Three-point search algorithm for video compression

Based on the analysis of motion directions, a new search algorithm called Three-Point Search (TPS) is proposed. The main advantages of this method are as follows: I) searching accuracy of TPS is very close to that of the full search CFS) algorithm that results in optimal matching results; 2) computational complexity is far less than that of FS. For a maximum motion displacement of w pels/frame, this approach needs 5 + 3w computations to locate the best mathc. The average computations is far less than 5 + 3w because a halfway-stop search technique is used. The simulations showed that the average difference in peak signal-to-noise ratio between FS and TPS is around 0.18 dB to the known CIF video sequences.