Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P.
Hierarchical motion estimation process and system using block-matching and integral projection
 Methods and systems of the present invention obtain a motion vector between two frames of video image data. Specifically, methods and systems of the present invention may be used to estimate a motion vector for each macroblock of a current frame with respect to a reference frame in a multi-stage operation. In a first stage, an application implementing the process of the present invention coarsely searches a first search area of the reference frame to obtain a candidate supermacroblock that best approximates a supermacroblock in the current frame. In a second stage, the supermacroblock is divided into a plurality of macroblocks. Each of the macroblocks is used to construct search areas which are then searched to obtain a candidate macroblock that best appropriates a macroblock in the current frame. Additional stages may be used to further fine-tune the approximation to the macroblock. The methods and systems of the present invention may be used in optimizing digital video encoders, decoders, and video format converters. 
Sony Corporation Sony Electronics, Inc.
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Ching-Fang Naofumi
Chang Yanagihara