Bitstream parsing processor with emulation prevention bytes removal for H.264/AVC decoder

In this paper, we present a bitstream parsing processor including emulation prevention bytes (EPB) removal for H.264/AVC decoder. The proposed bitstream parsing processor includes several specific instructions for bitstream parsing. Furthermore, it employs double bitstream buffers to remove EPBs for sequential bitstream parsing. Experimental results show that the proposed bitstream parsing processor achieves a cycle reduction of 18%, compared with conventional EPB removing methods. In addition, the proposed method reduces the buffer size by a large amount to preserve a network abstraction layer (NAL) unit for the removal of EPBs.