High performance block matching algorithm for high bit-rate real-time video communication

Although the advancements in hardware solutions are growing exponentially along with the communication channels capacity, high quality video encoders for real-time applications are still considered an open area of research. The majority of researchers interested in video encoders target their investigations towards motion estimation and block matching algorithms. Many algorithms that aim to reduce the total number of required mathematical operations when compared to Full Search have been proposed. However, the results often converge to local minima and a significant amount of computations is still required. Therefore, in this research, a hierarchy-based block matching method that facilitates the transmission of high bit-rate videos over standard communication methods is proposed. The proposed algorithm is based on the frequency domain, where the algorithm examines the similarities between a chosen frequency subset, which significantly reduces the total number of comparisons and the total mathematical computations required per block.