Patent ID: 7885329

Claim:
A motion vector sensor which detects a motion vector by a block matching method for computing a correlation between a standard block of interest of a standard image and an image block of a reference image, the sensor comprising: a plurality of correlation computing units which perform parallel processing of search positions within a search range defined while taking as a center position an image block located in the same position on the reference image as that of the standard block by a pipeline method; search means which searches a correlation extreme value while sequentially moving the center position on the basis of a predetermined search position setting standard in accordance with a result of correlation computation, correlation coefficient memory for sequentially storing a correlation minimum value exhibiting the maximum correlation; comparator which detects a correlation minimum value exhibiting the maximum correlation and a search position in accordance with a progress in correlation computation; computation range setting unit which determines the next search range in accordance with the search position exhibiting the maximum correlation; and search completion determinator which determines whether or not the correlation minimum value of the maximum correlation position has reached a correlation extreme value.