All-zero detection strategy in a partial distortion search for a motion estimation algorithm

To reduce computational complexity when estimating motion while encoding video, a fast motion estimation algorithm was proposed. In the process of estimating motion, a partial distortion algorithm was used to reduce the computational intensity of the distortion calculation. During the partial distortion search process, an all-zero detection strategy was also used to terminate the search process early, further reducing the computational load of search terms by prejudging all-zero blocks of the quantified discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients in video coding. Both methods enhanced the efficiency of motion estimation. Experimental results showed that the algorithm has little impact on image quality and improves search speed significantly for image sequences containing few changes. Even with image sequences containing dramatic changes, the algorithm can improve search speed somewhat and ensure quality.