Mixed diamond, hexagon, and cross search fast motion estimation algorithm for H.264

The block motion estimation process is a very time consuming part in the H.264 video coding standard and thus hinders its real-time applications. Therefore, a new fast block motion estimation algorithm is proposed in this paper. In this algorithm, it first determines the current block as a quasi-stationary, slow motion, or fast motion block. Then, according to the different motion types, different search patterns and strategies are intelligently employed. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has much less execution time than the existing FS, UMHexagonS, and EPZS algorithms, with about the same accuracy.