Patent ID: 8743952

Claim:
A video encoder that encodes, into a processed video signal, a video input signal including a sequence of pictures, the video encoder comprising: a processor comprising a direct mode module, the direct mode module comprising: a motion flag generation module that generates a motion flag for at least one of a plurality of macroblocks of a first picture of the sequence of pictures based on a corresponding macroblock of a plurality of macroblocks of a second picture of the sequence of pictures, wherein the second picture is subsequent to the first picture in the sequence of pictures, and wherein the motion flag has a first value that indicates motion and a second value that indicates substantially no motion; and a direct mode motion vector module that evaluates a direct mode motion vector for the corresponding macroblock of the second picture, based on the motion flag for the at least one of the plurality of macroblocks of the first picture, wherein the direct mode motion vector module disqualifies a skip mode condition when the motion flag indicates motion and qualifies the skip mode condition for the second picture when the motion flag indicates substantially no motion.