New Horizontal Diamond Search Motion Estimation Algorithm For H.264/AVC. UBVideo Inc

Abstract—In motion estimation, the search patterns with different shape and size have a large consequence on the searching speed and quality of performance. A popular example is the full search (FS) algorithm. Nevertheless, the high computational complexity of the FS algorithm has motivated several faster search strategies. However, the FS allows a better quality. In this paper, we compare the performance of several motion estimation algorithms for H.264/AVC video coding such as the three-step search (TSS), diamond search (DS), small diamond search (SDS), cross diamond search (CDS), hexagon-based search (HEXBS), nearest-neighbors search (NNS), and we propose a new one called Horizontal Diamond Search (HDS). Simulations show that HDS is particularly faster and more accurate in some kinds of sequences. This algorithm is especially suitable for videoconferencing applications. I