A lossless embedded compression codec engine for HD video decoding

External memory bandwidth is the most critical issue of video coding for high performance or low power concerns. To solve this issue, this paper presents a simple yet efficient lossless embedded compression engine. The engine uses adaptive differential patterns to reduce the data redundancy and encodes the residuals with simple Golomb Rice coding. For data that cannot be compressed, the engine adopts an exceptional case handling to ensure the data integrity and minimize the extra storage space. With above simple mechanism, the memory bandwidth can be saved by 56% to 66% for 1080P video size with QP at 10 and 28 respectively. The hardware design with 0.18um CMOS process can easily support 1080P@30fps video decoding with only 20K gate count at 93.3MHz.