A low power data-adaptive motion estimation algorithm

A new data adaptive fast search motion estimation algorithm is proposed. Motion estimation is one of the major blocks in video coding applications and is highly computationally intensive. Although a number of fast and efficient algorithms have been developed, most of these do not take into account the varying nature of the input data. We present a novel technique in which we dynamically alter the motion estimation algorithm thereby impacting the execution rate and hence the power consumed. An average reduction of 30% in memory accesses and 60% in arithmetic operations, as compared to the full search block matching algorithm, was observed for the test cases. The loss in peak signal-to-error ratio (PSER) was less than 0.3 dB on average.