Matched Block Detection and Motion Vector Salvage Methods for Fast H.264/AVC Inter Mode Decision

In H.264 advanced video coding (AVC), variable block size motion estimation plays an important role in the compression of inter frames to increase video quality and coding efficiency. However, the computation for inter prediction is also substantially increased as well. This paper proposes a fast inter mode decision algorithm based on matched block detection and motion vector salvage scheme to help to early terminate the decision process to reduce needless computation. Experimental results shows that the proposed algorithm can save from 10% to 60% computation for inter mode decision with fast motion search without introducing any noticeable performance degradation