Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for improved video decompression using previous frame DCT coefficients

US5809173A · kind A · utility

74Cited by
21References
36Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 18, 1995
Grant dateSep 15, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 18, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N19/60
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An video decoder system, such as for use with MPEG video compression, uses a previous B-frame as an additional prediction source for the current B-frame. In one embodiment, a given block within a current B-frame "N" reuses IDCT result terms from the previous B-frame "N-1" if they are determined to be "similar enough" to the anticipated IDCT result terms which would otherwise need to be computed. For a given block, each of the "M" lowest-frequency DCT coefficients for B-frame "N" and B-frame "N-1" are respectively compared: if they differ by less than a similarity threshold value, then the IDCT result terms from the previous B-frame "N-1" are reused without further computation. The similarity threshold may be adaptively adjusted to reduce the computational burden of video decompression, while affording a gradual degradation of picture quality, rather than wholesale skipping of entire frames.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.