Automatic block split pyramidal motion estimation for MPEG-4 video encoder

A novel motion estimation method called automatic block split pyramidal motion estimation (ABSPME) is proposed, which combines the pyramidal motion estimation algorithm with the variable-size block motion estimation technique adopted by MPEG-4 video encoder. Different from the convention, the proposed method introduces to the median pyramidal level a new mechanism, which uses the global motion information from the top level search for the heuristic automatic block splitting and adopts automatic block re-splitting through combined search of the macro-block and its corresponding sub-blocks. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm needs less computation time and is better than DS in prediction performance for sequences of median or high motion speeds and with complicated details.