Patent ID: 8542741

Claim:
An image processing device comprising: a high resolution template frame buffer adapted to store image information of a high resolution template frame; a high resolution reference frame buffer adapted to store image information of a high resolution reference frame; a low resolution template frame buffer adapted to store image information of a low resolution template frame obtained by reducing the image of the high resolution template frame; a low resolution reference frame buffer adapted to store image information of a low resolution reference frame obtained by reducing the image of the high resolution reference frame; low resolution motion vector calculation means adapted to calculate a low resolution layer motion vector for each of blocks of a low resolution layer, each of the blocks is of a predetermined size and made up of a plurality of pixels, in the low resolution template and reference frames; high resolution motion vector calculation means adapted to calculate a high resolution layer motion vector for each of blocks of a high resolution layer using the calculation result of the motion vector of the low resolution layer in the high resolution template and reference frames, the blocks of the high resolution layer being of a size associated with those of the low resolution layer; and high resolution layer calculation determination means adapted to determine whether or not to calculate a motion vector for each of the blocks of the high resolution layer based on a comparison result indicating whether the low resolution layer motion vector is greater than a predetermined threshold, wherein if the high resolution layer calculation determination means determines that a motion vector should be calculated for the blocks of the high resolution layer, the high resolution motion vector calculation means is activated to calculate a motion vector in the high resolution layer, and if the high resolution layer calculation determination means determines that a motion vector need not be calculated for the blocks of the high resolution layer, the high resolution motion vector calculation means is not activated, and, instead, a motion vector is used as a substitute which is obtained by scaling the motion vector of the low resolution layer, calculated by the low resolution motion vector calculation means, according to the image size of the high resolution layer.