1. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm, on a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around said first horizontal axis,
a coupling device that couples said second carrier arm with said restoring device, and
a suppressing device that suppresses feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis to said restoring device,
wherein said restoring device comprises a weight.
2. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm which is rotatably mounted around the support column for being rotatable about a vertical support column axis,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm on a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis, wherein said second vertical axis extends parallel to the support column axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around said first horizontal axis,
a coupling device that couples said second carrier arm to said restoring device,
a suppressing device that suppresses feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis to said restoring device,
said restoring device comprising a weight that moves in a region of said column axis of said support column.
3. The support according to claim 1, wherein said coupling device comprises a cable connection.
4. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm, or a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around said first horizontal axis,
a coupling device that couples said second carrier arm with said restoring device, and
a suppressing device that suppresses feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around at least one of said first axis and said second axis to said restoring device,
wherein said restoring device compensates a weight acting on said second carrier arm due to a load arranged on said second carrier arm.
5. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm, on a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around said first horizontal axis,
a coupling device that couples said carrier arm with said restoring device, and
a suppressing device that suppresses feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis to said restoring device,
wherein said first carrier arm rotates around a rotation axis that is substantially parallel to said support column.
6. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm, on a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around said first horizontal axis and said second vertical axis,
a coupling device that couples said second carrier arm with said restoring device, and
a suppressing device for suppressing feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis,
wherein said suppressing device comprises a rotary decoupler.
7. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm, on a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around at least one of said first axis and said second axis,
a coupling device that couples said second carrier arm with said restoring device, and
a suppressing device for suppressing feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis,
wherein said suppressing device comprises a freewheel rotary joint arranged to decouple a rotary movement of said second carrier arm.
8. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm, on a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around said first horizontal axis,
a coupling device that couples said second carrier arm with said restoring device, and
a suppressing device that suppresses feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis to said restoring device,
wherein said first axis is substantially orthogonal to said second axis.
9. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm, on a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around said first horizontal axis,
a coupling device that couples said second carrier arm with said restoring device, and
a suppressing device for suppressing feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis,
said suppressing device comprising a freewheel rotary joint arranged to decouple a rotary movement of said second carrier arm,
wherein said freewheel rotary joint is situated on said second vertical axis.
10. The support according to claim 3, further comprising rollers that guide said cable connection sectionally along one of said first horizontal axis or said second vertical axis.
11. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm, on a fast horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around at least one of said first horizontal axis and said second vertical axis,
a coupling device that couples said second carrier arm with said restoring device, and
a suppressing device that suppresses feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis to said restoring device,
wherein said restoring device comprises a lever arm arranged on one of said first carrier arm or said second carrier arm and carries a counterweight, and
wherein said coupling device couples a pivoting movement of said lever arm to a pivoting movement of said second carrier arm.
12. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm on a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around said first horizontal axis, coupling device that couples said second carrier arm with said restoring device, and
a suppressing device that suppresses feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis to said restoring device,
wherein said support comprises a ceiling support.
13. The support according to claim 1, wherein said support supports a medical operation microscope.
14. The support according to claim 3, wherein said support supports a medical operation microscope.
15. The support according to claim 4, wherein said support supports a medical operation microscope.
16. The support according to claim 2, wherein said support supports a medical operation microscope.
17. The support according to claim 2, wherein said coupling device comprises a cable connection.
18. The support according to claim 2, wherein a weight acts on said second carrier arm due to a load arranged on said second carrier arm, and said restoring device compensates said weight.
19. The support according to claim 18, wherein said restoring force is transmitted by a cable connection, and acts on said second carrier arm at a distance from said support column, and
wherein said cable connection is deflected into a direction parallel to said support column.
20. The support according to claim 17, further comprising a deflector in a neighborhood of said support column for guiding said cable connection.
21. The support according to claim 2, wherein said first carrier arm rotates around a rotation axis that is substantially parallel to said support column.
22. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm which is rotatably mounted on the support column for being rotatable about a vertical support column axis,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm on a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around said first horizontal axis,
a coupling device that couples said second carrier arm to said restoring device,
a suppressing device that suppresses feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis to said restoring device,
said restoring device comprising a weight that moves in a region of said column axis of said support column, and
wherein said suppressing device comprises a rotary decoupler.
23. A support comprising:
a support column,
a first carrier arm which is rotatably mounted on the support column for being rotatable about a vertical support column axis,
a second carrier arm mounted pivotably with respect to said first carrier arm on a first horizontal axis and a second vertical axis,
a restoring device for producing a restoring force around said first horizontal axis,
a coupling device that couples said second carrier arm to said restoring device,
a suppressing device that suppresses feedback of movement of said second carrier arm around said second vertical axis to said restoring device,
said restoring device comprising a weight that moves in a region of said column axis of said support column, and
wherein said suppressing device comprises a freewheel rotary joint arranged to decouple a rotary movement of said second carrier arm.
24. The support according to claim 2, wherein said first axis is substantially orthogonal to said second axis.
25. The support according to claim 2, wherein said first axis is arranged at a distance from said second axis.
26. The support according to claim 23, wherein said freewheel rotary joint is situated on said second vertical axis.
27. The support according to claim 17, further comprising rollers that guide said cable connection sectionally along one of said first axis or said second axis.
28. The support according to claim 2, wherein said restoring device comprises a lever arm arranged on one of said first carrier arm or said second carrier arm, that carries a counterweight, and
wherein said coupling device couples a pivoting movement of said lever arm to a pivoting arm of said second carrier arm.
29. The support according to claim 2, wherein said support comprises a ceiling support.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method comprising:
performing first motion estimation with respect to a current frame of a sequence of frames of image data, the first motion estimation being performed with reference to a first set of reference frames, said first set of reference frames preceding said current frame in said sequence of frames of image data;
evaluating a result of said first motion estimation; and
determining, based on an outcome of said evaluating, whether to perform second motion estimation with respect to said current frame, said second motion estimation to be performed with reference to a second set of reference frames different from said first set of reference frames, said second set of reference frames preceding said first set of reference frames in said sequence of frames of image data wherein:
said first set of reference frames includes three reference frames that immediately precede said current frame in said sequence of frames of image data; and
said second set of reference frames includes two frames that immediately precede said first set of reference frames in said sequence of frames of image data.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said evaluating includes comparing with a threshold a difference between a first motion vector obtained with reference to a middle one of said frames of said first set of reference frames and a multiple of a second motion vector obtained with reference to a last one of said frames of said first set of reference frames.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said evaluating includes comparing with a threshold a difference between a first motion vector obtained with reference to an earliest one of said frames of said first set of reference frames and a multiple of a second motion vector obtained with reference to a last one of said frames of said first set of reference frames.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said evaluating includes comparing a degree of block matching obtained with reference to a middle one of said frames of said first set of reference frames with a degree of block matching obtained with reference to a last one of said frames of said first set of reference frames.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said evaluating includes comparing a degree of block matching obtained with reference to an earliest one of said frames of said first set of reference frames with a degree of block matching obtained with reference to a last one of said frames of said first set of reference frames.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said evaluating includes:
comparing with a threshold a difference between two times a first motion vector obtained with reference to a last one of said frames of said first set of reference frames and a second motion vector obtained with reference to a middle one of said frames of said first set of reference frames;
comparing with said threshold a difference between three times the first motion vector and a third motion vector obtained with reference to an earliest one of said frames of said first set of reference frames;
comparing a degree of block matching obtained with reference to said middle one of said frames of said first set of reference frames with a degree of block matching obtained with reference to said last one of said frames of said first set of reference frames; and
comparing a degree of block matching obtained with reference to said earliest one of said frames of said first set of reference frames with said degree of block matching obtained with reference to said last one of said frames of said first set of reference frames.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said first set of reference frames includes at least two frames.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein said evaluating includes comparing a degree of block matching obtained with reference to an earlier one of said frames of said first set of reference frames with a degree of block matching obtained with reference to said a later one of said frames of said first set of reference frames.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein said evaluating includes calculating a difference by subtracting a first motion vector obtained with reference to said later one of said frames from a multiple of a second motion vector obtained with reference to said earlier one of said frames.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein said evaluating further includes comparing said difference with a threshold.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein each reference frame comprises a plurality of macroblocks.
12. A method comprising:
performing first motion estimation with respect to a current frame of a sequence of frames of image data, the first motion estimation being performed with reference to a first set of reference frames, said first set of reference frames preceding said current frame in said sequence of frames of image data;
evaluating a result of said first motion estimation; and
determining, based on an outcome of said evaluating, whether to perform second motion estimation with respect to said current frame, said second motion estimation to be performed with reference to a second set of reference frames different from said first set of reference frames, said second set of reference frames preceding said first set of reference frames in said sequence of frames of image data,
wherein said first motion estimation includes:
determining a plurality of candidate motion vectors for a first pixel block in said current frame, the candidate motion vectors including at least two of the following:
(a) a motion vector for a pixel block that adjoins the first pixel block;
(b) a motion vector for a pixel block that is a superset of the first pixel block;
(c) a motion vector for a second pixel block that is part of a reference frame that is a last frame in said first set of reference frames, said second pixel block having a position in said reference frame that corresponds to a position of the first pixel block in said current frame; and
(d) a scaled motion vector for a third pixel block that is part of another reference frame, said another reference frame preceding said last frame in said first set of reference frames, said third pixel block having a position in said another reference frame that corresponds to a position of the first pixel block in said current frame;
determining a number of said plurality of candidate motion vectors that are the same; and
comparing said number to a threshold;
and wherein said first motion estimation further includes:
determining a characteristic of a frame of image data that is prior to said current frame in the sequence of frames; and
selecting, on the basis of the determined characteristic, a block-matching search pattern for use with respect to said current frame, said prior frame immediately preceding said current frame in said sequence of frames, wherein said determining said characteristic of said prior frame includes analyzing a statistical distribution of motion vectors for said prior frame, wherein said selecting includes selecting between a hexagonal search pattern and a cross search pattern said first set of reference frames includes three reference frames that immediately precede said current frame in said sequence of frames of image data and wherein said second set of reference frames includes two frames that immediately precede said first set of reference frames in said sequence of frames of image data.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein each reference frame comprises a plurality of macroblocks.