Patent ID: 6859494

Claim:
A method for motion estimation between blocks of pixels from a first video frame and a second video frame, comprising the steps of: adaptively processing a current block of pixels from a second video frame in a first task; adaptively processing said current block of pixels and current sub-blocks of pixels of said current block of pixels in a second task; adaptively processing said current sub-blocks of pixels in a third task; locating search points in a first video frame for: (1) a block of pixels from said first task; (2) a block and a plurality of sub-blocks of pixels from said second task; and (3) a plurality of sub-blocks of pixels from said third task, which provide the lowest matching costs for one of said current block of pixels and said current sub-blocks of pixels; and discarding search points which are redundant between at least one of: (1) the first and third tasks during the third task; (2) the first and second tasks during the second task; and (3) the second and third tasks during the third task.