Patent ID: 6418166
Filing Date: 2002-07-09
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
A method for performing motion estimation in video coding applications, the method comprising:a) for a selected location of a source block in a source frame, finding a starting location to begin a search for a matching block among target blocks in a target frame; b) computing a difference between pixel values at pixel locations in the source block from the source frame and pixel values at corresponding pixel locations in a target block in the target frame located at the starting location; c) computing a measure of combined motion and error signal data for the target block at the starting location; d) repeating steps b and c for subsequent target blocks in the search along a spiral path in the target frame and maintaining a minimum measure of the combined motion and error signal data; and e) for each of the subsequent target blocks in the search, computing a measure of the coding overhead for motion data associated with the target block and comparing the measure of the coding overhead with the minimum measure of the combined motion and error signal data to determine whether to terminate the search for the matching block.