1. A method of motion estimation for processing successive images in an image sequence, a motion vector being associated with each of the processed images, the method comprising the steps of: selecting i motion vectors associated with i images that precede a current image in the image sequence, i being an integer that is greater than 1; generating candidate motion vectors from the motion vectors that are selected; electing a motion vector from among the candidate motion vectors; and storing information that associates the elected motion vector with the current image, wherein at least one of the candidate motion vectors is an acceleration vector that is generated from an acceleration between a first motion vector averaged relative to a first image and a second motion vector averaged relative to a second image, the first and second images are distinct and precede the current image in the sequence, and a motion vector averaged relative to a given image is a motion vector obtained from selected motion vectors associated with images preceding the given image.