Patent ID: 8139643

Claim:
A motion estimation apparatus for moving picture coding, comprising: a one-standard-pixel (1-pel) buffer for storing 1-pel unit pixels using luminance signals of a reference frame, the stored 1-pel unit pixels corresponding to macroblocks of a current frame; a 1-pel estimator for calculating 1-pel unit motion vectors and minimum costs in correspondence to the macroblocks of the current frame and the pixels stored in the 1-pel buffer; a one-half-of-one-standard-pixel (½-pel) interpolator for performing ½-pel unit interpolation using the pixels stored in the 1-pel buffer and obtaining ½-pel unit interpolated pixels; a ½-pel buffer for storing the ½-pel unit interpolated pixels; a ½-pel estimator for calculating ½-pel unit motion vectors and minimum costs in correspondence to the pixels stored in the ½-pel buffer, the values calculated by the 1-pel estimator, and the macroblocks of the current frame; a one-quarter-of-one-standard-pixel (¼-pel) interpolator for performing ¼-pel unit interpolation using the pixels stored in the ½-pel buffer and 1-pel buffer and obtaining ¼-pel unit interpolated pixels; a ¼-pel buffer for storing the ¼-pel unit interpolated pixels; and a ¼-pel estimator for calculating ¼-pel unit motion vectors and minimum costs in correspondence to the pixels stored in the ¼-pel buffer, the values calculated by the ½-pel estimator, and the macroblocks of the current frame.