Macroblock adaptive frame/field coding architecture for scalable coding

• US 20060262860A1
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Published: 11/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Chou, Jim Chen, Tabatabai, Ali
• Application Number:
  US11/361,706
• Publication Number:
  US 20060262860A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/240.240
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/112 according to a given display mode, e.g. for interlaced or progressive display mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/13 Adaptive entropy coding, e.g. adaptive variable length coding [AVLC] or context adaptive binary arithmetic coding [CABAC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/137 Motion inside a coding unit, e.g. average field, frame or block difference
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/172 the region being a picture, frame or field
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/176 the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/30 using hierarchical techniques, e.g. scalability H04N19/63 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/46 Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/615 using motion compensated temporal filtering [MCTF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/63 using sub-band based transform, e.g. wavelets

Abstract

An open loop encoding architecture encodes a sequence of interlaced video frames at macroblock level. In one aspect, each frame is divided into pairs of macroblocks and the macroblock pairs are encoded as either separate macroblocks or as two fields, depending upon a motion threshold. Predictors for the macroblock pairs may be selected from different frames in the sequence, or from frames of different resolution. In another aspect, a frame may be open loop encoded at field level instead of at macroblock level. A corresponding inverse open loop encoding architecture is used to decode the encoded frames.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

dividing a current frame into pairs of macroblocks, the current frame occurring in a sequence of interlaced video frames; and

open loop encoding the macroblock pairs to produce an encoded frame, wherein the open loop encoding comprises;

encoding a macroblock pair as separate macroblocks if a motion threshold is not met; and

encoding a macroblock pair as two fields if the motion threshold is met.

2. The computerized method of claim 1 further comprising:

selecting a predictor for each of the macroblock pairs in the current frame, wherein the open loop encoding uses the predictors to encode the macroblock pairs.

3. The computerized method of claim 2, wherein the predictor is selected from macroblock pairs in a different frame of the sequence.

4. The computerized method of claim 3, wherein the different frame is one of a past frame, a future frame, and a combination of a past and future frame.

5. The computerized method of claim 2, wherein the predictor is selected from macroblock pairs in a frame having a different resolution than the current frame.

6. The computerized method of claim 1 further comprising:

applying the open loop encoding to fields within the current frame instead of to each macroblock pair in the current frame.

15. The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

applying the open loop encoding to fields within the current frame instead of to each macroblock pair in the current frame.

7. A computerized method comprising:

decoding an encoded frame into macroblock pairs using an open loop decoding, wherein the encoded frame represents an interlaced video frame.

8. The computerized method of claim 7, wherein the decoding comprising:

decoding two fields into a macroblock pair.

9. The computerized method of claim 7, wherein the decoding comprises:

decoding each macroblock pair using a corresponding predictor.

10. A machine-readable medium having instructions to cause a processor to execute a method, the method comprising:

dividing a current frame into pairs of macroblocks, the current frame occurring in a sequence of interlaced video frames; and

open loop encoding the macroblock pairs to produce an encoded frame, wherein the open loop encoding comprises;

encoding a macroblock pair as separate macroblocks if a motion threshold is not met; and

encoding a macroblock pair as two fields if the motion threshold is met.

11. The machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

selecting a predictor for each of the macroblock pairs in the current frame, wherein the open loop encoding uses the predictors to encode the macroblock pairs.

12. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the predictor is selected from macroblock pairs in a different frame of the sequence.

13. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the different frame is one of a past frame, a future frame, and a combination of a past and future frame.

14. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the predictor is selected from macroblock pairs in a frame having a different resolution than the current frame.

16. A machine-readable medium having instructions to cause a processor to execute a method, the method comprising:

decoding an encoded frame into macroblock pairs using an open loop decoding, wherein the encoded frame represents an interlaced video frame.

17. The machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein the decoding comprising:

decoding two fields into a macroblock pair.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein the decoding comprises:

decoding each macroblock pair using a corresponding predictor.

19. A system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory through a bus; and

an encoding process executed from the memory by the processor to cause the processor to divide a current frame into pairs of macroblocks, the current frame occurring in a sequence of interlaced video frames, and to open loop encode the macroblock pairs to produce an encoded frame by encoding a macroblock pair as separate macroblocks if a motion threshold is not met and by encoding a macroblock pair as two fields if the motion threshold is met.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the encoding process further causes the processor to select a predictor for each of the macroblock pairs in the current frame, wherein the open loop encoding uses the predictors to encode the macroblock pairs.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the processor selects the predictor from macroblock pairs in a different frame of the sequence.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the different frame is one of a past frame, a future frame, and a combination of a past and future frame.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the processor selects the predictor from macroblock pairs in a frame having a different resolution than the current frame.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the encoding process further causes the processor to open loop encode fields within the current frame instead of open loop encoding each macroblock pair in the current frame.

25. A system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory through a bus; and

a decoding process executed from the memory by the processor to cause the processor to decode an encoded frame into macroblock pairs using an open loop decoding, wherein the encoded frame represents an interlaced video frame.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the decoding process causes the processor to decode two fields into a macroblock pair when decoding an encoded frame.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the decoding process causes the processor to decode each macroblock pair using a corresponding predictor when decoding an encoded frame.

28. An apparatus comprising:

an open loop encoder to encode macroblock pairs in a frame as separate macroblocks if a motion threshold is not met and as a macroblock pair as two fields if the motion threshold is met, wherein the frame occurs in a sequence of interlaced video frames.

29. An apparatus comprising:

an open loop decoder to decode an encoded frame into macroblock pairs, wherein the encoded frame represents an interlaced video frame.