A highly efficient parallel algorithm for H.264 encoder based on macro-block region partition

Abstract

This paper proposes a highly efficient MBRP parallel algorithm for H.264 encoder, which is based on the analysis of data dependencies in H.264 encoder. In the algorithm, the video frames are partitioned into several MB regions, each of which consists of several adjoining columns of macro-blocks (MB), which could be encoded by one processor of a multi-processor system. While starting up the encoding process, the wave-front technique is adopted, and the processors begin encoding process orderly. In the MBRP parallel algorithm, the quantity of data that needs to be exchanged between processors is small, and the loads in different processors are balanced. The algorithm could efficiently encode the video sequence without any influence on the compression ratio. Simulation results show that the proposed MBRP parallel algorithm can achieve higher speedups compared to previous approaches, and the encoding quality is the same as JM 10.2. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.