• Journal of The Institute of Information and Telecommunication Facilities Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.53-61
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• 2011

This research presents an adaptive fast motion estimation (ME) computation on the stage of uneven multi-hexagon grid search (UMHGS) algorithm included in an unsymmetrical-cross multi-hexagon-grid search (UMHexagonS) in H.264 standard. The proposed adaptive method is based on statistical analysis and previously obtained motion vectors to reduce the computational complexity of ME. For this purpose, the algorithm is decomposed into three processes: skipping, terminating, and reducing search areas. Skipping and terminating are determined by the statistical analysis of the collected minimum SAD (sum of absolute difference) and the search area is constrained by the slope of previously obtained motion vectors. Simulation results show that 13%-23% of ME time can be reduced compared with UMHexagonS, while still maintaining a reasonable PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio) and average bitrates.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.2579-2585
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• 2010

This paper proposes a dynamic human pose tracking method using motion-based search strategy from an image sequence obtained from a monocular camera. The proposed method compares the image features between 3D human model projections and real input images. The method repeats the process until predefined criteria and then estimates 3D human pose that generates the best match. When searching for the best matching configuration with respect to the input image, the search region is determined from the estimated 2D image motion and then search is performed randomly for the body configuration conducted within that search region. As the 2D image motion is highly constrained, this significantly reduces the dimensionality of the feasible space. This strategy have two advantages: the motion estimation leads to an efficient allocation of the search space, and the pose estimation method is adaptive to various kinds of motion.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.18-27
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• 2009

In this paper, we propose a frame rate conversion algorithm using adaptive search-based motion estimation (ME). The proposed ME method uses recursive search, 3-step search, and single predicted search as candidates for search strategy. The best method among the three candidates is adaptively selected on a block basis according to the predicted motion type. The adaptation of the search method improves the accuracy of the estimated motion vectors while curbing the increase of computational load. To support the proposed ME method, an entire image is divided into three regions with different motion types. Experimental results show that the proposed FRC method achieves better image quality than existing algorithms in both subjective and objective measures.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.647-656
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• 2011

Motion estimation using one-bit transform and two-bit transform reduces the complexity for computation of matching error; however, the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) is degraded. Modified 1BT (M1BT) and modified 2BT (M2BT) have been proposed to compensate degraded PSNR by adding conditional local search. However, these algorithms require many additional search points in fast moving sequences with a block size of $16{\times}16$. This paper provides more efficient search method by preparing candidate blocks using the number of non-matching points (NNMP) than the conditional local search. With this NNMP-based search, we can easily obtain candidate blocks with small NNMP and efficiently search final motion vector. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm not only reduces computational complexity, but also improves PSNR on average compared with conventional search algorithm used in M1BT, M2BT and AM2BT.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2014

Motion estimation is a core part of most video compression systems since it directly affects the output video quality and the encoding time. The full search (FS) technique gives the highest visual quality but has the problem of a significant computational load. To solve this problem, we present in this paper a modified median (MMED) operation and advanced search strategies for fast motion estimation. The proposed MMED operation includes a temporally co-located motion vector (MV) to select an appropriate initial candidate. Moreover, we introduce a search procedure that reduces the number of thresholds and simplifies the early termination conditions for the determination of a final MV. The experimental results show that the proposed approach achieves substantial speedup compared with the conventional methods including the motion vector field adaptive search technique (MVFAST) and predictive MVFAST (PMVFAST). The proposed algorithm also improves the PSNR values by increasing the correlation between the MVs, compared with the FS method.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.1097-1100
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• 1999

Due to the significant computation of full search in motion estimation, extensive research in fast motion estimation algorithms has been carried out. However, most of the algorithms have the degradation in predicted images compared with the full search algorithm. To reduce an amount of significant computation while keeping the same prediction quality of the full search, we propose a fast block-matching algorithm based on gradient magnitude of reference block without any degradation of predicted image. By using Taylor series expansion, we show that the block matching errors between reference block and candidate block are proportional to the gradient magnitude of matching block. With the derived result, we propose fast full search algorithm with adaptively determined scan direction in the block matching. Experimentally, our proposed algorithm is very efficient in terms of computational speedup and has the smallest computation among all the conventional full search algorithms. Therefore, our algorithm is useful in VLSI implementation of video encoder requiring real-time application.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.313-325
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• 1996

This paper presents a new architecture for full-search block-matching motion estimation. The architecture is based on linear systolic arrays. High speed operation is obtained by feeding reference data, search data, and control signals into the linear systolic array in a pipelined fashion. Input data are fed into the linear systolic array at a half of the processor speed, reducing the required data bandwidth to half. The proposed architecture has a good scalability with respect to the number of processors and input bandwidth when the size of reference block and search range change.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.563-588
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• 2016

In this study, solution models are proposed to obtain code-compatible ground motion record sets which can be used for both uni-directional and bi-directional dynamic analyses. Besides scaled, unscaled ground motion record sets are obtained to show the utility and efficiency of the solution models. For scaled ground motion sets the proposed model is based on hybrid HS-Solver which integrates heuristic harmony search (HS) algorithm with the spreadsheet Solver add-in. For unscaled ground motion sets HS based solution model is proposed. Design spectra defined in Eurocode-8 for different soil types are selected as target spectra. The European Strong Motion Database is used to get ground motion record sets. Also, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate the effect of different HS solution parameters on the solution accuracy. Results show that the proposed solution models can be regarded as efficient ways to develop scaled and unscaled ground motion sets compatible with code-based design spectra.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.388-396
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• 2003

In this paper, a fast motion search algorithm that performs motion search for variable blocks in integer pixel unit is proposed. The proposed method is based on the successive elimination algorithm (SEA) using sum norms to find the best estimate of motion vector and obtains the best estimate of the motion vectors of blocks, including 16${\times}$8, 8${\times}$16, and 8${\times}$8, by searching eight pixels around the best motion vector of 16${\times}$16 block obtained from all candidates. And the motion vectors of blocks, including 8${\times}$4, 4${\times}$8, and 4${\times}$4, is obtained by searching eight pixels around the best motion vector of 8${\times}$8 block. The proposed motion search is applied to the H.264 encoder that performs variable blocks motion estimation (ME). In terms of computational complexity, the proposed search algorithm for motion estimation (ME) calculates motion vectors in about 23.8 times speed compared with the spiral full search without early termination and 4.6 times speed compared with the motion estimation method using hierarchical sum of absolute difference (SAD) of 4${\times}$4 blocks, while it shows 0.1dB∼0.4dB peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) drop in comparison to the spiral full search.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.37 no.2A
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• pp.113-118
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose the removal of search point using motion vector correlation and distance between reference frames in H.264/AVC. We remove the search points in full search method and predictive motion vectors in enhanced predictive zonal search method. Since the probability that the reference frame far from the current frame is selected as the best reference frame is decreased, we apply the weighted average based on distance between the current and reference frame to determine the fianl search range. In general, the size of search range is smaller than initial search range. We reduce motion estimation time using the final search range in full search method. Also, the refinement process is adaptively applied to each reference frame. The proposed methods reduce the computational throughput of full search method by 57.13% and of enhanced predictive zonal search by 14.71% without visible performance degradation.