An Adaptive Inter Mode Decision for Multiview Video Coding

Multiview video coding (MVC) plays an important role in 3D video system, while the huge computational complexity blocks its applications. This paper proposes an adaptive Inter mode decision algorithm to reduce the complexity of MVC. First, the selection of Inter modes is determined by using the textural region type of macro block (MB). Then, the estimation of small size Inter modes (Inter16x8, Inter8x16, and Inter8x8) is decided based on the motion homogenization of MB, which is predicted by utilizing the motion estimation results of Inter16x16 mode. Finally, the complexity of Inter8x8 mode estimation is progressively reduced by employing rate-distortion (RD) costs of estimated modes. As compared to the full mode decision in MVC reference software, the proposed algorithm achieved 71% encoding time saving on average with 0.026 dB peak signal-to-noise ratio loss and 0.74% bit rate increase.