Patent ID: 8891633

Claim:
A method of multi-level motion estimation for block-based video coding, the method comprising: constructing a reduced resolution image by: representing 64×64 blocks of original picture as 16×16 blocks; and calculating every pixel in the reduced image; performing a reduced resolution search for blocks 64×64; performing refinement by neighboring blocks; providing a motion assignment for 16×16 blocks using neighboring blocks; performing a refinement search for 16×16 blocks; providing an error distribution analysis information for split-merge prediction and non-square block selection; performing a sub-pixel refinement; splitting 16×16 blocks into 8×8 blocks; merging four 16×16 blocks into one 32×32 partition; merging four 32×32 blocks into one 64×64 partition; and selecting a best non-square prediction using an error distribution field; wherein the reduced resolution image is calculated as a weighted sum of pixels in the original picture, as follows: Z x/4,y/4 =( O x,y +2* O x+1,y +O x+2,y +2* O x,y+1 +4 *O x+1,y+1 +2* O x+2,y+1 +O x,y+2 +2 *O x+1,y+2 +O x+2,y+2 )/16; where: Z x/4, y/4 is a pixel of the reduced image; and O x, y is a pixel in the original picture.