Fast mode decision for Hierarchical-B pictures in scalable video coding

To decrease the computational complexity of adaptive inter-layer prediction and improve the encoding efficiency in scalable video coding, a mode decision algorithm is proposed by exploiting the part of used candidate modes of the co-located reference macroblocks for Hierarchical-B pictures. This scheme reduces the amount of the candidate modes to generate a dynamic list for the current encoding macroblock according to the statistical information derived from the co-located reference macroblocks in different temporal levels. The experimental results show that this fast algorithm reduces approximately 31% encoding time on average with the negligible loss of encoding performance.