Abstract: A novel apparatus for and method of reducing the memory bandwidth required to process data located in a window is disclosed. The data located in the window is processed against known template data in accordance with a predetermined function or matching criteria. The criteria could be the best match between data in a given window of data, termed the search window, and data contained in a smaller size template block. The data in the search window is divided into smaller sized blocks. The template block is compared against each block in the search window in order to determine a best match. The invention is described in the context of a motion estimator within a video compression system but is applicable to other areas as well. The invention utilizes a plurality of processing elements and FIFO arrays arranged in a linear array to reduce the memory bandwidth required to process the data within the search window.