Motion estimator with arbitrary search window shape

摘要

A motion estimator includes a shape, address and vector generator 31 to produce control signals 311, 312, 313 according to a selected size and shape of a search area comprising scan lines. A variable delay 34 reads reference image data of a frame in which a matching macroblock is sought from a store 32 under control of a variable delay control signal 313 from the signal generator 31 to align a current serial input stream of a current scan line with a serial input stream of an immediately preceding scan line. The aligned reference image pixel data is matched 35 against pixel data of a current macroblock using a vector from the signal generator 31 to produce a score representing a quality of the match. A best score together with the corresponding best vector is recorded 37 and the best vector output 371.