Memory management method for storing motion vectors of decoded macroblocks

A memory management method used in the decoding process of a video frame, for storing the motion vector(s) of a decoded first macroblock as candidate predictor(s) for use in decoding a next macroblock, the method comprising:

• allocating a third memory space and a fourth memory space in a second memory, wherein each of the third and the fourth memory spaces is sufficient for storing one motion vector;
• and
• when the first macroblock comprises only one first motion vector, storing the first motion vector in the third or the fourth memory space.

A row-based memory management method used in the decoding process of a video frame, for storing the motion vectors of a plurality of decoded macroblocks as candidate predictors for use in the decoding process, wherein each row of the video frame comprises N macroblocks, the method comprising:

• allocating N memory units in a first memory, wherein each memory unit is sufficient for storing the motion vector(s) of one macroblock;
• when a first macroblock located at an Lth row and a Kth column is decoded, storing the motion vector(s) of the first macroblock in a Kth memory unit of the memory units to overwrite the motion vector(s) of a second macroblock previously stored in the Kth memory unit, wherein the second macroblock is located at an (L−1)th row and the Kth column, K is an integer between 1 and N, and L is an integer larger than 1.