A video-codec chip set for multimedia applications

The multimedia, video-codec chip set described in this paper represents the first generation in a family of devices that will make possible reliable, cost-effective storage and transmission of multimedia data, including video. AT&T's multimedia video-codec complies with international video standards. It supports still-image and audio compression over a wide range of quality and bit rates; multiplexing of audio, video, and data; and protocol control for a variety of telecommunications options. The codec consists of three chips — a video encoder, a video decoder, and a systems controller — plus one or two digital-signal processors and a modest amount of industry-standard, dynamic random-access memory. In this paper, we examine the potential market for such a device and the performance and capability requirements. We also describe the overall multimedia-codec architecture and review the video-signal-processing operations for standards-compliant video compression. Finally, we describe the architecture of the encoder, decoder, and systems controller.