1. A method comprising: examining a statistical distribution of motion vectors employed for motion compensation in a first frame of image data, said examining to produce a distribution model of said motion vectors in said first frame, said distribution model being a range of said motion vectors and associated probabilities; and selecting, based at least in part on said distribution model, a block-matching search pattern for use with respect to a second frame of image data, said second frame following said first frame in a sequence of frames of image data; wherein said examining includes calculating a mean value MV mean of the motion vectors employed for motion compensation in said first frame; wherein said examining includes calculating a dimension M of a diamond-shaped area which contains at least 99% of the motion vectors employed for motion compensation in said first frame; wherein M is the smallest value which satisfies the condition: 
 λ(1+β+β 2 +. .. +β M )>=0.99, with: 
 λ=1/MV mean , and 
 β=1-(/MV mean ).