Patent ID: 8644387

Claim:
A motion estimation method for use in a de-interlacing process of a current interlaced field, comprising: defining a specified block in the current interlaced field, wherein the specified block contains at least one missing pixel and at least one existing pixel; pre-estimating missing pixels of a prior interlaced field and a subsequent interlaced field; defining a first candidate block in the prior interlaced field with pre-estimated pixel values and defining a second candidate block in the subsequent interlaced field with pre-estimated pixel values, wherein a position of the first candidate block in the prior interlaced field and a position of the second candidate block in the subsequent interlaced field are determined according to a position of the specified block in the current interlaced field and a motion-vector set; calculating a first block difference value, which is a first difference between the at least one existing pixel of the specified block and at least one corresponding pixel of the first candidate block with pre-estimated pixel values, wherein the first difference is not between any one missing pixel of the specified block and a corresponding pixel of the first candidate block with pre-estimated pixel values; calculating a second block difference value, which is a second difference between at least one existing pixel of the first candidate block and at least one corresponding existing pixel of the second candidate block, wherein the second difference is not between any one missing pixel of the first candidate block and a corresponding missing pixel of the second candidate block; and calculating a motion estimation value corresponding to the motion-vector set according to the first block difference value and the second block difference value.