Temporal Compensation for Compressed Frame Buffer Memory
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Solution Overview
Problem
As display technology advances and resolution increases, the memory requirements for frame buffering grow, leading to higher manufacturing costs, and existing compression algorithms often result in degraded image quality.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that uses a codec to encode and decode images, calculating an error image from the decoded image and adding it to subsequent images before encoding, allowing for compression while maintaining image quality through temporal compensation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If compression algorithms are applied to reduce memory requirements, then memory cost is reduced, but image quality is degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-calculating error images from decoded frames and adding them to subsequent input frames before compression. This anticipates the quality degradation that would occur during compression and counteracts it in advance, allowing the system to use aggressive compression (4:1 ratio) while maintaining visual quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by calculating the difference between decoded output images and original input images to generate error images. These error images are then fed back into the compression pipeline by adding them to subsequent input frames, creating a closed-loop system that continuously corrects for compression artifacts and maintains image quality.
2Manufacturing precision
If frame buffer memory is increased to support higher resolution displays, then display quality is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary error calculation and compensation before the actual display rendering, allowing the use of compressed frame buffers. By pre-computing error images and integrating them into the compression pipeline, the system maintains display quality without requiring large amounts of SRAM memory for uncompressed frame buffering.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of memory compression ratio from conventional 2:1 to 4:1 by implementing error image compensation. This parameter change allows the system to use quarter the memory while maintaining acceptable quality, directly resolving the contradiction between memory quantity and display quality.
3Quantity of substance
If compression ratio is increased to reduce memory usage, then memory cost is reduced, but image quality degradation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses feedback to continuously measure the quality loss from compression by calculating error images from decoded frames. This error information is fed back into the system and added to subsequent input frames, creating a self-correcting mechanism that maintains image quality even at high compression ratios up to 4:1.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful effect of compression artifacts into a benefit by capturing them as error images and then adding these error images back to subsequent frames. This transforms the negative quality degradation into a corrective mechanism that actually improves perceived quality by pre-compensating for compression losses.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for compressing video images while maintaining quality. A codec is used to encode and decode (i.e., compress and decompress) an image in a sequence of images, and the decoded image is used to calculate an error image, which is added to a subsequent image before it is encoded. The compressed image is transmitted to a display device, in which it is decoded and displayed.