US Patent 10136140 Encoder-side decisions for screen content encoding

Innovations in encoder-side decisions for coding of screen content video or other video can speed up encoding in various ways. For example, some of the innovations relate to ways to speed up motion estimation by identifying appropriate starting points for the motion estimation in different reference pictures. Many of the encoder-side decisions speed up encoding by terminating encoding for a block or skipping the evaluation of certain modes or options when a condition is satisfied. For example, some of the innovations relate to ways to speed up encoding when hash-based block matching is used. Still other innovations relate to ways to identify when certain intra-picture prediction modes should or should not be evaluated during encoding. Other innovations relate to other aspects of encoding.