Modified winner-update search algorithm for fast block matching

Based on the study of winner-update search (WUS) algorithm, a modified WUS (MWUS) algorithm for fast block-matching motion estimation is proposed in this paper. The computational reduction without any degradation in predicted image comes from fast elimination of impossible motion vectors. We obtain faster elimination of inappropriate motion vectors using the efficient lower bounds set computed according to the edge feature of predicted image. Experimentally, we remove the unnecessary computations by 93.5-98.5% with our proposed MWUS algorithm compared with the FS algorithms. Experimental results also indicate that our algorithm is better than the other winner-update strategy based algorithm. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.