Patent ID: 6888892

Claim:
A method for using a processing device to pad data in a macroblock of a video object plane, said macroblock including both texture data and shape data, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a first instruction for padding successive data elements of the texture data in a first direction within the macroblock, by selectively copying data from a preceding data element to a current data element of the macroblock in the first direction, as a function of the shape data corresponding to the current data element; (b) providing a second instruction for padding successive data elements of the texture data in a second direction within the macroblock, opposite the first direction, by selectively copying data from a preceding data element to a current data element of the macroblock in the second direction as a function of the shape data corresponding to the current data element; (c) processing the data elements of the texture data with: (i) the first instruction; (ii) then with the second instruction, producing first padded texture data; (iii) then again with the first instruction, producing second padded texture data; and (iv) averaging corresponding data elements of the first padded texture data and the second padded texture data, producing partially padded texture data; and (d) padding any data elements of the partially padded texture data that are not yet padded, in a third direction in the macroblock, as a function of the partially padded texture data and of the shape data.