Video Encoder Frame Buffer Assembly with Lossy Compression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing video encoders face high costs and power consumption due to large frame buffer requirements, particularly in high-definition applications, and frame buffer compression introduces visual artifacts through error accumulation.
Innovation Solution
A video encoder that uses lossy compression for frame buffer storage, providing an indication of the compression applied, allowing accurate reproduction by the decoder and reducing memory capacity and bandwidth needs without significant resource overhead.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a large frame buffer is used to store decoded versions of previously encoded frames, then encoding accuracy is improved, but cost and device complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the state of frame buffer storage from uncompressed to compressed format. By compressing the decoded versions of previously encoded frames, the frame buffer capacity is reduced while maintaining sufficient encoding accuracy. The compression parameter is adjusted to balance between buffer size and reference quality.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of storing full high-quality decoded frames, the patent uses compressed copies of these frames. The compressed versions serve as reference frames for motion estimation and compensation, providing sufficient accuracy at reduced storage requirements.
2Manufacturing precision
If a large frame buffer is used to store decoded versions of previously encoded frames, then encoding accuracy is improved, but power consumption increases due to large bandwidth requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the data format parameter from uncompressed to compressed, which reduces the bandwidth required for writing and reading frame buffer data. This directly reduces the power consumption associated with memory access operations while maintaining encoding accuracy.
3Device complexity
If frame buffer compression is applied to reduce memory capacity and bandwidth, then cost and power consumption are reduced, but visual artifacts and error accumulation occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial compression to the frame buffer, using a compression ratio that is sufficient to reduce memory capacity and bandwidth but not so high as to cause significant visual artifacts. The compression level is optimized to maintain acceptable image quality while achieving the desired reduction in resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms to monitor and control error accumulation from frame buffer compression. By tracking the impact of compression on subsequent encoding accuracy, the system can adjust compression parameters to maintain image quality within acceptable thresholds.
Data Source
AI summary
A video encoder encodes a sequence of frames so as to obtain an encoded sequence of frames in the following manner. A frame buffer assembly provides, for a present frame to be encoded, a representation of a previously encoded frame. The representation results from lossy compression by the frame buffer assembly of a decoded version of the previously encoded frame. An encoding assembly encodes the present frame at least partially with reference to the representation of the previously encoded frame. The video encoder produces a data set constituting encoded video comprising the encoded sequence of frames. The data set includes, in association with the previously encoded frame, an indication on the lossy compression that has been applied by the frame buffer assembly for providing the representation of the previously encoded frame, which has served, at least partially, as a reference for encoding the present frame.