Interleaved Video Coding Pipeline Parallel Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing video compression technologies face performance limitations due to their sequential nature, which can be improved by processing multiple sections of a picture in parallel, but this often requires significant increases in hardware area and compromises video quality when using estimated neighbor information.
Innovation Solution
An interleaved video coding pipeline is implemented using a hardware pipeline with multiple stages that process different steps of the video coding process in parallel, utilizing actual neighbor data to communicate predictor information, allowing for high-quality video coding with minimal hardware area and increased performance without significant area expansion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple sections of the picture are processed in parallel to improve performance, then productivity increases, but device complexity and hardware area increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The picture is divided into multiple independent sections (tiles, slices, or blocks) that can be processed in parallel. Each section is treated as an independent processing unit with its own pipeline stages, allowing simultaneous processing across multiple sections while using the same hardware resources sequentially through time-multiplexing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a temporal dimension to parallel processing by using an interleaved pipeline approach. Instead of requiring spatial parallelism (multiple identical hardware units), the system processes multiple sections by interleaving their processing steps across time, achieving parallelism in the time dimension rather than requiring proportional increases in hardware area.
2Productivity
If estimated neighbor information is used to construct predictors to enable hardware pipelining, then productivity increases, but manufacturing precision (video quality) deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by computing actual neighbor data and predictor information in advance for each section before processing begins. This allows the pipeline to be fully populated with accurate predictor values from the start, eliminating the need for estimated neighbor information and enabling high-quality coding while maintaining pipelined operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates copies of the complete processing pipeline for each section, where each copy has access to actual neighbor data from its corresponding section. This allows independent parallel processing of multiple sections with full predictor accuracy, avoiding the quality degradation associated with estimated neighbor information while maintaining hardware efficiency through shared resources.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus includes a memory and a hardware pipeline. The memory may be configured to store video data. The video data includes a plurality of sections of one or more pictures that may be processed independently. The hardware pipeline comprises a plurality of pipeline stages implementing a video coding process comprising a number of steps. Each of the plurality of pipeline stages performs an associated task of a different step of the video coding process in a substantially similar time on a different one of the plurality of sections as each of the plurality of sections pass through each of the pipeline stages. At least one of the plurality of pipeline stages communicates predictor information that is based on actual neighbor data to an earlier stage of the hardware pipeline.