A simple and cost effective video encoder with memory-reducing CAVLC

In this paper, a simple and cost effective video encoder with memory efficient context adaptive variable length coder (CAVLC) is proposed for low cost multimedia applications. According to the proposed memory reduction architecture, three coding level variables (prefix, length, and codeword) can be calculated on-the-fly to eliminate seven (level-VLCN, N=0 to 6) 28×64 k bit coding table memories. We implemented the design on a Xilinx FPGA prototyping board. Its maximum working frequency is 28 MHz. And the gate count is 9171 (NAND2) in TSMC 0.35 μm technology (only the video encoder). The results show that a low-cost encoder is feasible, and the memory size of the proposed architecture is smaller than others.