Embedded Compression for Memory Resource Reduction in MPEG systems
Egbert G. T. Jaspers · 2002
The architecture for block-based video applications (e.g. MPEG/ JPEG coding, graphics rendering) is usually based on a processor engine, connected to an external background SDRAM memory in which reference images and data are stored. In this paper, we reduce the required memory bandwidth for MPEG decoding up to 58 % by identifying the optimal block configuration and applying embedded data compression up to a factor four. To achieve this result, we optimize the burst-oriented data exchange to memory for the MPEG memory functions (e.g. block-based prediction). It is shown that a 38 % reduction of the memory bandwidth is achieved with a moderate compression factor of two using a low-cost compression scheme such as DPCM at the expense of a negligible loss of quality. 1.