利用变换域信息快速实现H.264帧内预测编码的新算法

新的视频编码标准H.264中采用了帧内预测技术,能够极大地减少空间冗余性,从而进一步提高了对帧内宏块编码的效率,但同时也增大了帧内编码的计算时间。为了减少帧内编码时间和编码延迟,该文提出了一种能够快速实现帧内预测编码的新算法。该文算法先利用变换域的信息得到图像纹理的方向,只在最可能的几个模式中进行模式选择,从而降低了运算量。对不同的视频序列测试的结果表明,使用本算法后帧内编码时间可以减少70%左右,同时保持相近的图像压缩质量和码率水平。对于一些实时性要求苛刻的视频压缩应用,采用该文的快速算法会比较有效。     

Enhanced pipelined architecture of H.264/AVC intra prediction

This paper presents a high-performance encoder for H.264/AVC intra prediction. Due to long data dependency loop of intra 4×4 prediction and complex algorithms, improving encoding speed turns into a stumbling block we have to face. To solve this problem, we first propose a pipelined method in and between macro blocks with new block processing order to accelerate the encoding speed. Benefiting from the pipelined method, reconstructed pixels of up-right blocks are available for two blocks in a macro block which could not take advantage of reconstructed pixels of up-right blocks in JM. So diagonal down left mode and vertical left mode are effective for these two blocks, which ultimately achieves a better bit-rate. Secondly, all 4×4 mode formula sharing method is proposed to reduce the redundancy of predicting formulas. Thirdly, streamlined reconstruction method is applied to improve the performance of reconstruction. CAVLC encoder with three parallel units is proposed to improve entropy coding speed significantly. As a result, it takes 268 cycles to encode a macro block. The experimental results indicate that synthesized into a 0.18 µm CMOS cell library, the new architecture only requires about 238K gates and it is able to encode 1080pHD video sequences at 30 frames per second (fps), at the operating frequency of 56 MHz.     

基于梯度方向算子的H.264帧内模式选择算法

提出梯度方向算子的概念,基于该算子提出了一种H.264帧内模式快速选择算法。本文首先应用梯度方向算子计算编码宏块中各4×4亮度子块的纹理特征和灰度起伏特征,根据这两种特征参量削减4×4帧内候选预测模式。通过统计宏块中各子块的4×4候选预测模式信息,结合梯度方向强度门限判别法削减宏块的16×16候选预测模式,通过率失真优化算法计算得到最优亮度预测模式。进一步根据亮度宏块和色度宏块的对应关系,在亮度候选预测模式的基础上对色度宏块候选预测模式进行削减,最后计算得到最优色度预测模式。该算法削减了50%以上的帧内预测模式,减少了帧内预测模式选择的运算量,实验表明,该算法能够在峰值信噪比和码流比特率变化轻微的前提下减少50%以上的运算量。      

Mode dependent loop filter for intra prediction coding in H.264/AVC

In this paper, a high performance and low complexity loop filter is proposed for intra prediction coding. Although the deblocking loop filter (DLF) has achieved outstanding performance on suppressing quantization noise, it also induces details information loss because of the smoothing operation. To achieve better restoration performance, we propose a filter set named mode dependent loop filter (MDLF) which adaptively select the filter coefficients according to various local characteristics. In the homogeneous areas, the task of the filter emphasizes on smoothing the noise. In the heterogeneous areas, the proposed filter concentrates on preserving the details. Based on the spatial correlation assumption and statistical analysis, the intra mode combination is used to classify the training samples with different local characteristics. Then the classical least mean square error framework is employed to solve the coefficients for the proposed filter set. In this way, a more efficient adaptive loop filter scheme can be achieved for specific intra mode combination. Experiment results show that the proposed loop filter achieves superior coding gains compared to the H.264/AVC High Profile. Furthermore, relative to QALF+DLF, a comparable performance also can be achieved by the proposed MDLF with far less complexity increase.     

H.264帧内预测模式快速判定算法研究

帧内预测作为H.264中提高编码效率的重要部分,其采用了率失真优化技术（RDO）进行预测模式的选择,但同时编码复杂度和计算量也明显增加.为此,提出一种快速判定算法.该算法利用区域图像的质心坐标对区域图像的平坦性和方向性进行判断,算法通过判断宏块的平坦性提前选定块大小,根据4×4块的纹理方向,确定预测模式集,降低算法复杂度.实验结果表明,与H.264标准参考编解码器JM8.6相比,所提算法编码时间节省50％以上,峰值信噪比和码率变化不大.     

An improved fast mode decision algorithm for intraprediction in H.264/AVC video coding

In this article, an improved version of one of the most cited intra mode decision algorithms in H.264/AVC video coding is proposed with the aim to improve its efficiency and performance. The reference algorithm determines the interpolation/extrapolation spatial direction (mode) for achieving the best intra prediction using the Sobel gradient calculation. The proposed algorithm suggests reducing the number of gradients calculated and changing the Sobel operator to that of Roberts. In addition to this, it also proposes including the previously encoded neighboring block modes among the evaluated modes. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm reduces the computational load of the original algorithm and substantially improves its rate-distortion performance.     

Modification and implementation of an edge-based fast intra prediction mode decision algorithm for H.264/AVC high resolution real-time systems

In this paper, we propose an architecture for H.264/AVC fast intra-prediction-mode decision making in high resolution real-time applications. Intra-prediction-mode decision making requires many computations of H.264/AVC video coding, and also extra time for mode generation for intra prediction mode decisions. Hence, there exists a bottleneck in the execution of high resolution real-time applications. To improve the operation of intra prediction mode decision, we use an algorithm which, based on the edge information of an object, will reduce estimations of mode predictions by 66%; with negligible loss of video quality and a small increase in bit-rate of video stream. We propose a low cost architecture, with gate counts reduced by 50% compared with former design. The total gate count is 86,671 and the maximum operating frequency is 250 MHz using TSMC 0.18 μm cell-based technology. The experimental results show our design is a strong competitor with most modern high resolution, real-time video processing.     

一种基于H.264/AVC帧内预测模式选择的快速算法

依据宏块的空间相关性,并从概率的角度考虑,提出了一种新的快速模式选择算法,该方法减少了对Intra4×4和Intra16×16的预测模式率失真的计算,降低了帧内预测编码的复杂度.与参考软件JM11.0中模式选择算法相比,在PSNR基本保持不变的情况下,新算法的编码时间缩短了大约30%,而比特率仅提高了1%左右.     

Adaptive Scanning for H.264/AVC Intra Coding

In this letter, an adaptive scanning that improves intra coding efficiency in the H.264/AVC standard is proposed. The proposed adaptive scanning utilizes the prediction directions (modes) that include the horizontal and vertical edge information in a block. Depending on the prediction directions, the proposed method uses three scanning methods: zigzag scanning, horizontal scanning, and vertical scanning. In the proposed method, horizontal and vertical scanning are used in vertical and horizontal prediction modes, respectively, and the normal zigzag scanning in the H.264 standard is used in all other intra prediction modes. The proposed method reduces the bit rate by approximately 2.5% compared with H.264/AVC, without the degradation of video quality.     

Parallel fast inter mode decision for H.264/AVC encoding

For H.264/AVC encoding, the mode selection process consumes a large proportion of the overall computation. To reduce this burden, various fast mode decision algorithms have been proposed. The current fast mode decision algorithms usually exploit the relationship among the coding modes and use the context-based approach to reduce the number of modes to be checked for both intra coding and inter coding. The parallel capacity of hardware architectures are also taken into consideration. However, almost all the parallel fast mode decision designs are focusing on intra coding. In this paper, a hardware friendly parallel fast inter mode decision method is proposed. With the proposed method, the inter mode decision can be conducted efficiently in one pass and significant encoding speedup can be achieved with negligible coding efficiency loss. Moreover, the proposed method can be easily mapped to hardware architecture which can be used for the real-time video encoding.     

H.264/AVC帧内预测模式选择的快速算法研究

H.264/AVC标准引入RDO技术计算帧内预测最优模式,提高编码效率,但同时RDO技术的引入极大提升编码端的计算复杂度.提出了一种针对帧内预测4×4亮度块的快速模式选择算法,该算法利用亮度块SATD值与RDO技术间的相关性,优化原有算法.实验结果表明,算法能在基本不影响图像原有质量的情况下,较大程度减少编码H.264序列所需时间.     

Fast motion estimation for H.264

Several specific features have been incorporated into Motion estimation (ME) in H.264 coding standard to improve its coding efficiency. However, they result in very high computational load. In this paper, a fast ME algorithm is proposed to reduce the computational complexity. First, a mode discriminant method is used to free the encoder from checking the small block size modes in homogeneous regions. Second, a condensed hierarchical block matching method and a spatial neighbor searching scheme are employed to find the best full-pixel motion vector. Finally, direction-based selection rule is utilized to reduce the searching range in sub-pixel ME process. Experimental results on commonly used QCIF and CIF format test sequences have shown that the proposed algorithm achieves a reduction of 88% ME process time on average, while incurring only 0.033 dB loss in PSNR and 0.50% increment on the total bit rate compared with that of exhaustive ME process, which is a default approach adopted in the JM reference software.     

Transparent encryption techniques for H.264/AVC and H.264/SVC compressed video

Transparent encryption of video content requires to provide a video preview that is left in plaintext, while the enhancement information is encrypted. In this paper we propose three algorithms that provide transparent encryption. The first two ones are based on the idea of generating controlled drift in such a way as to obtain the desired quality level, while the third algorithm employs scalable video coding. We provide experimental results on several video sequences, as well as a security analysis, showing that the proposed algorithms provide an effective framework to perform transparent encryption.     

一种新的H.264/AVC帧内编码快速算法

针对H.264/AVC帧内编码算法采用率失真优化(RDO)算法提升编码性能导致运算复杂度增加这一问题,提出了一种新的帧内编码快速算法。该算法采用待预测块的纹理方向误差值判断待编码块的纹理特征,结合相邻块的预测模式相关性减少须遍历预测模式的数量,并结合全零块检测的提前终止判定准则加快编码速度。实验结果表明,与标准算法相比,该算法在保证输出码率和图像质量基本不变的情况下能够将帧内编码时间减少约67.2%,显著提高了H.264的帧内编码效率。     

基于H.264/AVC的视频信息隐藏算法

在H.264/AVC的帧内预测环节,调制H.264/AVC编码中I帧4×4亮度块的帧内预测模式实现信息隐藏.这种调制基于该模式与待隐藏比特之间的映射规则进行.宿主4×4块的具体位置由各块自身特点结合密钥所指定的嵌入位置模板确定.信息的提取过程不需要原始视频内容,也不需完全解码,而只要对码流中的帧内预测模式进行解码即可.     

H.264/AVC中并行通用变换结构设计

提出了一种用于H.264/AVC编解码器的通用并行变换结构,并利用Verilog语言进行了电路设计.该并行结构主要包含4个移位器和16个累加器,可以完成H.264/AVC中的全部4×4变换,包括4×4哈达马变换和4×4离散余弦变换和反变换,能够达到每个时钟周期处理一个像素点的速度.使用SMIC 0.18 μm工艺对该并行结构进行了综合,电路面积为3757门,工作在100 MHz时钟频率下的关键路径为10.3 ms.     

VLSI Architecture Design of Fractional Motion Estimation for H.264/AVC

The H.264/AVC Fractional Motion Estimation (FME) with rate-distortion constrained mode decision can improve the rate-distortion efficiency by 2–6 dB in peak signal-to-noise ratio. However, it comes with considerable computation complexity. Acceleration by dedicated hardware is a must for real-time applications. The main difficulty for FME hardware implementation is parallel processing under the constraint of the sequential flow and data dependency. We analyze seven inter-correlative loops extracted from FME procedure and provide decomposing methodologies to obtain efficient projection in hardware implementation. Two techniques, 4×4 block decomposition and efficiently vertical scheduling, are proposed to reuse data among the variable block size and to improve the hardware utilization. Besides, advanced architectures are designed to efficiently integrate the 6-taps 2D finite impulse response, residue generation, and 4×4 Hadamard transform into a fully pipelined architecture. This design is finally implemented and integrated into an H.264/AVC single chip encoder that supports realtime encoding of 720×480 30fps video with four reference frames at 81 MHz operation frequency with 405 K logic gates (41.9% area of the encoder).

H.264 High Profile的帧内预测模式快速判决算法研究

为降低H.264 High Profile帧内预测模式判决的复杂度,提出了2方面的改进:1)在模式判决的第1阶段即块大小判决,提出了1种自适应阈值来排除不可能的块大小;2)在模式判决的第2阶段即预测模式判决,利用8×8模式判决的最优模式及最可能模式和SATD值来减少4×4的待选模式。与JM参考软件的对比结果表明,在不影响图像质量的前提下,提出的算法能减少平均61%的时间。     

视频编码H.264/AVC新技术及其优化

本文详细介绍了视频编码新标准H.264/AVC中的运动估计和运动补偿、预测、证书变换、量化、熵编码环路滤波、帧切换等技术及其优化设计.     

一种基于二维直方图的H.264/AVC快速帧内预测判决算法

最新的视频压缩标准H.264/AVC具有极高的压缩率,但由于其算法极其复杂,编码时间较长,无法达到实时应用的要求。该文针对其帧内预测算法的特点,提出了一种基于二维直方图的快速帧内预测算法。该算法在进行帧内预测之前先对宏块预判,从两种帧内预测模式中选择一种,从而减少了算法的复杂度,提高了压缩速度。实验结果表明,所提的算法在码率只有少许增加的情况下,编码速度提高了16.26%,PSNR值基本不变。