Patent ID: 6011870
Filing Date: 2000-01-04
Classification: G06T,H04N

Abstract:
In a digital signal processor circuit or software for encoding compressed digital video information, a method for motion estimation comprising the steps of:receiving a digital video signal comprising a current picture and a first reference picture as reconstructed from an encoding process, each picture being partitioned into top and bottom or upper and lower portions for hybrid field and frame motion estimation and comprising a plurality of blocks, each block comprising a plurality of pels; andfirst processing for an initial rough determination in a multi-stage motion estimation by a signal processing circuit or software the received digital video signal by applying a first sum of absolute difference (SOAD) function to each block over a first search range between a first current motion vector corresponding to the current picture and a first reference motion vector corresponding to the first reference picture to generate a first SOAD signal, and determining a first minimum over the first search range of the generated first SOAD signal associated with a first selected best-match prediction block to generate a first selected motion vector signal representing a first selected motion vector.