Abstract: The performance of video encoding is characterized both over the short term (e.g., based on the previous encoded frame) and over the long term (e.g., based on the previous n encoded frames). An encoding parameter (e.g., the global quantization level) is selected for the current frame based on the short-term and long-term performance characterizations and the current frame is encoded using that selected encoding parameter. In a preferred embodiment, the global quantization (Q) level is permitted to change for only certain (i.e., adjustable) frames. In addition, the global Q level for key frames is generated using special processing which tends to allow the key frames to be encoded using more bits.

Abstract: A prediction block is generated using a first region of a first reference frame and a second region of a second reference frame. A current block of a current frame is compared to the prediction block, where the comparison is based on a set of match points from the current block and a corresponding set of match points from the prediction block. The current block is processed based on the comparison of the current block to the prediction block. For each match point of the prediction block, a table index is generated from a pixel of the first region and either a pixel of the second region or an offset value, and a corresponding entry is retrieved from a lookup table using the table index. The comparison of the current block to the prediction block is based on the lookup-table entries for the prediction block. In a preferred embodiment, prediction blocks are generated for motion-estimation processing for bi-directionally predicted (B) frames of certain video encoding standards such as the H.263 standard.