A frame-level data re-use & mode decision strategy for H.264/AVC encoders

ABSTRACT

The H.264/AVC video compression standard exhibits excellent compression ratio due to many new features compared with its previous counterparts. Among these features, multiple reference inter-prediction and variable block-size play very important roles. However, their implementations require high memory access bandwidth. For real-time implementation, it is critical to reduce the memory access bandwidth. For this purpose, this paper presents a Partial Forward Processing Algorithm (PFPA) for frame-level data re-use and a mode decision strategy. Simulation results show that up to 2/3 of the original memory access bandwidth can be saved when using five reference frames with a search range of [-64,64]. The new mode decision method avoids sharply increased memory size used to store intermediate processing results and at the same time, the PSNR for the decoded sequence is very close to the optimal result produced by the reference software JM9.0 provided by the Joint Video Team (JVT) [1].

REFERENCES

• 1: J.V.Team software JM9.0, September 2004.
• 2: Yun Cheng, Zhi-Ying Wang, and Jian-Jun Guo, "Research on intra modes for inter-frame coding in h.264," in Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design, May 2005, vol. 2, pp. 740--744.
• 3: Zhuo Zhao and Ping Liang, "A highly efficient parallel processing system for h.264/avc real-time video encoder," in Pending US Patent Application 60/691,603.
• 4: Ye-Ping Su and Ming-Ting Sun, "Fast multiple reference frame motion estimation for h.264," in IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo, June 2004, vol. 1, pp. 695--698.
• 5: J.V.Team, "Draft itu-t recommendation and final draft international standard of joint video specification," ITU-T Rec. H.264 and ISO/IEC 14496-10 AVC, May 2003.
• 6: Yu-Wen Huang, Tung-Chien Chen, and Chen-Han Tsai, "A 1.3tops h.264/avc single-chip encoder for hdtv applications," in IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, February 2005, vol. 1, pp. 128--588.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.4 IMAGE PROCESSING AND COMPUTER VISION
      I.4.2 Compression (Coding)
          Subjects: Approximate methods

General Terms:
Algorithms

Keywords:
H.264/AVC, PFPA, multiple references