Motion estimation in DCT domain

In this paper, a new block matching criterion is proposed for motion estimation in video coding. The new criterion is based on a comparison between the discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients of two blocks to be matched. Since the spectrum of DCT statistically concentrates on the neighborhood of the dc component and the number of non-zero coefficients is quite small, only few coefficients need to be considered when matching blocks according to the new criterion. Almost in all the video coding standards, DCT is a necessary step for spatial redundancy reduction. Thus the generated DCT coefficients can be utilized in the new criterion. However, there are still some blocks whose DCT coefficients are not available. Several algorithms of calculating DCT coefficients of these blocks are given. When this new criterion is combined with the logarithm search, promising results are produced.