Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP (대한전자공학회논문지SP)

The Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers (대한전자공학회)
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Fast motion estimation and mode decision for variable block sizes motion compensation in H.264

H.264의 가변 블록 움직임 보상을 위한 고속 움직임 벡터 탐색 및 모드 결정법

  • 이제윤 (성균관대학교 정보통신공학부) ;
  • 최웅일 (성균관대학교 정보통신공학부) ;
  • 전병우 (성균관대학교 정보통신공학부) ;
  • 석민수 (성균관대학교 정보통신공학부)
  • Published : 2003.07.01
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Abstract

The now video coding standard H.264 employs variable block size motion compensation, multiple references, and quarter-pel motion vector accuracy. These techniques are key features to accomplish higher coding gain, however, at the same time main factors that increase overall computational complexity. Therefore, in order to apply H.264 to many applications, key techniques are requested to improve their speed. For this reason, we propose a fast motion estimation which is suited for variable block size motion communication. In addition, we propose a fast mode decision method to choose the best mode at early stage. Experimental results show the reduction of the number of SAT SATD calculations by a factor of 4.5 and 2.6 times respectively, when we compare the proposed fast motion estimation and the conventional MVFAS $T^{［8-10］}$. Besides, the number of RDcost computations is reduced by about 45%. Therefore, the proposed methods reduces significantly its computational complexity without noticeable coding loss.

최근 표준화가 완성된 H.264는 가변 크기 블록 움직임 보상, 복수 참조 영상, 그러고 1/4 화소 움직임 벡터 정확도를 지원하고 있다. 그러나 이러한 새로운 부호화 기술은 부호화 효율 향상의 주된 요인이 되긴 하지만 동시에 높은 복잡도의 요인이기도 하다. 따라서 H.264 비디오 표준의 실제 응용 확대를 위해서는 이러한 기술에 대한 속도 향상이 필요하다. 본 논문에서는 부호화 복잡도의 가장 큰 비중을 차지하는 움직임 벡터 추정을 고속화하기 위해 가변 크기 블록 움직임 보상에 적합한 고속 움직임 벡터 탐색법을 제안한다. 또한 H.264가 갖는 다양한 부호화 모두 중 최적치를 빠르게 결정한 수 있는 고속 결정법을 제안한다. 실험 결과, 고속 움직임 벡터 탐색법은 기존 MVFAST/sup ［8-10］/에 비해 SAD 계산 수가 4.5배, SATD 계산수는 2.6배 감소하였으며, 고속 모드 결정법의 사용으로 비트율­왜곡 계산치인 RDcost 계산 수는 45%가 감소되었다. 따라서 제안된 방법은 큰 부호화 손실 없이 계산량 감소에 있어서 매우 높은 효율을 제공함을 확인하였다.

Keywords

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