Patent ID: 7099393

Claim:
A motion vector detection apparatus for detecting a motion vector by performing block matching between a target block comprising a plurality of pixels in a current image, and a reference block comprising a plurality of pixels in a predetermined reference area in a past image that is previous to the current image, said apparatus comprising: a first address generator for generating addresses of data in the target block and addresses of data in the reference area; a first storage unit for holding data of the reference area designated by the first address generator; a second storage unit for holding data of the target block designated by the first address generator; a second address generator for generating addresses of data to be outputted from the first storage unit and the second storage unit; an interpolation pixel generator for receiving the data outputted from the first storage unit, and generating decimal precision pixel data; a decimal precision motion vector detector for detecting a decimal precision motion vector from the data outputted from the interpolation pixel generator and the data outputted from the second storage unit; and a reading direction decision unit for deciding the reading direction of the reference area data stored in the first storage unit, and outputting the reading direction to the second address generator; wherein said second address generator generates addresses of pixel data to be outputted from the first storage unit, on the basis of the reading direction decided by the reading direction decision unit.