Efficient Algorithm for H.264/AVC Intra Frame Video Coding

This letter proposes an enhanced sum of absolute transform differences (SATD)-based intra mode decision for H.264/advanced video coding intra frame coding, which is accomplished in two stages. In the first stage, the low-frequency AC components of discrete cosine transform block of a MB is used to select I4MB or I16MB mode prediction; while in the second stage SATD coefficients, including SATD value and its variance, is used to skip improper modes for rate-distortion optimization mode decision. This letter compares the proposed algorithm performance with other distinct algorithms such as image structure tensor and dominant edge direction, and so on, and the results indicate that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms these algorithms, in both rate-distortion performance and computation performance.