Configurable performance motion estimation for video encoding

摘要

A motion estimation engine may be implemented to include a skip checking module, an integer search module, a macroblock partitioning module, a fractional search module, a bidirectional motion estimation refinement module, and an intra search module. The motion estimation engine may perform fractional search/bidirectional motion estimation refinement and intra search in parallel. Additionally, modules in the motion estimation engine may be partially or fully turned on or off to accommodate different motion estimation requirements. Furthermore, the motion estimation engine may implement early exit strategy to further save computation.

主权项

1. An apparatus comprising:
a skip checking module to determine whether a macroblock in a current picture frame may be skipped from motion estimation; an integer search module to search a reference frame for the macroblock at integer pixel locations if the macroblock is not skipped from motion estimation; a macroblock partitioning module to determine a macroblock partition based on results from the integer search module; and a bidirectional motion estimation refinement module to determine whether a selected video encoding standard allows each subblock to have its own decision on whether prediction should be forward or backward;
if not, find the best macroblock partition in each direction and select the partition direction with smaller distortion;if so, merge backward and forward motion vectors for all subblocks and obtain the best macroblock partition based on the merged vectors; and determine whether the selected video encoding standard allows each subblock to have its own decision on whether prediction should be unidirectional or bidirectional;
if not, choose the final direction pattern by comparing bidirectional results for the chosen partition with all subblocks having unidirectional and being bidirectional;if so, chose the final direction by comparing bidirectional results for the chosen partition.