Complementary coding mode design based on R-D cost minimization for extending H.264 coding technology

To improve high resolution video coding efficiency under low bit-rate condition, an appropriate coding mode is required from an R-D optimization (RDO) perspective, although a coding mode defined within the H.264 standard is not always optimal for RDO criteria. With this in mind, we previously proposed extended SKIP modes with close-to-optimal R-D characteristics. However, the additional modes did not always satisfy the optimal R-D characteristics, especially for low bit-rate coding. In this paper, we propose an enhanced coding mode capable of providing a candidate corresponding to the minimum R-D cost by controlling the residual signal associated with the extended SKIP mode. The experimental result showed that the PSNR improvement against H.264 and our previous approach reached 0.42 dB and 0.24 dB in the maximum case, respectively.