Method and apparatus for intra block copy mode coding with search range switching

A video processing device for reconstructing a video block in a video stream, comprising a memory for storing computer instructions and a processor for executing the computer instructions to:

• extract at least one syntax element from the video stream, the at least one syntax element being associated with an intra block copy (IBC) prediction of the video block;
• determine an IBC referencing mode for the IBC prediction of the video block according to the at least one syntax element, the IBC referencing mode being selected from a predefined set of IBC referencing modes including a no-IBC mode, a local-referencing IBC mode, a non-local-referencing IBC mode, and a local-and-non-local-referencing IBC mode, wherein the local-referencing IBC mode, the non-local-referencing IBC mode, and the local-and-non-local-referencing IBC mode indicate relative location of an IBC reference block to the video block that is allowed for the IBC prediction of the video block;
• determine the relative location of the IBC reference block and one of a local search area or non-local search area for the IBC reference block based on the IBC reference mode;
• and
• generate reconstructed samples of the video block from the video stream based on the IBC referencing mode.