Expanding Line Search for Panorama Motion Estimation

This paper describes an effective motion estimation algorithm for panoramic video. According to the characteristics of the block motion in panoramic video, the proposed algorithm extends the reference frames and constructs search lines for the line search. With the constructed search lines, the line search estimates the motion of the corresponding macro block. It starts at the block matched by the line search and estimates the motion of adjacent blocks. Experiment results show that the algorithm can estimate the motion of macro blocks in cubic panoramic video effectively. It is also shown that the algorithm improves the search speed with effective motion estimation.