Patent ID: 7667776

Claim:
A noise level estimation module comprising: a pixel block selection module for selecting a plurality of selected pixel blocks over a set of K fields of a video signal, each of the plurality of selected pixel blocks containing a plurality of pixels having corresponding pixel values, the pixel block selection module having a difference calculation module for calculating a block difference for each of the plurality of selected pixel blocks based on a pixel difference between the pixel value for each of the plurality of pixels and a pixel value for a corresponding pixel in an adjacent field; a signal generator, operably coupled to the difference calculation module for generating a noise level estimation signal based on a subset of M block differences for the plurality of pixel blocks, wherein the signal generator selects the subset of M block differences by selecting the M substantially lowest block differences for the plurality of pixel blocks and generates the noise level estimation signal by summing the subset of M block differences, and wherein M is greater than one and K is greater than one.