Patent ID: 7751482

Claim:
A computer readable storage medium encoded with computer executable instructions for controlling a processor to perform a computer implemented method of determining a motion vector for encoding a block of a predicted video frame with respect to a reference video frame, the method comprising: establishing a size for phase correlation blocks, the size of the phase correlation blocks being larger than the maximum allowable magnitude of the motion vector; identifying a number of highest phase correlation peaks within an inner area of a phase correlation surface, the phase correlation surface based upon a phase correlation block of the predicted video frame and a corresponding phase correlation block of the reference video frame, the inner area having a size equal to or less than the maximum allowable magnitude of a motion vector; determining for each phase correlation peak identified in the inner area, a motion vector; and selecting from the determined motion vectors, a motion vector that has the minimum distortion measure between the block and a reference block offset from the block by the motion vector among the determined motion vectors.