• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.1-8
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• 2008

This paper introduces three efficient frame selection schemes to reduce the computation complexity for the multi-reference and variable block size Motion Estimation (ME). The proposed RSP (Reference Selection Pass) scheme can minimize the overhead of frame selection. The MFS (Modified Frame Selection) scheme can reduce the number of search points about 18% compared with existing schemes considering the motion of image during the reference frame selection process. In addition, the TPRFS (Two Pass Reference frame Selection) scheme can minimize the frame selection operation for the variable block size ME in H.264/AVC using the character of selected reference frame according to the block size. The simulation results show the proposed schemes can save up to 50% of the ME computation without degradation of image Qualify. Because the proposed schemes can be separated from the block matching process, they can be used with any existing single reference fast search algorithms.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.419-420
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• 2006

In the new video coding standard H.264/AVC, motion estimation (ME) is allowed to search multiple reference frames for improve the rate-distortion performance. The complexity of multi-frame motion estimation increases linearly with the number of used reference frame. However, the distortion gain given by each reference frame varies with the video sequence, and it is not efficient to search through all the candidate frames. In this paper, we propose a fast mult-frame selection method using all zero coefficient block (AZCB) prediction and sum of difference (SAD) of neighbor block. Simulation results show that the speed of the proposed algorithm is up to two times faster than exhaustive search of multiple reference frames with similar quality and bit-rate.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.32 no.11C
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• pp.1066-1072
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• 2007

In this paper, we propose a fast multiple reference frame selection method for motion estimation and compensation in video coding. Reference frames selected as an optimal reference frame by variable block sizes motion estimation have the statistical characteristic that was based on block size. Using the statistical characteristic, reference frames for smaller block size motion estimation can be selected from reference frame which was decided as an optimal one for the upper layer block size. Simulation results show that the proposal method decreased the computations about 60%. Nevertheless, PSNR and bit rate were almost same as the performances of original H.264 multiple reference motion estimation.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.179-182
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• 2014

This letter presents a very simple yet very effective solution for fast reference frame (RF) selection in H.264/AVC. By efficiently making use of the correlation between the best RF indices in various inter modes, the proposed method significantly reduces the number of RFs to be examined at the expense of a very small miss rate. Simulation results show that the proposed method not only improves upon the coding performance of conventional methods but also reduces the encoding time significantly.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.34 no.8C
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• pp.764-771
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• 2009

In this paper, we propose a fast multiple reference frame selection method using neighboring motion vectors and the correlation of inter-mode blocks in H.264 video coding. Using the property that an optimal reference frame has the statistical characteristics, the motion estimation of small Inter-block size is estimated from the motion estimation of the larger Inter-block size. Simulation results show that the proposal method decreased the computations about 91%. Without the sacrifice of coding performance, comparing to the H.264 multiple reference picture coding.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.31 no.3C
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• pp.271-278
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• 2006

Rate-constrained coding is one of the many coding-efficiency oriented tools of H.264/AVC, but mode decision process of RDO(Rate distortion optimization) requires high computational complexity. Many fast mode decision algorithms have been proposed to reduce the computational complexity of mode decision. In this paper, we propose two algorithms for reduction of mode decision in H.264/AVC, which are the fast reference frame selection and selective intra prediction mode decision. Fast reference frame selection is efficient for inter predication and selective intra prediction mode decision can effectively reduce excessive calculation load of intra prediction mode decision. The simulation results showed that the proposed methods could reduce the encoding time of the overall sequences by 44.63% on average without any noticeable degradation of the coding efficiency.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.408-427
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• 2011

Intensive computational complexity is an obstacle of enabling multiview video coding for real-time applications. In this paper, we present a fast macroblock (MB) mode selection algorithm for B frames which are based on the computational complexity analyses between the MB mode selection and reference frame selection. Three strategies are proposed to reduce the coding complexity jointly. First, the temporal correlation of MB modes between current MB and its temporal corresponding MBs is utilized to reduce computational complexity in determining the optimal MB mode. Secondly, Lagrangian cost of SKIP mode is compared with that of Inter $16{\times}16$ modes to early terminate the mode selection process. Thirdly, reference frame correlation among different Inter modes is exploited to reduce the number of reference frames. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can promote the encoding speed by 3.71~7.22 times with 0.08dB PSNR degradation and 2.03% bitrate increase on average compared with the joint multiview video model.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.28-35
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• 2010

The variable block size motion estimation (ME) and compensation (MC) using multiple reference frames is adopted in H.264/AVC to improve coding efficiency. However, the computational complexity for ME/MC increases proportional to the number of reference frames and variable blocks. In this paper, we propose a new efficient reference frame selection algorithm to reduce the complexity while keeping the visual quality. First, a motion vector reference map is constructed by SAD of $4{\times}4$ block unit for multi reference frames. Next, the variable block size motion estimation and motion compensation is performed according to the motion vector reference map. The computer simulation results show that the average loss of BDPSNR is -0.01dB, the increment of BDBR is 0.27%, and the encoding time is reduced by 38% compared with the original method for H.264/AVC.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.33 no.10C
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• pp.820-828
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• 2008

In order to achieve high coding efficiency, H.264/AVC video coding standard adopts the techniques such as variable block size coding, motion estimation with quarter-pel precision, multiple reference frames, rate-distortion optimization, and etc. However, these coding methods have a defect to greatly increase the complexity for motion estimation. Particularly, from multiple reference frame motion estimation, the computational burden increases in proportion to the number of the searched reference frames. Therefore, we propose the method to reduce the complexity by controlling the number of the searched reference frames in motion estimation. Proposed algorithm uses the optimal reference frame information in both $P16{\times}16$ mode and the adjacent blocks, thus omits unnecessary searching process in the rest of inter modes. Experimental results show the proposed method can save an average of 57.31% of the coding time with negligible quality and bit-rate difference. This method also can be adopted with any of the existing motion estimation algorithm. Therefore, additional performance improvement can be obtained.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.716-724
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose a fast decision method of maximum coding depth decision and reference frame selection in HEVC. To reduce computational complexity and encoding time of HEVC, two methods are proposed. In the first method, the maximum depth of each coding unit (CU) in a largest CU (LCU) is constrained by using the maximum coding depth used by adjacent LCUs based on the assumption that the spatial correlation is very high and rate-distortion (R-D) cost. And we constrain the number of reference pictures for prediction unit (PU) performing motion estimation by using the motion information of the upper depth PU. The proposed methods reduce computational complexity of the HEVC encoder by constraining the maximum coding depth and the reference frame. We could achieve about 39% computational complexity reduction with marginal bitrate increase of 1.2% in the comparison with HM6.1 HEVC reference software.