An effective successive elimination algorithm for fast optimal block-matching motion estimation

The successive elimination technique is used widely in the successive elimination algorithm (SEA), the multilevel successive elimination algorithm (MSEA), and the fine granularity successive elimination (FGSE) for fast optimal block-matching motion estimation. The computational cost of a series of these algorithms is primarily affected by a set of lower bounds. In this paper, an efficient scheme to build a set of lower bounds is proposed. This scheme efficiently produces the same set of lower bounds as those of MSEA. Moreover, the optimal number and positions of checking the validity of a candidate block using the proposed scheme is studied. Based on our study, a new algorithm is proposed: the effective successive elimination algorithm (ESEA). Experimental results are given to show the superiority of the proposed algorithm over previous approaches.