Adapting Low-Bitrate Skip Mode in a Mobile Environment

A method is introduced to enhance the High Efficiency Video Coding early skip decision process. The proposed method exploits visual acuity and high-velocity motion perception of the human visual system (HVS). The method determines coding units where the HVS is unlikely to notice the changes and hence can be skipped. In this paper, the focus is mobile devices, such as smart phones, where displays are less than 5 in diagonal length and bandwidth availability is low. The proposed method exploits the mismatch between the video resolution, display resolution, and visual acuity of users. This method has very low impact on subjective quality while reducing encoding time for low bitrate environments. The proposed method reduces both encoding time and bitrate; the results show an average of 21.7% decrease in encoding time, 13.4% decrease in average bitrate, and very low impact on subjective quality ratings. The proposed methods can be adapted to decrease encoding time and bitrate in devices with lower resolution displays.