US Patent 11363262 Adaptive GOP structure using temporal dependencies likelihood

A first aspect is a method for coding a group of pictures (GOP) that includes frames of a video. The method includes encoding, at least some of the frames of the GOP, using a first encoding pass to obtain encoding statistics; obtaining, using the encoding statistics, respective temporal dependency likelihoods (TDLs) for the at least some of the frames of the GOP, where the respective TDLs indicate contributions that the at least some of the frames make in reducing prediction errors of the GOP; obtaining a reference frame based on the respective TDLs; and using the reference frame in encoding at least some of the frames of the GOP in a second encoding pass.