Recursive Dynamically Variable Step Search Motion Estimation Algorithm for High Definition Video

For High Definition (HD) video formats, computational complexity of Full Search (FS) Motion Estimation (ME) algorithm is prohibitively high, whereas the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio obtained by fast search ME algorithms is low. Therefore, in this paper, we propose Recursive Dynamically Variable Step Search (RDVSS) ME algorithm for real-time processing of HD video formats. RDVSS algorithm dynamically determines the search patterns that will be used for each Macro block (MB) based on the motion vectors of its spatial and temporal neighboring MBs. RDVSS performs very close to FS by searching much fewer search locations than FS and it outperforms successful fast search ME algorithms by searching more search locations than these algorithms. In addition, RDVSS algorithm can be efficiently implemented by a reconfigurable systolic array based ME hardware.