Optimal spatial-temporal weight prediction for inter-frame coding of H.264/AVC video sequences

The paper proposes a novel method for optimal weight prediction in coding inter-frame of H.264/AVC compressed video sequences. The weights are optimized so that the motion compensated frames is closest to the current frame. This minimizes the residual frame and thus helps reducing the number of bits required to code the residual frame. We first consider the general optimal spatial-temporal weight prediction and then specify the special solution in case of temporal weight prediction using two reference frames (bi-predictive coding). Simulations on a wide range of video sequences are performed to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm on both visual quality and rate-distortion relation.