Decoder side true motion estimation for very low bitrate b-frame coding

In H.264 standard, coding of motion vectors constitutes a significant portion of total bitrate especially at low bitrate regimes. This is because differential coding of motion vectors is inefficient when the bit budget is very low. In this paper, we propose a novel estimation and coding algorithm for motion vectors of B-frames at very low bitrates. In this method, the encoder selects the optimal motion vector from a limited set of candidate vectors that are determined at the decoder side using true motion estimation. Since these candidate vector sets are fixed by the decoder for each macroblock, there is no need for explicit coding of motion information, which reduces the bitrate required for coding. Also, true motion vector estimates are used for improved direct mode coding in B-frames. The algorithm provides an average of 0.68 dB PSNR gain for B-frames when compared to the reference H.264 results at the same bitrates. Simulation results also indicate significant improvement in visual quality of the compressed B-frames.