Edge Vector Based Mode Decision for H.264/AVC Intra Prediction

H.264/AVC exploits temporal and spatial redundancies to obtain higher coding gain. This comes with a cost of higher complexity encoder and higher computational time, which makes it difficult for real-time applications. In this paper, we present a fast intra-prediction mode selection method for H.264/AVC based on local edge information. Prior to intra prediction process, edge vectors of every pixel in a 4x4 block are totaled up to determine the edge direction. Based on the edge direction information, one directional mode is chosen and compared with the DC mode to choose the best mode with least rate distortion cost. Experimental results show that the proposed method reduces the computation complexity while it gives an almost similar visual quality of the reconstructed frame as compared to the one obtained by using exhaustive prediction method. The proposed method also outperforms Feng Pan's method (2005) in computational time and number of bits generated