Patent ID: 7693218

Claim:
A method for a digital video signal processor for determining a motion vector for a current block of a current video image in a sequence of video images, each of the video images being divided into a plurality of blocks, the method comprising the steps of: providing, using a candidate vector generator, a plurality of candidate motion vectors, each of the candidate motion vectors indicating an estimate of the motion vector of the current block of the current video image; calculating, for each of the candidate motion vectors, a first error value based on the current block of the current video image and a first block of a first previous video image preceding the current video image, the first block being referenced by the candidate motion vector; calculating, for each of the candidate motion vectors, a second error value based on the current block of the current video image and a second block of a second previous video image preceding the first previous video image, the second block being referenced by a vector having twice the length of the candidate motion vector; combining, for each of the candidate motion vectors, said first error value and said second error value into a third error value; receiving an indicator indicating whether the current block is in film mode or not; and determining the motion vector of the current block by selecting the candidate motion vector having the smallest second error value, if the indicator indicates that the current block is in film mode, and by selecting the candidate motion vector having the smallest third error value, if the indicator indicates that the current block is not in film mode.