Method and apparatus for implementing motion estimation in video compression

A computer-implemented method for processing video data, the video data including a current frame and an adjacent frame, the current frame including a current macroblock, the adjacent frame including an adjacent macroblock, the method comprising:

• obtaining an uncompressed current block and an adjacent block, the uncompressed current block being a part of the current macroblock, the adjacent block being a part of the adjacent macroblock and being in a same spatial location relative to the uncompressed current block;
• calculating a distance between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block;
• determining if the distance between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block is acceptable;
• estimating a motion between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block if the distance between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block is not acceptable, wherein estimating the motion between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block includes calculating a residual between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block;
• adaptively compressing the uncompressed current block when the distance between the current block and the adjacent block is not acceptable;
• adaptively compressing the residual;
• compressing the current macroblock using a first compression technique, wherein the compressed current macroblock includes the compressed residual;
• decompressing the current macroblock compressed using the first compression technique;
• decompressing the compressed residual;
• and
• adding the decompressed residual to the adjacent macroblock.

A computer-readable medium for furnishing downloadable computer-readable program code instructions configured to cause a computer to execute the steps of:

• obtaining an uncompressed current block and an adjacent block, the uncompressed current block being a part of a current macroblock that is a part of a current video frame, the adjacent block being a part of an adjacent macroblock that is part of an adjacent video frame;
• calculating a distance between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block;
• determining if the distance between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block is acceptable;
• estimating the motion between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block when the distance between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block is not acceptable, wherein estimating the motion between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block includes calculating the residual between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block;
• adaptively compressing the uncompressed current block when the distance between the current block and the adjacent block is not acceptable;
• adaptively compressing the residual;
• compressing the current macroblock using a first compression technique, wherein the compressed current macroblock includes the compressed residual;
• and
• compressing the current macroblock using a second compression technique, wherein the second compression technique is arranged to utilize the adaptively compressed current block.

A computer-readable medium for furnishing downloadable computer-readable program code instructions configured to cause a computer to execute the steps of:

• obtaining an uncompressed current block and an adjacent block, the uncompressed current block being a part of a current macroblock that is a part of a current video frame, the adjacent block being a part of an adjacent macroblock that is part of an adjacent video frame;
• calculating a distance between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block;
• determining if the distance between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block is acceptable;
• estimating the motion between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block when the distance between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block is not acceptable, wherein estimating the motion between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block includes calculating the residual between the uncompressed current block and the adjacent block;
• adaptively compressing the uncompressed current block when the distance between the current block and the adjacent block is not acceptable;
• adaptively compressing the residual;
• compressing the current macroblock using a first compression technique, wherein the compressed current macroblock includes the compressed residual;
• decompressing the current macroblock compressed using the first compression technique;
• decompressing the compressed residual;
• and
• adding the decompressed residual to the adjacent macroblock.