A Dynamic Quality-Adjustable H.264 Video Encoder for Power-Aware Video Applications

Abstract

This paper proposes a dynamic quality-adjustable H.264 baseline profile (BP) video encoder that comprises 470 Kgates and 13.3 kB SRAM in a core size of 4.3 × 4.3 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> using TSMC 0.13 ¿m 1P8M CMOS technology. Exploiting parameterized algorithms for motion estimation and intra prediction, the proposed design can dynamically configure the encoding modes with the design trade-off between power consumption and video quality for various video encoding applications. In addition, the proposed basic unit (BU)-based rate control hardware can maintain a constant and stable bit rate for network video transmission. It achieves real-time H.264 video encoding on CIF, D1, and HD720@30 frames/s with 7 mW to 25 mW, 27 mW to 162 mW, and 122 mW to 183 mW power dissipation in different quality modes.