Abstract: A system to process a signal sequence is described. A hybrid block matching and transform based N-Dimensional signal sequence encoder and decoder is disclosed. The encoder includes encoder side block matching predictor, which includes entropy based cost function which can be estimated from certain energy measure of the block matching difference; a fast block matching search method to learn the results from neighboring blocks and to perform large range search with only a small number of points to visit.

Abstract: A hybrid block matching prediction and transform based n dimensional signal sequence encoder, including an encoder motion estimator, having a cost function. A first embodiment includes an entropy-based cost function. A second embodiment includes a fast block matching search (motion estimation) method to learn the results from neighboring blocks and perform a large range search with only a small number of points to visit. A third embodiment includes a method to dynamically adjust the cost function parameters and other selected coding control parameters based on encoder outputs to optimize the quality and performance of the encoder. A fourth embodiment includes a method to enable exploring and rapid processing of fractional grid points for n dimensional block matching search (motion estimation). A fifth embodiment includes a hybrid block matching prediction and transform-based n dimensional signal sequence decoder.