Patent ID: 6931064

Claim:
A motion picture data converter comprising: an MPEG-2 decoding unit which decodes motion picture data in an MPEG-2 format into motion picture data in a non-compressed format; a motion vector extraction unit which extracts MPEG-2 motion vector information in the MPEG-2 format from the motion picture data being decoded in said MPEG-2 decoding unit; a motion compensation unit which generates MPEG-4 motion vector information in an MPEG-4 format if a number of macro blocks having non-zero motion vector information exceeds a threshold, by causing the MPEG-2 extracted motion vector information to be reflected in the motion compensation processing for the MPEG-4 format, and executes the motion compensation processing, using the generated MPEG-4 motion vector information; and an MPEG-4 encoding unit which encodes motion picture data in the MPEG-4 format, using the motion compensation processed data output from said motion compensation unit and the motion picture data in the non-compressed format decoded in said MPEG-2 decoding unit.