Depth-of-interest-based Bypass Coding-unit Algorithm for Inter-prediction in High-efficiency Video Coding

The next-generation video coding standard known as High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) was developed with the aim of doubling the bitrate reduction offered by H.264/Advanced Video Coding (AVC) at the expense of an increase in computational complexity. Mode decision with motion estimation is still one of the most time-consuming computations in HEVC, as it is with H.264/AVC. Several schemes for a fast mode decision have been presented in reference software and in other studies. However, a possible speed-up in conventional schemes is sometimes insignificant for videos that have inhomogeneous spatial and temporal characteristics. This paper proposes a bypass algorithm to skip large-block-size predictions for videos where small block sizes are preferred over large ones. The proposed algorithm does not overlap with those in previous works, and thus, is easily used with other fast algorithms. Consequently, an independent speed-up is possible.