Ecole De Technologie Superieure

Luc Trudeau

Christian Desrosiers

Stéphane Coulombe

Methods and systems for determining motion vectors in a motion estimation process of a video encoder are provided. Embodiments of the present invention provide a solution for the problem of unnecessary cost function evaluations, found when combining the successive elimination method with a predetermined list of candidate motion vectors search ordering. In order to solve this problem, embodiments of the present invention provide an adaptive scan ordering of block matching candidates within a search area. Advantageously, embodiments of the present invention will only evaluate necessary cost functions, without impacting rate-distortion.

Methods and systems for determining motion vectors in a motion estimation process of a video encoder

A video encoder with rate-constrained search ordering feature for reducing computational cost of motion estimation in video coding has been provided. The video encoder has a motion estimation module for determining vector encoding costs for respective motion vectors corresponding to candidate blocks in a video frame, and assigning an order for evaluating a rate-constrained cost of each candidate block based on the determined vector encoding costs.

Video encoder and motion estimation apparatus therefor with rate-constrained search ordering of candidate blocks

Methods and systems for rate-constrained search ordering algorithms for reducing computational cost of motion estimation in video coding have been provided. Conventional search orderings, such as spiral search, can weaken the filtering criterion of rate-constrained successive elimination algorithms. Simulation results provided herein above demonstrate that, on average, the amount of SAD (sum of absolute differences) operations required to encode the tested sequences, is reduced using embodiments of the invention, when compared to the conventional implementations of spiral search for example. Advantageously, for sequences with unpredictable motion, this reduction may be greater than 5%, and may even exceed 10% when smaller block partitions are evaluated.

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Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Canada

Luc Trudeau