Small Buffer Compression Using Block Prediction for Pixel Lines
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-resolution display and camera interfaces in portable devices increase power consumption due to large data sizes, necessitating efficient data compression methods that reduce hardware costs and power usage.
Innovation Solution
The proposed method employs a small-sized buffer using block prediction for compression and decompression, where a vector or partial vector buffer stores information sets for pixel groups, allowing encoding and decoding with reduced buffer size independent of image resolution, utilizing block prediction search across different pixel lines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a large-sized buffer is used to store information for encoding/decoding pixel lines, then compression/decompression accuracy is improved, but hardware cost and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The pixel line is divided into multiple pixel groups, and the buffer is designed to store information for only a limited number of pixel groups at a time (specifically, the maximum number of simultaneously stored pixel groups is smaller than the total number of pixel groups in each pixel line). This segmentation allows the system to process data in chunks, reducing the peak buffer requirement while maintaining compression functionality through block prediction across different pixel lines.
2Measurement precision
If a large-sized buffer is used to store information for encoding/decoding pixel lines, then compression/decompression accuracy is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The buffer is segmented to store information for a limited subset of pixel groups rather than the entire pixel line, reducing the total memory capacity required and thus lowering static power consumption. The system processes pixel groups in stages, using block prediction to reference previously decoded pixel lines, which maintains compression accuracy while minimizing active buffer usage and dynamic power consumption.
3Quantity of substance
If buffer size is reduced, then hardware cost is reduced, but compression/decompression capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs block prediction search using information from previously decoded pixel lines before fully processing the current pixel line. This preliminary action allows the decoder to reconstruct pixel groups using predictions from earlier lines, reducing the need to buffer entire pixel lines while maintaining compression capability. The buffer only needs to hold sufficient information for the prediction process, not the complete pixel line data.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a one-dimensional buffer approach (storing sequential pixel data within a single pixel line) to a two-dimensional approach by utilizing block prediction across different pixel lines. The buffer stores pixel group information that can reference multiple lines, effectively using the vertical dimension of image data to reduce horizontal buffer requirements while maintaining compression functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
A buffer device is used by a compressor/decompressor with block prediction for storing information needed to encode/decode a pixel line. Vector information (e.g., final block prediction vector information and/or partial block prediction vector information) of at least one later pixel group is computed while a current pixel group is being encoded/decoded. The buffer device does not need to store vector information of all pixel groups of one pixel line at the same time. For example, one pixel line is composed of M pixel groups; and when the compressor/decompressor is encoding/decoding the current pixel line, final/partial vector information sets of at most K pixel groups are allowed to be stored in the buffer device simultaneously, where K is a positive integer smaller than M.