An efficient algorithm for low bit rate video coding

Low bit rate video coding techniques are promising in Internet and mobile multimedia applications, but the video coding algorithms are very complex and computationally demanding. An intelligent video coding algorithm for low bit rate multimedia communications is proposed. It exploits the statistical properties of slowly varying video sequences and uses the distortion value computed during the motion estimation phase as an indicator to reduce useless computations in the video coding process. The proposed algorithm leads to a significant speed improvement in the software implementation of H.263/H.263+/H.263++ standard while maintaining the same video reproduction quality. Experimental results show that it achieves 15% savings in computations at the encoder. It is very useful for reducing the computational load in software coders and the power consumption in hardware coders.