Patent ID: 8208541
Filing Date: 2012-06-26
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A motion estimation device which estimates motion of each block in a picture, said motion estimation device comprising: a storage operable to store a reference picture; a reference memory operable to store pixel data included in a transferred area of the reference picture, the pixel data being transferred from said storage; a motion estimator operable to estimate motion of a target block, for which motion estimation is performed, using pixel data in a motion estimation range included in the transferred area stored in said reference memory; and a memory controller operable to update a part of the transferred area for use in a next target block, wherein the transferred area includes first to third rectangular areas, the first rectangular area includes the motion estimation range, the second rectangular area has a width that is from (i) a left-most pixel in the reference picture to (ii) a pixel on immediately left of a left-most pixel in the first rectangular area, a height that is L pixels lower than a height of the first rectangular area, and a bottom that is positioned at a same horizontal level as a bottom of the first rectangular area, the third rectangular area has a width that is from (i) a right-most pixel in the reference picture to (ii) a pixel on immediately right of a right-most pixel in the first rectangular area, a height that is L pixels lower than the height of the first rectangular area, and an upper limit that is positioned at a same horizontal level as an upper limit of the first rectangular area, L is expressed by power of 2, and said memory controller is operable to transfer pixel data from an update area in said storage to a memory area in said reference memory, the update area being positioned on immediately right of the first rectangular area and immediately under the third rectangular area and having a height of L pixels and a width of K pixels, and the memory area being positioned in the first rectangular area at top left and having a height of L pixels and a width of K pixels.