Patent ID: 7046306

Claim:
A system for processing a video signal comprising information for a plurality of frames, each frame representing an image and comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel having luminance information and chrominance information, the system comprising: a motion estimator operable to: receive the luminance information and chrominance information for each pixel in a first predetermined portion of the video signal, the first predetermined portion comprising at least a first frame; store the received luminance information and chrominance information for the pixels in the first predetermined portion of the video signal; receive the luminance information and chrominance information for each pixel in a second predetermined portion of the video signal, the second predetermined portion comprising at least a second frame; and for each particular pixel of the second predetermined portion, determine an estimated motion vector for the particular pixel of the second predetermined portion by: comparing the luminance information and chrominance information of the particular pixel of the second predetermined portion to the stored luminance information and chrominance information for one or more pixels in a search area of the first predetermined portion to determine a pixel in the search area of the first predetermined portion that most closely matches the particular pixel of the second predetermined portion; and determining the estimated motion vector according to the particular pixel of the second predetermined portion and the most closely matching pixel in the search area of the first predetermined portion, the estimated motion vector being used to access the chrominance information for the most closely matching pixel in the search area of the first predetermined portion; a three-dimensional comb filter operable to filter the chrominance information for the particular pixel of the second predetermined portion and the chrominance information for the most closely matching pixel in the search area of the first predetermined portion to determine three-dimensional filter output chrominance information for the particular pixel of the second predetermined portion; and an output processor operable to: receive the three-dimensional output chrominance information for the particular pixel of the second predetermined portion; if the chrominance information for the particular pixel of the second predetermined portion matches the chrominance information of the most closely matching pixel in the search area of the first predetermined portion within a specified tolerance, use the three-dimensional filter output chrominance information to determine output luminance information for the particular pixel of the second predetermined portion; and provide the three-dimensional output chrominance information for the particular pixel and the output luminance information for the particular pixel for displaying the particular pixel.