High-speed motion estimation method

Abstract

A high-speed motion estimation method for estimating a motion of a picture at high speed in a high-speed motion estimation apparatus including an integer-times motion estimation unit and a decimal-times motion estimation unit. The integer-times motion estimation unit (1) receives pixel data of a picture for estimation of motion from an external frame memory, (2) stores pixel data of a current region in a current macroblock storage where multiple inputs / outputs are made, (3) stores pixel data of an estimation region in an estimation region macroblock storage of a sharable multiple input / output bank type, and (4) predicts an integer-times motion vector using both stored pixel data. The decimal-times motion estimation unit reads the pixel data of the estimation region from the estimation region macroblock storage which is sharable, and predicts a decimal-times motion vector using the read pixel data of the estimation region and the integer-times motion vector.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a divisional of co-pending application Ser. No. 12 / 495, 626 filed on Jun. 30, 2009, and claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2008-111627 filed on Nov. 11, 2008, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to an estimation of a high-speed motion in an encoder for the compression of a picture, and more particularly, to a high-speed motion estimation apparatus and method, which have a sharable multiple input / output bank memory structure.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]An encoder for the compression of a picture (hereinafter, referred to as “a picture encoder”) estimates motion by macroblock unit of a specific pixel size, and predicts a motion vector of a position where the value of a Sum of Absolute Differences (hereinafter, referred to as “S...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This approach minimizes inputs / outputs with external frame memory, enabling faster motion estimation while maintaining picture quality by simultaneously receiving and outputting necessary pixel data, thus reducing processing time and improving overall encoder performance.

Problems solved by technology

In the decimal-times estimation, the performance of the picture encoder may be deteriorated because the calculation time of the SAD and the input / output time of the frame memory are primarily focused upon the prediction of motion estimation.

Therefore, in the case of the picture encoder, due to the limited bandwidth of the memory, the input / output function of a stored memory may become bottlenecked.

Consequently, a motion estimation apparatus may not be able to read the pixel data necessary for a calculation from the frame memory within a predetermined time upon estimation of motion.

Accordingly, the picture encoder requires a large amount of calculations, and thus, since much processing time is taken per macroblock, delayed processing time deteriorates the overall performance of the picture encoder.

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