Efficient Block Mode Determination Algorithm Using Adaptive Search Direction Information for Scalable Video Coding (SVC)

Scalable video coding (SVC) is an extension of H.264/AVC for providing three types of scalabilities: temporal, spatial, and quality. These scalabilities can be combined to make use of network bandwidth. As an extension of the H.264/AVC video standard, an inter-mode prediction technique is used for reducing temporal as well as spatial redundancies by using seven variable-sized macroblocks (MBs) for rate-distortion (R-D) optimization, hierarchical bi-directional motion prediction, and inter-layer prediction. These techniques achieve coding efficiency, but they increase the computational complexity of the SVC encoding system. To reduce the complexity of the SVC encoding system, this paper proposes a fast mode selection method based on an adaptive search direction selection for bi-directional motion prediction. We verify that the proposed algorithm can achieve up to a 51% decrease in encoding time with a negligible loss of quality. Keywords–components; Fast mode decision, Scalable video coding, Combined scalability, Hierarchical bi-directional motion prediction, Search direction