Fast mode decision algorithm based on adaptive search direction for combined scalability in scalable video coding

Abstract

Scalable Video Coding (SVC) is an extension of H.264/AVC for providing several scalabilities. In the SVC, there are three types of scalabilities such as temporal, spatial, and quality scalabilities. These types of scalabilities can be combined together. As an extension of H.264/AVC video standard, the SVC coding structure is based on a mode decision using 7 variable block types for rate distortion (RD) optimization, hierarchical bi-directional motion prediction, and inter-layer prediction. These techniques achieve a coding efficiency, but they increase the computational complexity of the SVC encoding system. This paper proposes a fast motion estimation method using an adaptive search direction selection for combined scalability. We verify that the proposed algorithm can achieve up to 51% decrease in the encoding time with a negligible loss of quality. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.