Patent · US Active

Switching distortion metrics during motion estimation

US8155195B2 · kind B2 · utility

26Cited by
44References
19Claims
0Family size

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Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 7, 2006
Grant dateApr 10, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 17, 2029

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N19/567
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Techniques and tools for switching distortion metrics during motion estimation are described. For example, a video encoder determines a distortion metric selection criterion for motion estimation. The criterion can be based on initial results of the motion estimation. To evaluate the criterion, the encoder can compare the criterion to a threshold that depends on a current quantization parameter. The encoder selects between multiple available distortion metrics, which can include a sample-domain distortion metric (e.g., SAD) and a transform-domain distortion metric (e.g., SAHD). The encoder uses the selected distortion metric in the motion estimation. Selectively switching between SAD and SAHD provides rate-distortion performance superior to using only SAD or only SAHD. Moreover, due to the lower complexity of SAD, the computational complexity of motion estimation with SAD-SAHD switching is typically less than motion estimation that always uses SAHD.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.