Patent ID: 8638854

Claim:
A method for encoding a video signal having at least one frame with at least one block of pixel data, comprising: A) selecting a target block in a target frame to be compressed using a processor; B) obtaining a first alternate reference block associated with the target block, the first alternate reference block available for inter prediction of blocks of a sequence of frames and the sequence of frames defining an alternate reference period; C) comparing the first alternate reference block to a predictor block associated with the target block to determine whether to create a secondary alternate reference block, the predictor block being an inter predicted block generated based on a frame other than the target frame; and D) when a difference between the first alternate reference block and the predictor block is less than a threshold, selectively creating the secondary alternate reference block by: selecting certain blocks from the sequence of frames that are more different from the first alternate reference block than other non-selected blocks from the sequence of frames; and creating the second alternate reference block using the selected blocks, the secondary alternate reference block available for inter prediction of the blocks of the sequence of frames.