Context-adaptive macroblock type encoding/decoding methods and apparatuses
View Patent ↗Macroblock types of macroblocks of a video picture are encoded by adaptively employing codewords of codeword tables, based at least in part on one or more macroblock type related characteristics of one or more neighboring macroblocks of interest. The codewords may be variable in length. The one or more macroblock type characteristics may include a most common macroblock type characteristic of the neighboring macroblocks of interest. The adaptive employment of the codeword tables may be further based on a picture type of the picture of which the macroblocks are members. Decoding may be performed in an inverse manner.
1. An apparatus comprising:
storage medium; and
a plurality of codeword tables stored in said storage medium, with each of said plurality of codeword tables having a plurality of codewords, one of said plurality of codeword tables to be selectively accessed based at least in part on a most common macroblock type of a plurality of neighboring macroblocks of a macroblock of a picture, for performing a selected one of
encoding a macroblock type of the macroblock of the picture using an appropriate one of the codewords of the selectively accessed codeword table; and
decoding a macroblock type of a macroblock of the picture using an appropriate one of the codewords of the selectively accessed codeword table.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of codeword tables are to be selectively accessed based also on a picture type of the picture.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of neighboring macroblocks comprise first one or more macroblocks immediately adjacent to the macroblock.
4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of neighboring macroblocks further comprises second one or more macroblocks immediately adjacent to one of the first one or more macroblocks.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of codeword tables comprises at least one of the following codeword tables
Coded MB
Most common neighboring macroblock type
type
Type A
Type B
Type C
Types D
Type A
1
001
01101
1001
Type B
01
1
0101
10001
Type C
001
01
1
01
Type D
000001
0000001
0100
00
Type E
00001
000001
001
101
Type F
0001
00001
000
11
Type G
0000001
0001
0111
100001
Coded MB
Most common macroblock type
type
Type E
Type F
Type G
Type A
00001
00001
000001
Type B
000001
000001
001
Type C
1
1
01
Type D
0001
0001
0000001
Type E
01
001
00001
Type F
001
01
0001
Type G
0000001
0000001
1.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of codeword tables comprises at least one of the following codeword tables
Coded MB
Most common macroblock type
type
Type A
Type B
Type C
Type A
01
0001
000001
Type B
101
1
0001
Type C
00
001
1
Type D
11
01
01
Type E
10001
000001
00001
Type F
1001
00001
001
Coded MB
Most Common macroblock type
type
Type D
Type E
Type F
Type A
01001
000001
000001
Type B
001
00001
00001
Type C
000
001
001
Type D
1
01
1
Type E
0101
0001
0001
Type F
011
1
01.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the most common macroblock type comprises a first macroblock type having equal frequency of occurrence among the plurality of neighboring macroblocks, with at least a second macroblock type, but precedence over that of the second macroblock type.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the codeword tables further comprises a codeword to encode whether a quantization parameter of the macroblock has changed (DQUANT).
9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the DQUANTs is a selected one of “0000000”, “01100”, and “100000”.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the DQUANTs is a selected one of “01000”, and “10000”.
11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus further comprises logic coupled to the plurality of codeword tables to perform at least one of
encoding a macroblock type of a macroblock of a picture; and
decoding a macroblock type of a macroblock of a picture.
12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus further comprises a processor coupled to the storage medium to selectively access said codewords of said codeword tables to perform said encoding/decoding.
13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a selected one of a palm sized computing device, a wireless mobile phone, a digital personal assistant, a laptop computing device, a desktop computing device, a set-top box, a server, a compact disk player, a digital versatile disk player, a television, and a display monitor.
14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus further comprises a video daughter card and a motherboard having integrated video capability.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions comprising:
a plurality of codeword tables to be retrieved to program an apparatus, with each of said plurality of codeword tables having a plurality of codewords, one of said plurality of codeword tables to be selectively accessed, based at least in part on a most common macroblock type of a plurality of neighboring macroblocks of a macroblock of a picture, for performing a selected one of
encoding a macroblock type of the macroblock of the picture using an appropriate one of the codewords of the selectively accessed codeword table; and
decoding a macroblock type of a macroblock of the picture using an appropriate one of the codewords of the selectively accessed codeword table.
16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of codeword tables are to be selectively accessed based also on a picture type of the picture.
17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of neighboring macroblocks comprise first one or more macroblocks immediately adjacent to the macroblock.
18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of neighboring macroblocks further comprises second one or more macroblocks immediately adjacent to one of the first one or more macroblocks.
19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of codeword tables comprises at least one of the following codeword tables
Coded MB
Most common neighboring macroblock type
type
Type A
Type B
Type C
Types D
Type A
1
001
01101
1001
Type B
01
1
0101
10001
Type C
001
01
1
01
Type D
000001
0000001
0100
00
Type E
00001
000001
001
101
Type F
0001
00001
000
11
Type G
0000001
0001
0111
100001
Coded MB
Most common macroblock type
type
Type E
Type F
Type G
Type A
00001
00001
000001
Type B
000001
000001
001
Type C
1
1
01
Type D
0001
0001
0000001
Type E
01
001
00001
Type F
001
01
0001
Type G
0000001
0000001
1.
20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of codeword tables comprises at least one of the following codeword tables
Coded MB
Most common macroblock type
type
Type A
Type B
Type C
Type A
01
0001
000001
Type B
101
1
0001
Type C
00
001
1
Type D
11
01
01
Type E
10001
000001
00001
Type F
1001
00001
001
Coded MB
Most Common macroblock type
type
Type D
Type E
Type F
Type A
01001
000001
000001
Type B
001
00001
00001
Type C
000
001
001
Type D
1
01
1
Type E
0101
0001
0001
Type F
011
1
01.
21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the most common macroblock type comprises a first macroblock type having equal frequency of occurrence among the plurality of neighboring macroblocks, with a second macroblock type, but precedence over that of the second macroblock type.
22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the codeword tables further comprises a codeword to encode whether a quantization parameter of the macroblock has changed (DQUANT).
23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising programming instructions recorded on the computer-readable medium, designed to utilize the plurality of codeword tables to perform at least one of
encoding a macroblock type of a macroblock of a picture; and
decoding a macroblock type of a macroblock of a picture.
24. A video-device implemented video encoding/decoding method comprising:
determining, by the video device, a most common macroblock type of a plurality of neighboring macroblocks of a macroblock of a picture;
obtaining, by the video device, a plurality of codeword tables, with each of said plurality of codeword tables having a plurality of codewords for encoding macroblock types;
selecting, by the video device, one of said plurality of codeword tables based at least in part on the determined most common macroblock type of the plurality of neighboring macroblocks of the macroblock;
performing, by the video device, computer, a selected one of encoding and decoding of a macroblock type of the macroblock of the picture, using an appropriate one of the codewords of the selected codeword table; and
performing, by the video device, a selected one of storing the encoded macroblock type to a bit stream and outputting the picture to a display device.
25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the method further comprises determining a picture type of the picture, and said selecting is further based on the determined picture type of the picture.
26. The method of claim 24 , wherein the plurality of neighboring macroblocks comprise first one or more macroblocks immediately adjacent to the macroblock.
27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the plurality of neighboring macroblocks further comprises second one or more macroblocks immediately adjacent to one of the first one or more macroblocks.
28. The method of claim 24 , wherein the plurality of codeword tables comprises at least one of the following codeword tables
Coded MB
Most common neighboring macroblock type
type
Type A
Type B
Type C
Types D
Type A
1
001
01101
1001
Type B
01
1
0101
10001
Type C
001
01
1
01
Type D
000001
0000001
0100
00
Type E
00001
000001
001
101
Type F
0001
00001
000
11
Type G
0000001
0001
0111
100001
Coded MB
Most common macroblock type
type
Type E
Type F
Type G
Type A
00001
00001
000001
Type B
000001
000001
001
Type C
1
1
01
Type D
0001
0001
0000001
Type E
01
001
00001
Type F
001
01
0001
Type G
0000001
0000001
1.
29. The method of claim 24 , wherein the plurality of codeword tables comprises at least one of the following codeword tables
Coded MB
Most common macroblock type
type
Type A
Type B
Type C
Type A
01
0001
000001
Type B
101
1
0001
Type C
00
001
1
Type D
11
01
01
Type E
10001
000001
00001
Type F
1001
00001
001
Coded MB
Most Common macroblock type
type
Type D
Type E
Type F
Type A
01001
000001
000001
Type B
001
00001
00001
Type C
000
001
001
Type D
1
01
1
Type E
0101
0001
0001
Type F
011
1
01.
30. The method of claim 24 , wherein the most common macroblock type comprises a first macroblock type having equal frequency of occurrence among the plurality of neighboring macroblocks, with a second macroblock type, but precedence over that of the second macroblock type.
31. The method of claim 24 , wherein at least one of the codeword tables further comprises a codeword to encode whether a quantization parameter of the macroblock has changed (DQUANT).
32. The method of claim 31 , wherein at least one of the DQUANTs is a selected one of “0000000”, “01100”, and “100000”.
33. The method of claim 31 , wherein at least one of the DQUANTs is a selected one of “01000”, and “10000”.