Patent ID: 8000391

Claim:
A motion vector estimating method applying a sub-sampling method to a picture of an object frame and a picture of a reference frame in a motion picture compressing and encoding process, the method comprising: a step of sorting the picture of the object frame in accordance with the sub-sampling method to separate the picture of the object frame into first object picture data used for estimating a motion vector and second object picture data that is not used for estimating the motion vector, and packing the first and second object picture data separately; a step of sorting the picture of the reference frame in accordance with the sub-sampling method to separate the picture of the reference frame into first reference picture data used for estimating the motion vector and second reference picture data that is not used for estimating the motion vector, and packing the first and second reference picture data respectively; a step of storing the separated and packed first object picture data and second object picture data in an object data storing unit; a step of storing the separated and packed first reference picture data and second reference picture data in a reference data storing unit; and a step of reading the first object picture data stored in the object data storing unit and the first reference picture data stored in the reference data storing unit to estimate the motion vector, wherein said step of sorting and packing the picture of the object frame comprises sorting, for a unit of pixels of data read, the picture of the object frame arranged in a sequence according to an arrangement of pictures for each block so as to separate the picture of the object frame into the first object picture data and the second object picture data, and packing the first object picture data and the second object picture data separately; and said step of sorting and packing the picture of the reference frame comprises sorting, for a unit of pixels of data read, the picture of the reference frame arranged in a sequence according to an arrangement of pictures for each block so as to separate the picture of the reference frame into the first reference picture data and the second reference picture data, and packing the first reference picture data and the second reference picture data separately.