Abstract
A unified architecture for fast and efficient computation of the set of two-dimensional (2-D) transforms adopted by the most recent state-of-the-art digital video standards is presented in this paper. Contrasting to other designs with similar functionality, the presented architecture is supported on a scalable, modular and completely configurable processing structure. This flexible structure not only allows to easily reconfigure the architecture to support different transform kernels, but it also permits its resizing to efficiently support transforms of different orders (e.g. order-4, order-8, order-16 and order-32). Consequently, not only is it highly suitable to realize high-performance multi-standard transform cores, but it also offers highly efficient implementations of specialized processing structures addressing only a reduced subset of transforms that are used by a specific video standard. The experimental results that were obtained by prototyping several configurations of this processing structure in a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA show the superior performance and hardware efficiency levels provided by the proposed unified architecture for the implementation of transform cores for the Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Audio Video coding Standard (AVS), VC-1 and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standards. In addition, such results also demonstrate the ability of this processing structure to realize multi-standard transform cores supporting all the standards mentioned above and that are capable of processing the 8k Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV) video format (7,680 × 4,320 at 30 fps) in real time.
Highlights
Multimedia centric devices and applications, especially those based on digital video, have become increasingly popular along the past decade as a result of the latest technological advances
Instead, such data is stored in an internal data-standing register of the processing elements (PEs), so that it can be used to compute the MAC operations in the subsequent clock cycles. This approach allows to significantly improve the processing rate of the PEs, since it greatly reduces the critical path of the circuit. This aspect is of utmost importance in the proposed unified transform architecture, because all the computations that are performed in the arithmetic module of the PEs are realized using integer arithmetic circuits with a relatively high resolution, as a result of the increased dynamic gains imposed by the higher order transform kernels considered in the state-of-the-art video standards (e.g. High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) [4])
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the multi-standard transform (MST) architecture proposed is one of the first structures that is able to compute the complete set of transforms adopted in the Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Audio Video coding Standard (AVS), VC-1 and HEVC standards
Summary
Multimedia centric devices and applications, especially those based on digital video, have become increasingly popular along the past decade as a result of the latest technological advances. 4.1 Base architecture The MST core presented in [7] is already able to compute all the 2 × 2, 4 × 4 and 8 × 8 transforms defined in both the AVC and HEVC standards, by implementing a row-column decomposition strategy To achieve such goal, this processing structure makes use of the four functional modules depicted in Figure 1: a 2-D systolic array, a transposition switch, an input buffer and a control unit. This approach allows to significantly improve the processing rate of the PEs, since it greatly reduces the critical path of the circuit This aspect is of utmost importance in the proposed unified transform architecture, because all the computations that are performed in the arithmetic module of the PEs are realized using integer arithmetic circuits with a relatively high resolution, as a result of the increased dynamic gains imposed by the higher order transform kernels considered in the state-of-the-art video standards (e.g. HEVC [4]). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the MST architecture proposed is one of the first structures that is able to compute the complete set of transforms adopted in the AVC, AVS, VC-1 and HEVC standards
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
