Patent ID: 8265158

Claim:
A method estimating motion of a pixel block in a first frame of a series of video frames, the method comprising: storing the first frame and a second frame in computer memory; searching a first area in the second frame to identify a first matching block that corresponds to the pixel block, the first matching block including a first error value that is a minimum of at least one error criteria between the pixel block and the first matching block, calculating a first motion vector associated with the first matching block; searching a second area in the second frame, the second area being smaller than the first area and contained within the first area, to identify a second matching block that corresponds to the pixel block, the second matching block including a second error value that is a minimum, with respect to the second area, of the at least one error criteria between the pixel block and the second matching block, calculating a second motion vector associated with the second matching block; and selecting a final motion vector between the first and second motion vectors based on the first and second error value.