Method and apparatus for encoding surveillance video

A computer program product, said computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable recordable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, said computer readable program code comprising:

• computer readable program code configured to evaluate, using at least one processing device, a level of activity in a given whole video frame relative to one or more neighboring frames in said plurality of video frames;
• computer readable program code configured to encode, if said level of activity does not satisfy one or more predefined activity criteria, using at least one processing device, said given whole video frame using an inter-coding technique without motion compensation, wherein said inter-coding technique without motion compensation is applied to said plurality of video frames without a maximum number of consecutive inter-coded frames;
• computer readable program code configured to determine, if said level of activity does satisfy said one or more predefined activity criteria, if predictable activity in one or more of said plurality of video frames satisfies one or more predefined predictability criteria;
• computer readable program code configured to encode said given video frame using an inter-coding technique with motion estimation if said one or more of said plurality of video frames satisfies said one or more predefined predictability criteria;
• and
• computer readable program code configured to encode, using at least one processing device, said given whole video frame using an intra-coding technique if said one or more of said plurality of video frames does not satisfy said one or more predefined predictability criteria.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• at least one processor, coupled to the memory, operative to:
• evaluate, using at least one processing device, a level of activity in a given whole video frame relative to one or more neighboring frames in said plurality of video frames;
• if said level of activity does not satisfy one or more predefined activity criteria, encode, using at least one processing device, said given whole video frame using an inter-coding technique without motion compensation, wherein said inter-coding technique without motion compensation is applied to said plurality of video frames without a maximum number of consecutive inter-coded frames;
• if said level of activity does satisfy said one or more predefined activity criteria, determine if predictable activity in one or more of said plurality of video frames satisfies one or more predefined predictability criteria;
• encode said given video frame using an inter-coding technique with motion estimation if said one or more of said plurality of video frames satisfies said one or more predefined predictability criteria;
• and
• encode, using at least one processing device, said given whole video frame using an intra-coding technique if said one or more of said plurality of video frames does not satisfy said one or more predefined predictability criteria.