Patent ID: 8638853

Claim:
A method of encoding video, the method comprising: with a video encoder, encoding a current predictive (P) frame of video to produce encoded video in a bit stream, wherein the encoding includes: selecting a macroblock mode from among plural macroblock modes possible for the current P frame, wherein the plural macroblock modes include: a first INTER mode in which a current macroblock of the current P frame is encoded relative to a reference frame using no motion vector information; a second INTER mode in which the current macroblock is encoded with motion compensation relative to the reference frame using motion vector information that is encoded in the bit stream, wherein, according to the second INTER mode, the motion vector information for the current macroblock is encoded in the bit stream as differential motion vector information; and a third INTER mode in which the current macroblock is encoded with motion compensation relative to the reference frame using predicted motion vector information that is not encoded in the bit stream, wherein, according to the third INTER mode, the predicted motion vector information for the current macroblock is determined from motion vector information of one or more surrounding macroblocks in the current P frame; and encoding the current macroblock according to the selected macroblock mode; and from the video encoder, outputting the encoded video in the bit stream.