低复杂度的多视点视频编码宏块模式决策算法

为了降低多视点视频编码(MVC)的计算复杂度,提出了一种基于全局-局部率失真代价的低复杂度宏块模式决策算法。首先根据宏块候选模式的块尺寸和率失真代价特点,将所有候选模式分为大尺寸模式(Skip/Direct、Inter16×16和Intra16×16)和小尺寸模式(Inter16×8、Inter8×16、Inter8×8、Intra8×8和Intra4×4);接着统计已编码帧中这两类宏块模式的平均率失真代价,并利用这些平均率失真代价计算当前帧宏块模式决策的全局率失真代价;最后利用得到的全局率失真代价,并结合当前宏块已估计模式的局部率失真代价和空间邻近宏块的模式信息提前终止模式决策,具体包括对大尺寸宏块模式进行提前判定以及对小尺寸候选模式进行逐级选择。实验结果表明:与MVC参考代码中的全搜索模式决策算法相比,本文算法在时域预测视点和视点域预测视点上分别节省了74%和82%的平均编码时间,同时保持了良好的编码率失真性能;与现有模式决策快速算法相比,本文算法降低了更多的编码时间,并具有更好的编码率失真性能。     

基于转移概率的多视点视频快速模式选择算法

针对多视点视频编码(MVC)中部分大宏块模式(SKI P/DIRECT模式,帧间16×16模式)相对于其它模式的计算复杂 度低,并且在编码所确定的最优模式中占有相当高比重的特点,本文提出一种基于转移概率 的多视点视频 快速模式选择算法。首先根据多视点视频当前编码宏块对应时间和视点间宏块及周围宏块的 位置几何关系, 建立宏块模式参考模型;其次比较参考模型中模式的时间相似度和视点间相似度;最后计算 模式之间的转 移概率,确定提前结束大宏块模式选择过程的阈值。实验结果表明,本文所提出的快速算法 平均节约MVC时间80.93%,编码质量平均下降0.04dB,码率平均增加0.27%。     

多视点编码中一种快速的模式选择方法

在多视点视频编码中,多尺寸的运动估计和视点估计被用来选择宏块的最优编码模式。这些技术大大提高了编码效率,但是却带来了庞大的计算复杂度,从而影响了多视点视频编码的广泛应用。提出了一种新的模式选择的快速算法,利用了相邻视点的模式相关性来减少执行不需要的模式。实验表明,所提出的快速模式选择算法在不降低编码效率的同时可以显著降低计算复杂度。     

Efficient early direct mode decision for multi-view video coding

Multi-view video coding (MVC) uses various prediction modes and exhaustive mode decision to achieve high coding efficiency. However, the introduced heavy computational complexity becomes the bottleneck of the practical application of MVC. For this, an efficient early Direct mode decision for MVC is proposed in this paper. Based on the observation that the Direct mode is highly possible to be the optimal mode, the proposed method first computes the rate distortion (RD) cost of the Direct mode and compares this RD cost value with an adaptive threshold for providing an early termination chance as follows. If this RD cost value is smaller than the adaptive threshold, the Direct mode will be selected as the optimal mode and the checking process of the remaining modes will be skipped; otherwise, all the modes will be checked to select the one with the minimum RD cost as the optimal mode. Note that the above-mentioned adaptive threshold is determined as the median prediction value of a set of thresholds, which are derived by using the spatial, temporal and inter-view correlations between the current macroblock (MB) and its neighboring MBs, respectively. Experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed method is able to significantly reduce the computational complexity of MVC with negligible loss of coding efficiency, compared with the exhaustive mode decision in MVC.     

Coding statistics based fast mode decision for multi-view video coding

Reduction of high computational complexity of multi-view video coding (MVC) is necessary for realization in consumer electronics. Since mode decision is one of the key computational bottlenecks of multi-view video encoders, this paper proposes a coding statistics based fast mode decision algorithm. First of all, a rate–distortion cost based fast DIRECT mode decision algorithm early terminates the mode decision process if possible. Next, the candidates for Inter modes are reduced by taking the advantage of the correlation between an optimal mode and motion cost. The proper thresholds to reduce the candidates for the above two fast algorithms can be easily derived from exponential functions at run time. Finally, motion vector difference based motion characteristics is referred to further speed up the mode decision process of Inter modes. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme reduces up to 70.82% of encoding time with negligible degradation of RD performance.     

Early SKIP mode decision for MVC using inter-view correlation

In the joint multiview video model (JMVM) proposed by JVT, the variable block-size motion estimation (ME) and disparity estimation (DE) have been employed to determine the best coding mode for each macroblock (MB). These give a high coding efficiency for multiview video coding (MVC), however, they cause a very high computational complexity in encoding system. This paper proposes to reduce the complexities of the ME and DE processes with an early SKIP mode decision algorithm based on the analysis of prediction mode distribution regarding the corresponding MBs in the neighbor view. In this method, the mode decision procedures of most of MBs can be early terminated, and thus much of computation for ME and DE can be greatly reduced. Simulation results demonstrate that our algorithm can achieve computational saving of 46–57% (depending on the tested sequences) with no significant loss of rate-distortion performance.     

Efficient multi-view video coding using inter-view information

Multi-view video coding (MVC) has been extended from H.264/AVC to improve the coding efficiency of multi-view video. This paper proposes a fast mode decision algorithm which can make an early decision on the correct mode partition to solve the issue of the enormous computational complexity. The best modes of the reference views are utilized to determine the complexity of the macroblock (MB) in the current view, the mode candidates needed to be calculated can then be obtained according to the complexity. If the complexity is low or medium, the search range can be reduced. The threshold of the rate-distortion cost for the current MB is calculated using the co-located and neighboring MBs in previously coded view and is utilized as the criterion for early termination. The motion vector difference in the reference view is applied to dynamically adjust the search range in the current MB. Experimental results prove that the proposed algorithm achieves a time saving of 81.05% for a fast TZ search and 87.85% for full search, and still maintains quality performance and bitrate.     

Iterative search strategy with selective bi-directional prediction for low complexity multiview video coding

The multiview video coding (MVC) extension of H.264/AVC is the emerging standard for compression of impressive 3D and free-viewpoint video. The coding structure in MVC adopts motion and disparity estimation to exploit temporal and inter-view dependencies in MVC. It results in a considerable increase in encoding complexity. Most of the computational burden comes from uni-directional and bi-directional prediction. In this paper, an iterative search strategy is designed to speed up the uni-directional prediction in MVC. It can work with an adaptive search range adjustment through a confidence measure of a loop constraint to obtain both motion and disparity vectors jointly. Furthermore, a selective bi-directional prediction algorithm is proposed to enhance the coding performance by analyzing the statistical characteristics of bi-directional prediction in MVC. Experimental results demonstrate that, by using the proposed fast search, the temporal and inter-view redundancies of multiview video can be eliminated sufficiently with low complexity.     

Selective Disparity Estimation and Variable Size Motion Estimation Based on Motion Homogeneity for Multi-View Coding

Multi-view video coding (MVC) is an ongoing standard in which variable size disparity estimation (DE) and motion estimation (ME) are both employed to select the best coding mode for each macroblock (MB). This technique achieves the highest possible coding efficiency, but it results in extremely large encoding time which obstructs it from practical use. In this paper, a fast DE and ME algorithm based on motion homogeneity is proposed to reduce MVC computational complexity. The basic idea of the method is to utilize the spatial property of motion field in prediction where DE and variable size ME are needed, and only in these regions DE and variable size ME are enabled. The motion field is generated by the corresponding motion vectors (MVs) in spatial window. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can save 63% average computational complexity, with negligible loss of coding efficiency.      

基于时空相关性的HEVC帧间模式决策快速算法

新一代的高效率视频编码标准HEVC采用编码树单元（CTU）四叉树划分技术和多达10种的帧间预测单元（PU）模式,有效地提高了编码压缩效率,但也极大地增加了编码计算复杂度。为了减少编码单元（CU）的划分次数和候选帧间PU模式个数,提出了一种基于时空相关性的帧间模式决策快速算法。首先,利用当前CTU与参考帧中相同位置CTU、当前帧中相邻CTU的深度信息时空相关性,有效预测当前CTU的深度范围。然后,通过分析当前CU与其父CU之间的最佳PU模式空间相关性,以及利用当前CU已估计PU模式的率失真代价,跳过当前CU的冗余帧间PU模式。实验结果表明,提出的算法与HEVC测试模型（HM）相比,在不同编码配置下降低了52%左右的编码时间,同时保持了良好的编码率失真性能;与打开快速算法选项的HM相比,所提算法进一步降低了30%左右的编码时间。     

Mode decision acceleration for scalable video coding through coded block pattern

This paper presents a fast mode decision to accelerate the encoding process of scalable video coding (SVC) through coded block pattern (CBP) analysis. CBP contains residual information of each macroblock (MB) and provide cues for mode prediction in encoding process. The proposed algorithm makes use of the existing mode information in base layer (BL), enhancement layer (EL) and CBP to remove invalid modes for the mode prediction of the current MB in EL coding. Also, the EL’s modes in the highest temporal level of a group of picture are determined by high correlation exists in adjacent frames. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm saves an average of 68% of EL motion estimation time with minor degradation in PSNR and with few bitrate increase of SVC quality and spatial scalabilities when compared to JSVM 9.19.14. Our algorithm outperforms the best-known method by 17% EL motion estimation time saving in average.     

基于感知的多视点视频编码宏块模式选择快速算法

多视点视频编码(MVC)采取可变块模式选择技术和 多参考帧技术显著提高了编码的压缩效率,但同时带来了巨大的 编码计算复杂度。为了降低MVC的计算复杂度,提出基于感知的快速MVC宏块模式选择 算法。基于人眼视觉感知的特点,利用视觉恰可察觉失真(JND)的概念建立MVC宏块的最优模 式和JND的联系,并利用该联系确定早期结束最优宏块模式选择过程的阈值,根据当前编码 宏块的JND与阈值的 关系自适应地减少每个编码宏块的模式搜索次数,进而减少MVC的方向搜索和参考帧搜索的 次数,以降 低编码的复杂度,提高MVC速度。实验结果显示,对于不同运动特性、内容、纹理信息、相 机间距和图像 尺寸的测试序列,提出的快速算法在率失真性能几乎不变的情况下平均节约76.00% 编码时间。     

基于多视点视频编码的差错控制算法

 多视点视频编码(Multiview Video Coding,MVC)利用运动估计和视差估计取得了较好的编码性能,但在易错的网络环境下传输MVC视频码流,将导致差错在视点内与视点间进行扩散.针对多视点视频的编码特性,提出了一种端到端的失真度估计模型,并将此模型与率失真优化相结合得到一种基于联合信源信道的编码模式选择算法.实验结果表明该方法能够在易错网络环境下有效的提高多视点视频的传输效率.     

Hierarchical B-picture mode decision in H.264/SVC

To enable robust video transmission over heterogeneous networks, the hierarchical B-picture prediction structure is employed in the state-of-the-art video coding standard H.264/SVC, aiming to produce scalable bitstreams with various frame rates. However, the exhaustive mode decision process with the hierarchical B-picture structure increases the computational complexity of H.264/SVC encoding dramatically. In this paper, a fast mode decision algorithm is proposed to speed up H.264/SVC encoding with the hierarchical B-picture structure, which is achieved by utilizing macroblock (MB) features, correlation of temporal–spatial neighboring MBs, and the discrepant characteristics of hierarchical layers. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is able to reduce the encoding time of H.264/SVC significantly for video sequences with a wide range of resolutions, and meanwhile the video quality and compression ratio are well preserved.     

Fast Inter Mode Decision Algorithm Based on Macroblock Tracking in H.264/AVC Video

We propose a fast macroblock (MB) mode prediction and decision algorithm based on temporal correlation for P‐slices in the H.264/AVC video standard. There are eight block types for temporal decorrelation, including SKIP mode based on rate‐distortion (RD) optimization. This scheme gives rise to exhaustive computations (search) in the coding procedure. To overcome this problem, a thresholding method for fast inter mode decision using a MB tracking scheme to find the most correlated block and RD cost of the correlated block is suggested for early stop of the inter mode determination. We propose a two‐step inter mode candidate selection method using statistical analysis. In the first step, a mode is selected based on the mode information of the co‐located MB from the previous frame. Then, an adaptive thresholding scheme is applied using the RD cost of the most correlated MB. Secondly, additional candidate modes are considered to determine the best mode of the initial candidate modes that does not satisfy the designed thresholding rule. Comparative analysis shows that a speed‐up factor of up to 70.59% is obtained when compared with the full mode search method with a negligible bit increment and a minimal loss of image quality.     

CU encoding depth prediction,early CU splitting termination and fast mode decision for fast HEVC intra-coding

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is a new video coding standard achieving about a 50% bit rate reduction compared to the popular H.264/AVC High Profile with the same subjective reproduced video quality. Better coding efficiency is attained, however, at the cost of significantly increased encoding complexity. Therefore, fast encoding algorithms with little loss in coding efficiency is necessary for HEVC to be successfully adopted for real applications. In this paper we propose a fast encoding technique applicable to HEVC all intra encoding. The proposed fast encoding technique consists of coding unit (CU) search depth prediction, early CU splitting termination, and fast mode decision. In CU search depth prediction, the depth of encoded CU in the current coding tree unit (CTU) is limited to predicted range, which is mostly narrower than the full depth range. Early CU splitting skips mode search of its sub-CUs when rate distortion (RD) cost of current CU is below the estimated RD cost at the current CU depth. RD cost and encoded CU depth distribution of the collocated CTU of the previous frame are utilized both to predict the encoding CU depth search range and to estimate the RD cost for CU splitting termination. Fast mode decision reduces the number of candidate modes for full rate distortion optimized quantization on the basis of the low complexity costs computed in the preceding rough mode decision step. When all these three methods are applied, proposed fast HEVC intra encoding technique reduces the encoding time of the reference encoder by 57% on the average, with only 0.6% of coding efficiency loss in terms of Bjontegaard delta (BD) rate increase under the HEVC common test conditions.     

Efficient Mode Decision Algorithm Based on Spatial,Temporal, and Inter‐layer Rate‐Distortion Correlation Coefficients for Scalable Video Coding

The layered coding structure of scalable video coding (SVC) with adaptive inter‐layer prediction causes noticeable computational complexity increments when compared to existing video coding standards. To lighten the computational complexity of SVC, we present a fast algorithm to speed up the inter‐mode decision process. The proposed algorithm terminates inter‐mode decision early in the enhancement layers by estimating the rate‐distortion (RD) cost from the macroblocks of the base layer and the enhancement layer in temporal, spatial, and inter‐layer directions. Moreover, a search range decision algorithm is also proposed in this paper to further increase the motion estimation speed by using the motion vector information from temporal, spatial, or inter‐layer domains. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can determine the best mode and provide more efficient total coding time saving with very slight RD performance degradation for spatial and quality scalabilities.     

Fast encoding techniques for Multiview Video Coding

Multiview Video Coding (MVC) is a technique that permits efficient compression of multiview video. MVC uses variable block size motion and disparity estimation for block matching. This requires an exhaustive search process that involves all possible macroblock partition sizes. We analyze the time complexity of MVC and the methods that have been proposed to speed up motion and disparity estimation. We then propose two new methods: Previous Disparity Vector Disparity Estimation (PDV-DE) and Stereo-Motion Consistency Constraint Motion and Disparity Estimation (SMCC-MDE). PDV-DE exploits the correlation between temporal levels and disparity vectors to speed up the disparity estimation process while SMCC-MDE exploits the geometrical relationship of consecutive frame pairs to speed up motion and disparity estimation. We build a complete low complexity MVC encoding solution that combines our two methods with complementary previous methods to speed up motion and disparity search. We evaluate the complexity of our solution in terms of encoding time and number of search points. Our experimental results show that our solution can reduce the encoding time and number of search points of the standard MVC implementation (JMVM 6.0) using the fast TZ search mode up to 93.7% and 96.9%, respectively, with negligible degradation in the rate-distortion performance. Compared to the best published results, this is an improvement of up to 11% and 7%, respectively.     

Efficient intra-mode skip algorithm using RD costs of SUB8 3 8 and I4MB

H.264/AVC employs a rate-distortion (RD) optimisation technique to determine the best coding mode for each macroblock (MB). An intra-mode skip decision algorithm is presented based on RD costs of the SUB8 times 8 mode and the 14 MB mode to reduce the processing time. Experimental results on test video sequences show that the computational complexity has been reduced by about 20%, with nearly negligible loss of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) value.     

A Fast Intra Skip Detection Algorithm for H.264/AVC Video Encoding

A fast intra skip detection algorithm based on the rate‐distortion (RD) cost for an inter frame (P‐slices) is proposed for H.264/AVC video encoding. In the H.264/AVC coding standard, a robust rate‐distortion optimization technique is used to select the best coding mode and reference frame for each macroblock (MB). There are three types of intra predictions according to profiles. These are 16×16 and 4×4 intra predictions for luminance and an 8×8 intra prediction for chroma. For the high profile, an 8×8 intra prediction has been added for luminance. The 4×4 prediction mode has 9 prediction directions with 4 directions for 16×16 and 8×8 luma, and 8×8 chrominance. In addition to the inter mode search procedure, an intra mode search causes a significant increase in the complexity and computational load for an inter frame. To reduce the computational load of the intra mode search at the inter frame, the RD costs of the neighborhood MBs for the current MB are used and we propose an adaptive thresholding scheme for the intra skip extraction. We verified the performance of the proposed scheme through comparative analysis of experimental results using joint model reference software. The overall encoding time was reduced up to 32% for the IPPP sequence type and 35% for the IBBPBBP sequence type.