Recent Advances in Computational Complexity Techniques for Video Coding Applications

The computational complexity issue is critical for present and future video applications implemented by relatively new video coding standards, such as the H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Coding), which has a large number of coding modes. One of the main reasons for the importance of providing an efficient complexity control in video coding applications is a strong need to decrease the encoding/decoding computational complexity, especially when the encoding and/or decoding devices are resource-limited, such as portable devices. In turn, efficient complexity control enables reducing the video coding processing time and enables saving power resources during the encoding and/or decoding process. Since the recent dramatic progress in the development of multimedia technologies has made portable devices widespread everywhere, especially in order to provide or receive real-time video contents, the need to enhance the computational complexity control in video coding applications is expected to be further significantly increased as a function of the dramatic increase in the mobile/portable device penetration into the every-day life environment. In this chapter, the authors perform a comprehensive review of the recent advances in computational complexity techniques for video coding applications. This chapter will not only summarize the recent advances in this field, but will also provide explicit directions for the design of the future complexity-aware video coding applications.