Abstract: In order to solve greatly computational complexity for the variable block mode decision in Multi-view Video Coding (MVC), a fast inter-mode decision algorithm based on mode complexity for multi-view video coding was proposed. First, the characteristics for each variable block size of the Joint MVC (JMVC) were analyzed in the proposed algorithm. Then, the mode complexity was presented to determine the mode characteristics of the current macroblock. Finally, macroblocks were divided into three different mode classes: for macroblocks with simple mode, only mode size of 16×16 was checked, and other mode sizes were skipped; for macroblocks with medium mode, mode size of 8×8 was skipped; for macroblocks with complex mode, all mode sizes were tested. As a result, the unnecessary mode decision process could be early terminated in the method and computational load can be greatly reduced. The experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed method is able to significantly reduce the computational load by 62.75%, while keeping almost the same coding efficiency, compared with the full mode decision in the reference software of MVC.

Key words: Multi-view Video Coding (MVC), mode decision, mode complexity, variable block size, inter-frame prediction

摘要： 为解决多视点视频编码(MVC)可变尺寸块的模式选择计算复杂度过大的问题,提出了基于模式复杂度的多视点视频编码快速模式选择算法。该算法首先分析了多视点视频编码参考模型(JMVC)中各尺寸块的分布特点。然后,提出模式复杂度的概念以确定当前宏块的模式特征。最后,将宏块分成3个不同的模式类型:如果当前宏块属于简单模式,那么仅16×16分块被检查,其他分块均跳过;若当前宏块属于中等模式,则8×8块被跳过;若当前宏块属于复杂模式,所有模式分块都要检查。这样算法对那些不必要的模式选择过程就可以提前终止,从而使得计算量大大减少。实验结果表明:所提算法能保持同JMVC中全搜索算法几乎相同的编码效率,同时使计算复杂度减少62.75%。

关键词: 多视点视频编码, 模式选择, 模式复杂度, 变尺寸块, 帧间预测