A New Fast Motion Estimation Algorithm Based on H.264

The block motion estimation is a very time consuming part in the H.264 video coding standard. Although many fast motion estimation algorithms have been proposed to reduce the huge calculation complexity instead of full search, the motion estimation time still can not satisfy the critical real-time application. This paper proposes a new fast motion estimation algorithm, which improves on the UMHexagonS algorithm. Firstly, the introduction of a new square pattern takes the place of the 5 x 5 spiral search to reduce the search point. Secondly, the multi-hexagon-grid search is replaced by a multi-octagon-gird search in order to reduce the computational complexity and effectively predict the optimal motion vector. Thirdly, by increasing the conditions and type of patterns, the proposed algorithm can adaptively adopt directional search patterns for different block types to accelerate the search speed. The simulation experimentation results show that the proposed algorithm can reduce 30%-40% of the computational complexity compared with the UMHexagonS algorithm without loss of its coding accuracy.