Efficient shift of reference data in analog motion estimation

A novel method of shifting data within a cellular nonlinear network is presented. The method utilizes a 3-neighborhood connection and a novel cell type to reduce the error due to the shift. The novel cell type halves the amount of current mirrors needed for each shift. The applications of the method lie in block-based motion estimation of current video coding standards such as MPEG-4 or H.264. With the method the number of shifts for a [-7×7] motion estimation search area is reduced from seven to three. Simulations of the cell implemented in 0.13 CMOS show a negligible decrease in rate-distortion when compared to conventional MPEG-4 motion estimation. The error is largest when the magnitude of the motion vectors is small.