Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information (한국컴퓨터정보학회논문지)

Korean Society of Computer Information (한국컴퓨터정보학회)
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An Enhanced Search Algorithm for Fast Motion Estimation using Sub-Pixel

부화소 단위의 빠른 움직임 예측을 위한 개선된 탐색 알고리즘

  • Kim, Dae-Gon (Dept. of IT Applied System Engineering, Chonbuk National University) ;
  • Yoo, Cheol-Jung (Dept. of Software Engineering, Chonbuk National University)
  • 김대곤 (전북대학교 IT응용시스템공학과) ;
  • 유철중 (전북대학교 소프트웨어공학과)
  • Received : 2010.12.25
  • Accepted : 2011.07.22
  • Published : 2011.12.31
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Abstract

Motion estimation (ME) is regarded as an important component in a video encoding process, because it consumes a large computation complexity. H.264/AVC requires additional computation overheads for fractional search and interpolation. This causes a problem that computational complexity is increased. In Motion estimation, SATD(Sum of Transform Difference) has the characteristics of a parabolic based on the minimum point. In this paper, we propose new prediction algorithm to reduce search point in motion estimation by sub-pixel interpolation characteristics. The proposed algorithm reduces the time of encoding process by decreasing computational complexity. Experimental results show that the proposed method reduces 20% of the computation complexity of motion estimation, while the degradation in video quality is negligible.

움직임 예측은 동영상 인코딩 과정에서 가장 많은 연산량을 차지하는 매우 중요한 처리과정이다. H.264/AVC에서는 움직임 예측을 할 때 정수 화소 단위 뿐만 아니라 부화소 단위까지 예측을 실시함으로써 영상의 압축률을 매우 높일 수 있다. 하지만 이로 인해 계산량이 더욱 증가되는 문제점이 있다. 일반적으로 움직임 예측시 각 블록들 간의 절대 변환 오차(SATD : Sum of Absolute Transform Difference)는 최소점을 기준으로 포물선 형태를 가지는 특성이 있다. 본 논문에서는 이러한 특성을 이용하여 움직임 예측 과정에서 필요한 탐색점을 줄이는 방법을 제안하였다. 제안한 방법은 연산 처리 시간을 감소시킴으로써 계산의 복잡도를 줄일 수 있었다. 제안한 기법을 적용한 결과, 기존의 고속 움직임 예측 알고리즘들과 비교하여 화질 저하는 적은데 비해, 인코딩시 움직임 예측 과정에 서 약 20%정도 처리속도를 감소시키는 결과를 얻었다.

Keywords

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