Patent ID: 6912296

Claim:
A motion estimation method comprising: (a) calculating respective mean difference values for a current search point of a search block and neighboring search points within the search block; (b) performing motion estimation around the current search point if the mean difference value of the current search point is smaller than the mean difference values of the neighboring search points; and (c) performing motion estimation based on the mean difference values of at least some of the neighboring search points if the mean difference value of the current search point is not smaller than the mean difference values of at least one the neighboring search points, wherein the operation (c) comprises: (c1) selecting a new current search point from among said neighboring search points, wherein said new current search point has a smallest mean difference value of the neighboring search points; (c2) determining a first value based on a first predetermined relationship of the mean difference value of the new current search point and the mean difference value of a first neighboring search point; (c3) determining a second value based on a second predetermined relationship of the mean difference value of the new current search point and the mean difference value of a second neighboring search point; and (c4) performing motion estimation based on a first correlation between the first value and the second value.