Multiple Search Centers Based Fast Motion Estimation Algorithm for H.264/AVC

Motion estimation is the most computationally intensive part in a typical video encoder. This paper introduces a novel prediction method based on multiple search centers, which can efficiently improve the prediction accuracy. According to the amount and the magnitude of predictive search centers, the search range is dynamically adjusted in order to reduce the computational complexity. Based on multiple search centers prediction and dynamic search range adjustment, a new fast algorithm is proposed. Experimental results show that, on an average, the proposed algorithm gains similar rate-distortion performance to the original FFS, UMHexagonS and EPZS algorithms in H.264 reference software, while reducing about 97.4%, 63.0%, and 42.9% computational complexity respectively.