Patent ID: 8711939

Claim:
A method of encoding video, the method comprising: performing motion estimation on a current block according to a first sub-pixel unit, and obtaining a motion vector in the first sub-pixel unit with respect to the current block; interpolating a reference picture indicated by the obtained motion vector according to a second sub-pixel unit smaller than the first sub-pixel unit; selecting a second sub-pixel from among sub-pixels in the second sub-pixel unit adjacent to a first sub-pixel in the first sub-pixel unit of the reference picture indicated by the obtained motion vector, wherein the selecting is performed using the interpolated reference picture; selecting a corresponding region that has a smaller error with the current block from among a first corresponding region and a second corresponding region, wherein the first corresponding region is of the reference picture indicated by the obtained motion vector and is obtained with respect to the first sub-pixel in the first sub-pixel unit, and the second corresponding region is of the current block and is obtained with respect to the selected second sub-pixel in the second sub-pixel unit; and encoding information of the selected corresponding region, wherein: the current block is comprised in an image; the image is hierarchically split from a plurality of maximum coding units according to the information about a maximum size of a coding unit into coding units of coded depths according to depths; wherein a coding unit of a current depth is one of rectangular data units split from a coding unit of a upper depth; wherein the coding unit of a current depth are split into coding units of a lower depth, independently from neighboring coding units; and wherein the coding units of a hierarchical structure comprise encoded coding units among the coding units split from the maximum coding unit.