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Block Structures and Parallelism Features in HEVC

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High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC)

Part of the book series: Integrated Circuits and Systems ((ICIR))

Abstract

In block-based hybrid video coding, each picture is partitioned into blocks of samples and multiple blocks within a picture are aggregated to form slices as independently decodable entities. While adhering to this basic principle, the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard provides a number of innovative features both with respect to sample aggregating block partitioning and block aggregating picture partitioning. This chapter first describes the quadtree-based block partitioning concept of HEVC for improved prediction and transform coding, including its integral parts of coding tree blocks (CTBs), coding blocks (CBs), prediction blocks (PBs), and transform blocks (TBs). Additionally, the coding efficiency improvements for different configurations of HEVC with respect to the choice of different tree depths and block sizes for both prediction and transform are evaluated. As one outcome of this experimental evaluation, it was observed that more than half of the average bit-rate savings of HEVC relative to its predecessor H.264 ;| MPEG-4 AVC can be attributed to its increased flexibility of block partitioning for prediction and transform coding. The second part of this chapter focuses on improved picture partitioning concepts for packetization and parallel processing purposes in HEVC. This includes the discussion of novel tools for supporting high-level parallelism, such as tiles and wavefront parallel processing (WPP). Furthermore, the new concept for fragmenting slices into dependent slice segments for both parallel bitstream access and ultra-low delay processing is presented along with a summarizing discussion of the pros and cons of both WPP and tiles.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The standards specify an example decoding process. A decoder implementation is conforming to a standard if it produces the same output pictures as the specified decoding process. For older standards such as MPEG-2 Video, an accuracy requirement for the inverse transform is specified.

  2. 2.

    The profiles defined in version 1 of the HEVC standard [18] only support video in the 4:2:0 chroma sampling format; monochrome video is not supported in these profiles.

  3. 3.

    Here and in the following, the CTU size always refers to the corresponding luma CTB size.

  4. 4.

    H.264 ;| MPEG-4 AVC additionally supports a so-called PCM mode, in which the macroblock samples are directly written into the bitstream.

  5. 5.

    Videos with picture sizes that do not represent an integer multiple of the minimum CU size can be coded by extending the picture area using arbitrary sample values and specifying a conformance cropping window in the sequence parameter set.

  6. 6.

    The employed approach for calculating an average bit-rate saving between two rate-distortion curves represents a generalization, that is also applicable to experimental data with more than four rate-distortion points, of the often used Bjøntegaard Delta bit rate (BD-rate) [3].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer HHI, Einsteinufer 37, Berlin, Germany

    Heiko Schwarz, Thomas Schierl & Detlev Marpe

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  1. Heiko Schwarz
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  2. Thomas Schierl
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  3. Detlev Marpe
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Correspondence to Heiko Schwarz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Vivienne Sze

  2. Plano, Texas, USA

    Madhukar Budagavi

  3. Bellevue, Washington, USA

    Gary J. Sullivan

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Schwarz, H., Schierl, T., Marpe, D. (2014). Block Structures and Parallelism Features in HEVC. In: Sze, V., Budagavi, M., Sullivan, G. (eds) High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). Integrated Circuits and Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06895-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06895-4_3

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-06895-4

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