searcher for searching for a reference block in a previous video frame that is the same object as the current block in the current video frame of the image data (S200).

Here, when the object searcher searches for a reference block that is an object in the previous frame image, distance data for minimizing the positional movement between the reference block output as a result of the search and the current block is stored (S300).

Finally, the distance data of at least one object searcher is compared and a minimum value is designated as a shared variable (S400).

The present invention is not necessarily limited to these embodiments, as all the constituent elements constituting the embodiment of the present invention are described as being combined or operated in one operation. In other words, within the scope of the present invention, all of the components may be selectively operated in combination with one or more. In addition, although all of the components may be implemented as one independent hardware, some or all of the components may be selectively combined to perform a part or all of the functions in one or a plurality of hardware. As shown in FIG. In addition, such a computer program may be stored in a computer-readable medium such as a USB memory, a CD disk, a flash memory, etc., and read and executed by a computer, thereby implementing embodiments of the present invention. As the storage medium of the computer program, a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, a carrier wave medium, or the like may be included.

Furthermore, all terms including technical or scientific terms have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs, unless otherwise defined in the Detailed Description. Terms used generally, such as terms defined in a dictionary, should be interpreted to coincide with the contextual meaning of the related art, and shall not be interpreted in an ideal or excessively formal sense unless explicitly defined in the present invention.

The above description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may make various modifications and changes without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. In addition, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention but to limit the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

1: motion estimation device
10: receiver 30: generator
50: storage unit 70: designation unit

Claims (11)

A motion estimation method performed in a motion estimation apparatus using multi-core based motion vector sharing,
Receiving image data consisting of a plurality of frames;
Generating at least one object searcher for searching for a reference block in a previous image frame that is the same object as the current block in the current image frame of the image data;
If the object searcher searches for a reference block in a previous frame image, storing distance data for minimizing the positional movement between the reference block and the current block output as a result of the object search; and
Comparing the distance data of the at least one object searcher and designating a minimum value as a shared section
Motion estimation method using multi-core based motion vector sharing comprising a.
The method of claim 1,
And when the at least one object searcher obtains distance data smaller than a value designated as the shared variable, updating the shared variable with the obtained distance data.
The method of claim 1,
The at least one object searcher is matched 1: 1 with at least one core, and the shared variable is shared between the at least one object searcher.
The method of claim 1,
If the distance data searched by the at least one object searcher is larger than the distance data stored in the shared variable, maintaining the distance data stored in the shared variable, and moving the at least one object searcher to a next area
Motion estimation method using multi-core based motion vector sharing further comprising a.
The method of claim 1,
The object searcher is a motion estimation method using multi-core based motion vector sharing, characterized in that using a spiral search algorithm.
In motion estimation apparatus using multi-core based motion vector sharing,
Receiving unit for receiving the image data consisting of a plurality of frames,
A generation unit generating at least one object searcher for searching for a reference block in a previous image frame that is the same object as the current block in the current image frame of the image data;
A storage unit for storing distance data for minimizing the positional movement between the reference block and the current block output as a result of object search when the object searcher searches for a reference block in a previous frame image;
Designation unit for comparing the distance data of the at least one object searcher and designating a minimum value as a critical section
Motion estimation apparatus using multi-core based motion vector sharing comprising a.
The method according to claim 6,
The designation unit updates the shared variable with the acquired distance data when the at least one object searcher obtains the distance data smaller than the value designated by the shared variable. Device.
The method according to claim 6,
And the at least one object searcher is matched 1: 1 with at least one core, and the shared variable is shared between the at least one object searcher.
The method according to claim 6,
The designation unit maintains the distance data stored in the shared variable when the distance data searched by the at least one object searcher is greater than the distance data stored in the shared variable, and moves the at least one object searcher to the next area. Motion estimation apparatus using multi-core based motion vector sharing.
The method according to claim 6,
The object searcher uses a multi-core based motion vector sharing, characterized in that for using a spiral search (Spiral Search) algorithm.
A computer-readable recording medium in which a program for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 5 is recorded.

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