High Throughput Coding of Video Signals

As the resolution of monitors and TVs continue to increase, the available bandwidth between host system and monitor becomes more and more a bottleneck. The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) is currently developing standards for screen resolutions beyond 4K and, facing the problem of not having enough bandwidth available on traditional copper wires, contacted the JPEG to develop a low complexity, high-throughput still image coder for lossy transmission of video signals. This article describes two approaches to address this predicament, a simple SPIHT based coded and a Hadamard based embedded codec requiring only minimal buffering at encoder and decoder side, and avoiding any pixel-based feedback loops limiting the operating frequency of hardware implementations. Analyzing the details of both implementations reveals an interesting connection between run-length coding, as found in the progressive mode of traditional JPEG coding, and SPIHT/EZW coding - a technique popular in wavelet based compression techniques.