Patent ID: 7333543

Claim:
A motion vector estimating method in an encoding method for a moving picture based on a block, the motion vector estimating method comprising: dividing each of a (k−1)-th frame and a k-th frame into blocks, each of which has N×N picture elements, and transforming the blocks by applying an arbitrary transform method; and determining a search area having a size of W×W (here, W>N) in the (k−1)-th frame, finding an N×N block in the search area of the (k−1)-th frame which has an optimal similarity to an N×N block in the k-th frame, and estimating a motion vector by calculating the displacement of the found block; wherein the similarity of the block in the k-th frame and the blocks in the search area of the (k−1)-th frame is obtained by adding the differences of the transform coefficients of the block in the k-th frame and transform coefficients of an arbitrary block in the search area of the (k−1)-th frame; and wherein in calculating the similarity of the block in the k-th frame and the blocks in the search area of the (k−1)-th frame, performing at least one operation of each of the transform coefficients of the block in the k-th frame is divided by a sum total of the transform coefficients of the block in the k-th frame, and the operation of each of the transform coefficients of the block in the search area of the (k−1)-th frame is divided by a sum total of the transform coefficients of the block in the search area of the (k−1)-th frame.