Efficient content-based dynamic search algorithm for motion estimation from videos

The block matching algorithm (BMA) used for motion estimation (ME) during video coding in H.264 standard takes nearly 90% of total encoding time. The proposed work is based on analyzing the video content to dynamically choose an efficient search pattern. The algorithm based on the variance of motion in the video shows efficient results by reducing the number of candidate macroblocks that need to be searched in the reference frames using different types of search patterns and also recommends an optimized motion vector search range. The algorithm shows 90% improvement in computational time over the full search algorithm and a significant improvement over other fast block matching algorithms without compromising the bitrate and quality of the video.