A fast intra prediction algorithm for H.264/AVC video coding

Intra prediction is one of the techniques that enables H.264/AVC to achieve a significant improvement in coding efficiency relative to prior video coding standards. To achieve the highest coding efficiency, H.264/AVC uses rate-distortion optimization technique to get the best intra prediction mode which maximizes coding quality and minimizes resulting data bits. As a result, the encoder complexity is increased considerably. This paper presents a fast intra prediction algorithm for H.264/AVC video coding. In the proposed scheme, prior to intra prediction the dominant edge of each block is determined. Based on the edge direction information, only a small number of prediction modes are chosen for RDO calculation. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves an average of 20% reduction in encoding time compared with the current rate-distortion optimized mode decision alaorithm used in H.264/AVC with negligible quality degradation.