Statistical data based low-complexity mode decision for P-frame encoding in H.264/AVC

Compared with former video coding standards, H.264/AVC introduces a number of impressive techniques to improve the video coding efficiency. Flexible block size based mode decision (MD) is one of the major improvements and enables the encoder to accurately and efficiently predict the detailed contents in each frame. However, extremely complex calculations are involved in MD, and significantly increased consumption of power and time is also incurred during the encoding processing. This paper aims at presenting a simple but efficient fast MD algorithm. The proposed algorithm reduces the number of candidate inter modes according to the statistical data obtained from the previously encoded frames. A bitrate based adjustment scheme is also introduced in order to avoid the degradation of encoding efficiency. An improvement of encoding time with slightly decreased performance has been achieved, the experimental results are also provided.