Fast Inter-Mode Decision Algorithm Based on Contextual Mode and Priority Information for H.264/AVC Video Encoding System

The recentH.264/AVCvideo coding standard provides a higher coding efficiency than previous standards. H.264/AVCachieves a bit rate saving of more than 50 % with many new technologies, but it shows very heavy computational complexity. In this paper, a fast mode decision scheme for inter-frame coding is proposed to reduce the computational complexity for H.264/AVC video encoding system. To reduce the block mode decision complexity in inter-frame coding, we use the contextual information based on the co-located and neighboring macroblocks (MBs) to detect a proper MB that can be early stopped. Then for the current MB, a priority information of the context is suggested for adding more mode types adaptively. The proposed algorithm shows the average speedup factors of 59.11 ~ 77.41% for various sequences with a negligible bit increment and a minimal loss of image quality, in JM 11.0 reference software.