Fast Full Search Block Motion Estimation for H.264/AVC with Multilevel Successive Elimination Algorithm (TA-P3)

Author(s) : Tuukka Toivonen (University of Oulu, Finland) Janne Heikkilä (University of Oulu, Finland)

Abstract : We modify the multilevel successive elimination algorithm (MSEA) to make it compatible with the motion estimation required for the H.264/AVC video coding standard. The algorithm must be changed to support the multiple block sizes and the criterion to be minimized has to be rate-distortion-based to allow efficient encoding. We use MSEA for eliminating the smallest 4 × 4 -pixel blocks and either derive lower bound or exact criterion for larger blocks based on the small block bounds or criterions, correspondingly. The resulting algorithm needs 60%­70% less time than the original motion estimation in the reference encoder but will still yield practically equivalent video quality and bit rate.

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