Bernd Schmale

The MPEG-4 video coding standard-a VLSI point of view

The paper presents an overview of the current status of the emerging MPEG-4 video coding standard and a discussion of the potential and problems for a practical implementation. Though the high flexibility of the standard suggests a software implementation on microprocessors or DSP, a complexity analysis of the standard proved, that the required processing power for a real time codec implementation quickly reaches the limits even of future high-performance microprocessors. But even with its high number of different algorithms, the standard leaves enough design space for a successful implementation as an optimised, but flexible low-cost, low-power solution. By identifying common arithmetic and transfer properties of the algorithms involved, a partitioning into a stream, video, and composition processor is proposed. Each of the units is programmable, but dedicated to the typical requirements of each algorithm class.

Applying and implementing the MPEG-4 multimedia standard

MPEG-4s many algorithms and high-performance requirements pose a challenge for designers of a new generation of flexible, low-power coder/decoder VLSI implementations for mobile and portable applications. In addition to introducing MPEG4, this article looks at how the standard will enhance existing applications and enable new ones, and then discusses the ongoing effort to design an optimized MPEG-4 processor platform.

The MPEG-4 Multimedia Coding Standard: Algorithms, Architectures and Applications

The upcoming MPEG-4 standard provides new possibilities for the compression and presentation of multimedia contents. The main characteristics of MPEG-4 are the object-based coding and representation of an audio-visual scene and the ability to code objects of natural or synthetic origin. These features will enhance existing applications with new functionalities and enable standardised solutions for new applications. This paper provides an overview of the three major parts Systems, Visual and Audio of the new MPEG-4 standard, highlights implementation aspects for some envisaged types of MPEG-4 terminals and describes possible future multimedia application scenarios using MPEG-4 functionalities.