Image emphasis based on integration of high frame-rate images by new gradient-based motion estimation method

We study a imaging system for reconstructing high spatial resolution image using high frame-rate images obtained by an image sensor. To apply high frame-rate images, it is assumed that the temporal correlation between motion vectors is high. We have previously proposed a motion estimation method based on the high accurate spatial gradients by predicting the motion vectors in the current frame from those of the previous frame. In this paper, we propose an improved method that uses two contiguous frames to accurately estimate the spatial gradients. The target pixel position is then shifted according to the predicted motion vector. We evaluate the proposed method and confirm its effectiveness, and demonstrate the increased spatial resolution using high frame-rate images as an application of the proposed motion estimation.