Patent ID: 7400681

Claim:
A method for predicting motion vectors associated with blocks of pixels of a picture to be included in a data stream for differential motion vector coding of a video signal, said method comprising the steps of: organising a set of reference pictures into a pair of lists and according to each reference picture within said lists at least one reference index; associating with selected ones of said blocks in said video signal at least one motion vector that references a respective one of said lists, each vector associated with a selected one of the blocks referencing a different list of said lists, each vector defining disposition of said selected one of the blocks relative to a reference picture in the respective one of said lists; and, computing a predicted value for a current vector of said vectors for a current block from vectors of adjacent blocks referencing a same list of reference pictures as the current vector, wherein prediction of a motion vector that selects a reference picture using a first list of reference pictures is not dependent upon motion vectors whose reference pictures are selected using a second list of reference pictures.