Method and device for motion estimation of video data coded according to a scalable coding structure
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorFabrice LE LEANNEC
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A technique for searching a reference picture including a plurality of reference blocks for a block that best matches a current block in a current picture. A subset of current blocks is designated in a current picture. A first search operation is applied to the subset of current blocks and a second search operation is applied to current blocks outside of the subset. A search area within a corresponding reference picture is of a variable size in the first operation, whereas the second operation is a basic four-step motion search.
Claims24
A method of searching a reference picture comprising a plurality of reference blocks for reference blocks that best match current blocks in a current picture in a video encoder, the method comprising:
- designating a subset of current blocks in the current picture;
- applying a first operation to the current blocks within the subset of current blocks to search for reference blocks in a first search area in the reference picture that best match said current blocks within the subset;
- and
- applying a second operation to the current blocks not within the subset of current blocks to search for reference blocks in a second search area in the reference picture that best match said current blocks not within the subset.
A method of encoding a video sequence in a video encoder including a method of searching a reference picture comprising a plurality of reference blocks for reference blocks that best match current blocks in a current picture, the method comprising:
- designating a subset of current blocks in the current picture;
- applying a first operation to the current blocks within the subset of current blocks to search for reference blocks in a first search area in the reference picture that best match said current blocks within the subset;
- and
- applying a second operation to the current blocks not within the subset of current blocks to search for reference blocks in a second search area in the reference picture that best match said current blocks not within the subset.
A method of encoding a video sequence in a video encoder comprising at least one group of pictures, the pictures each comprising a plurality of blocks, the method comprising, for each current block within each current picture in the video sequence,
- obtaining a first rate distortion cost associated with a first encoding mode using the reference block found for said current block by searching a reference picture comprising a plurality of reference blocks for reference blocks that best match current blocks in a current picture, searching comprising:
- designating a subset of current blocks in the current picture;
- applying a first operation to the current blocks within the subset of current blocks to search for reference blocks in a first search area in the reference picture that best match said current blocks within the subset;
- and
- applying a second operation to the current blocks not within the subset of current blocks to search for reference blocks in a second search area in the reference picture that best match said current blocks not within the subset, the method further comprising:
- obtaining a second rate distortion cost associated with a second encoding mode for encoding said current block;
- comparing said obtained first and second rate distortion costs;
- and
- encoding said current block according to the encoding mode with the lowest rate distortion cost according to said comparison.
A video encoding apparatus for encoding a video sequence comprising at least one group of pictures, the pictures each comprising a plurality of blocks, the video encoding apparatus comprising:
- a first selecting unit configured to select a current picture in the group of pictures;
- a designating unit configured to designate a subset of current blocks in the current picture;
- a second selecting unit configured to select a reference picture in which to search for a reference block that best matches each current block in the current picture;
- a first applying unit configured to apply a first operation to the current blocks within the subset of current blocks to search for reference blocks in a first search area in the reference picture that best match said current blocks within the subset;
- and
- a second applying unit configured to apply a second operation to the current blocks not within the subset of current blocks to search for reference blocks in a second search area in the reference picture that best match said current blocks not within the subset.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.