Method and apparatus for estimating motion

A motion estimation apparatus comprising:

• a first register storing information on whether to detect first detection positions through masking and number information of valid first detection positions;
• a second register storing information on distances from a detection starting position to second detection positions and number information of valid distance information;
• a controller receiving a command including information on the detection starting position and generating a shift-enable signal, a selection signal, and a progress element group (PEG)-enable signal referring to one of the first register and the second register for the information thereof according to the received command;
• a shifter, in response to the shift-enable signal, shifting and outputting reference image or video data in a detection region of a reference frame and outputting the received reference image or video data as it is;
• a selector, in response to the selection signal, selecting and outputting a part of output image or video data of the shifter or outputting the whole output image or video data;
• a process element (PE) array receiving current image or video data of a current frame and, in response to the PEG-enable signal, including a plurality of PEGs operating current image or video data and output image or video data of the selector in parallel;
• and a comparator generating operation results for respective block sizes using operation results of the plurality of the PEGs, comparing the operation results for the respective block sizes with one another, and outputting an optimum operation value and a motion vector.