Method and apparatus for providing multi-threaded video decoding
View Patent ↗An apparatus for enabling provision of multi-thread video decoding may include at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured, with the processor, to cause the apparatus to perform at least assigning decoding of a respective video frame to a corresponding thread for each core processor of a multi-core processor in which each respective video frame is divided into macroblock rows, resolving dependencies for each respective video frame at a macroblock row level, and providing synchronization for video decoding of each corresponding thread at the macroblock row level. A corresponding method and computer program product are also provided.
1. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform:
assigning decoding of a respective video frame to a corresponding thread for each core processor of a multi-core processor, each respective video frame being divided into macroblock rows;
resolving dependencies for the each respective video frame at a macroblock row level; and
providing synchronization for video decoding of each corresponding thread at the macroblock row level; where
resolving dependencies comprises during decoding limiting a predicted motion vector in advance based on a maximum motion vector of a prior row; and
where synchronization is provided by limiting a maximum lag between decoding successive frames based on frame resolution and cache size of a cache having shared access among each core processor of the multi-core processor.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further perform:
resolving dependencies by determining an availability of a decoded macroblock row in a reference frame.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further perform:
providing synchronization by performing synchronization based on the availability of the decoded macroblock row in the reference frame.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further perform:
resolving dependencies by determining whether a position pointed to in a reference frame has been decoded prior to decoding a macroblock row, the position pointed to being determined by adding current row position and a maximum vertical motion vector range.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further perform:
providing synchronization by updating a probability table for a frame after a probability table for a previous frame has been updated for a video decoder that uses a context adaptive decoding process.
6. A method comprising:
assigning decoding of a respective video frame to a corresponding thread for each core processor of a multi-core processor, each respective video frame being divided into macroblock rows;
resolving dependencies for each respective video frame at a macroblock row level;
providing synchronization for video decoding of each corresponding thread at the macroblock row level; where
resolving dependencies comprises during decoding limiting a predicted motion vector in advance based on a maximum motion vector of a prior row; and
where synchronization is provided by limiting a maximum lag between decoding successive frames based on frame resolution and cache size of a cache having shared access among each core processor of the multi-core processor.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein resolving dependencies comprises determining an availability of a decoded macroblock row in a reference frame.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein providing synchronization comprises performing synchronization based on the availability of the decoded macroblock row in the reference frame.
9. The method of claim 6 , wherein resolving dependencies comprises determining whether a position pointed to in a reference frame has been decoded prior to decoding a macroblock row, the position pointed to being determined by adding current row position and a maximum vertical motion vector range.
10. The method of claim 6 , wherein providing synchronization comprises updating a probability table for a frame after a probability table for a previous frame has been updated for a video decoder that uses a context adaptive decoding process.
11. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored thereon, the computer-executable program code instructions when executed by an apparatus cause the apparatus to perform:
assigning decoding of a respective video frame to a corresponding thread for each core processor of a multi-core processor, each respective video frame being divided into macroblock rows;
resolving dependencies for each respective video frame at a macroblock row level; and
providing synchronization for video decoding of each corresponding thread at the macroblock row level; where
resolving dependencies comprises during decoding limiting a predicted motion vector in advance based on a maximum motion vector of a prior row; and
where synchronization is provided by limiting a maximum lag between decoding successive frames based on frame resolution and cache size of a cache having shared access among each core processor of the multi-core processor.
12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein program code instructions cause the apparatus at least to further perform:
determining an availability of a decoded macroblock row in a reference frame.
13. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein program code instructions cause the apparatus at least to further perform:
synchronizing based on the availability of the decoded macroblock row in the reference frame.
14. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein program code instructions cause the apparatus at least to further perform:
determining whether a position pointed to in a reference frame has been decoded prior to decoding a macroblock row, the position pointed to being determined by adding current row position and a maximum vertical motion vector range.
15. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein program code instructions cause the apparatus at least to further perform:
updating a probability table for a frame after a probability table for a previous frame has been updated for a video decoder that uses a context adaptive decoding process, or limiting a maximum lag between decoding successive frames based on frame resolution and cache size of a cache having shared access among each core processor of the multi-core processor.