Patent ID: 8000389

Claim:
Method of coding a video picture sequence in inter coding mode or intra coding mode, wherein different intra coding modes and different inter coding modes can be used, said method comprising the steps: converting a current picture into picture macroblocks; first pass intra coding the current picture on macroblock level using the original picture data, thereby pre-selecting for each macroblock a specific intra coding mode out of the available intra coding modes, wherein a macroblock can be divided into several blocks to each of which a specific intra coding mode is assigned that uses spatial compensation of the blocks in the current picture; storing, in a memory, the current picture during the first pass; second pass coding the current picture on macroblock level transmitted by the memory whereby reconstructed picture data can be used and wherein, according to a cost and/or a quality factor criterion, for a current macroblock at least one coding mode is selected out of said pre-selected intra coding mode and said available inter coding modes depending on a division of the current macroblock into several blocks and using a motion compensation of these blocks in one or more previously coded pictures for the computation of predicted block values and corresponding residuals to be coded, and wherein said pre-selection of the intra coding mode for the current macroblock is carried out during the second pass coding mode selection for a preceding macro-block.