A new cross-diamond search algorithm for fast block matching motion estimation

In order to fit the small cross-center-biased characteristic of the real world video sequences, an improved version of the well-known cross diamond search algorithm is proposed in this paper. The new algorithm uses a small cross-shaped search patterns in the first two steps to speedup the motion estimation of stationary and quasi-stationary blocks. Experimental results show that this new cross-diamond search algorithm could achieve much higher computational reduction as compared with Diamond Search (DS) and Cross Diamond Search (CDS) while similar prediction accuracy is maintained, and it is especially suitable for videoconferencing sequences.