Patent ID: 7693219

Claim:
A method of encoding video information using fast motion estimation to determine a reference macroblock within a reference frame for a current macroblock in a current frame, comprising: determining a motion vector, a difference value, and a cost value for each of a plurality of macroblocks within the reference frame according to a fast motion estimation search pattern; for each of the plurality of macroblocks, comparing cost values and selecting motion vector data, a motion mode and a cost value of a current lowest cost macroblock; for each of the plurality of macroblocks, determining and storing a difference value for each of a plurality of sub-blocks and at least one corresponding motion vector as stored information; for each of a plurality of sub-block motion modes, searching the stored information and determining a lowest cost sub-block combination, comparing a cost value of the lowest cost sub-block combination with the cost value of the current lowest cost macroblock; selecting between the lowest cost sub-block combination and the current lowest cost macroblock as the reference macroblock; and encoding video information using the selected reference macroblock.