A low-cost and high-throughput architecture for H.264/AVC integer transform by using four computation streams

In this paper, a four paths H.264/AVC integer transform, which employs four computation paths to achieve a high throughput rate and is implemented by a using single one-dimensional (1-D) DCT core with one transpose memory (TMEM) to reduce the area cost, is proposed. The proposed 1-D integer transform can calculate first-dimensional (1^st-D) and second-dimensional (2^nd-D) transformations simultaneously in four parallel streams. The two-dimensional (2-D) integer transform utilizes a single 1-D transform core and one TMEM. Therefore, a high throughput rate and a low area cost are achieved in the proposed 2-D transform core. To evaluate the circuit performance of the proposed integer transform, the transform core is implemented in a TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS process. The proposed transform core can achieve a high throughput rate of 1 G-pels/s with only 17.7 K gate area.