Abstract: A digital video encoding method, apparatus and computer program product are described with enhanced encoding of a picture having a plurality of macroblocks. The approach is to partition the picture into at least two regions and then to set or adjust at least one encoding parameter for each macroblock of the picture based upon the region of the picture within which the macroblock is located. As one specific implementation, the picture is partitioned into a center region and at least one outer region and the at least one encoding parameter is set to enhance picture quality in the center region at the expense of picture quality in the at least one outer region. The encoding parameter can, for example, be a motion estimation parameter, a quantization value, or a target bits per macroblock.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for calculating motion vectors. The method and apparatus calculate a motion trajectory value and initial base weights such that when x is the horizontal offset of the current macroblock from the left edge of the search window, and y is the vertical offset of the current macroblock from the top edge of the search window, and this pair of x and y values are used as the initial base weights, the motion estimation provides the best matched macroblock that has the shortest distance from the current macroblock. When the initial base weights are set to 0's, then the motion estimation will produce the first best matched macroblock encountered by the search circuitry. A scheme is also provided to set the initial base weights so that the best matched macroblock closest to the motion trajectory is selected for the motion estimation.