Method and system for motion estimation in a video encoder

摘要

Described herein is a method and system for motion estimation in a video encoder. There are two parts to the motion estimation. Coarse motion estimation generates a set of motion vectors for a current picture and at least one reference picture. Typically, coarse motion estimation operates on sub-sampled pictures. Fine motion estimation can refine coarse motion estimation results by searching interpolated video data in a region defined by the motion vectors from the coarse motion estimation.

主权项

1. A method for motion estimation in a video encoder, said method comprising:
sub-sampling a current picture, wherein sub-sampling comprises:
decimating the current picture by averaging adjacent pixels, thereby producing the sub-sampled current picture; andcorrelating a sub-sampled current picture with a sub-sampled reference picture, thereby producing a first set of motion vectors in said video encoder;selecting one or more candidate motion vectors from the first set of motion vectors;correlating a portion of a current picture with a region of a reference picture, wherein the region of the reference picture corresponds to the one or more candidate motion vectors;producing a second set of motion vectors in response to correlating the portion of the current picture with the region of the reference picture; andproducing costs associated with the second set of motion vectors.