Hints selection for hardware-based pyramidal motion estimation search

Abstract

Various embodiments include techniques for performing hardware-assisted motion estimation when encoding blocks of a media frame. A video encoder generates motion vector hints for multiple phases of motion estimation at increasingly finer resolutions until the final motion estimation phase at the full resolution of the media frame. The video encoder divides the media frame into a grid of grid blocks, where the grid blocks are smaller than the standard encoding block size of the media frame. At each phase, the video encoder generates one motion vector hint for each grid block at the selected resolution for that phase. For each motion vector hint, the video encoder generates forward prediction hint data based on a reference media frame previous to the current media frame. Further, for each motion vector hint, the video encoder generates backward prediction hint data based on a reference media frame that follows the current media frame.