Abstract: A method and apparatus for enabling compression of a stream of pictures according to a target bit rate are described. A first configuration parameter for a first portion is determined based at least in part on a first relative weight of the first portion with respect to a first set of N portions, where the first set of N portions includes the first portion and N-1 portions which succeed the first portion. A second configuration parameter for a second portion of a second picture is determined based at least in part on a second relative weight of the second portion with respect to a second set of M portions of pictures, where the second set of M portions includes a subset of the N-1 portions from the first set and zero or more additional portions of pictures from the stream of pictures.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for enabling compression of a stream of pictures according to a target bit rate are described. A first configuration parameter for a first portion is determined based at least in part on a first relative weight of the first portion with respect to a first set of N portions, where the first set of N portions includes the first portion and N-1 portions which succeed the first portion. A second configuration parameter for a second portion of a second picture is determined based at least in part on a second relative weight of the second portion with respect to a second set of M portions of pictures, where the second set of M portions includes a subset of the N-1 portions from the first set and zero or more additional portions of pictures from the stream of pictures.

Abstract: Method and apparatus of compressing a stream of pictures in parallel in a compression device, where the compression device includes at least a first and a second component, are described. A first portion of a first picture of a stream of pictures is processed in the first component of the compression device, while a second portion of a second picture of the stream of pictures is simultaneously processed in the second component of the compression device according to partial compression statistics associated with the second picture, where the partial compression statistics result from the processing of the second picture in the compression device when compression of the second picture is not yet completed.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for enabling low latency compression of a stream of pictures are described. A first set of static regions of a current picture from the plurality of pictures is determined, where each region from the first set is static. A second set of regions of the current picture is determined, where the second set includes all regions of the current picture that are not included in the first set. Compression of the first set of regions is performed based on values of a first quantization parameter determined by a MAQ mechanism. The MAQ mechanism is operative to dynamically increase the compression quality of static regions. Compression of the second set of regions is performed based on values of a second quantization parameter determined by a rate control mechanism. The rate control mechanism is operative to compress the data stream according to a target bit rate.

Abstract: Method and apparatus of compressing a stream of pictures in parallel in a compression device, where the compression device includes at least a first and a second component, are described. A first portion of a first picture of a stream of pictures is processed in the first component of the compression device, while a second portion of a second picture of the stream of pictures is simultaneously processed in the second component of the compression device according to partial compression statistics associated with the second picture, where the partial compression statistics result from the processing of the second picture in the compression device when compression of the second picture is not yet completed.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for compressing a data stream comprising a plurality of pictures are described. A first quantization parameter (QP) from a plurality of QPs is determined, for a static region in a current picture. The plurality of QPs change in accordance with a multi-step change from a start QP to a target QP and each one of the plurality of QPs is to be applied to a respective one from successive static regions in successive pictures. In response to determining that the static region is to be compressed based upon an inter prediction mode, compression of the static region is caused based upon the first QP; and in response to determining that the static region is to be compressed based upon an intra prediction mode, compression of the static region is caused based upon a minimum QP.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for compressing a data stream comprising a plurality of pictures are described. A first quantization parameter (QP) from a plurality of QPs is determined, for a static region in a current picture. The plurality of QPs change in accordance with a multi-step change from a start QP to a target QP and each one of the plurality of QPs is to be applied to a respective one from successive static regions in successive pictures. In response to determining, based upon statistics on static region(s) in the current picture which are associated with the first QP, that the first QP is selected, compression of the static region is caused based upon the first QP, and in response to determining that the first QP is not selected, compression of the static region is caused based upon a second QP that is greater than the first QP.

Abstract: Method and system for playing back ancillary data associated with a video stream. At playback, a video stream and an audio stream containing encoded non-audio ancillary data associated with the video stream are received. The audio stream is decoded on a basis of a predefined decoding scheme in order to extract therefrom the non-audio ancillary data associated with the video stream. The video stream and its associated non-audio ancillary data are then both output for playback. This method of playback enables a non-linear editing application that supports only video and audio data to receive, preserve, display to a user for editing purposes, and transmit unsupported non-audio ancillary data, since the latter is in the form of an audio stream.

Abstract: A method and system for displaying graphics on a display of a second module remotely connected with a first module via a data communications medium. A first controller interfaces between a first graphics processor and the first module. A second controller interfaces between a second graphics processor and the first module via the data communications medium and the first controller. The first controller duplicates data returned to the first graphics processor by the first module in response to data requests, and transmits the duplicated data to the second controller. The second controller intercepts data requests by the second graphics processor to the first module, correlates the intercepted requests with the duplicated data received from the first controller and transmits the duplicated data to the second graphics processor based on this correlation. The second graphics processor uses the received duplicated data to generate graphics for display at the second module.

Abstract: A system and method for cryptographically securing a graphics system connectable via an external bus to a computing system, the graphics system including a graphics processor, a video memory and a memory controller for controlling the flow of data to and from the video memory. The graphics system further includes a copy engine for copying data between a system memory of the computing system and the video memory, where this copy engine acts independently of the graphics processor of the graphics system. The present invention enables the copy engine of the graphics system to decrypt encrypted data in the course of copying data from the system memory to the video memory and to encrypt unencrypted data in the course of copying data from the video memory to the system memory. Thus, cryptographic protection of secure content may be assured by the graphics system without the excessive usage of its primary resources for this non-graphical purpose.

Abstract: There is described herein motion-based adaptive quantization for compressing video streams. Motionless portions of pictures are detected and the compression quality of these portions is increased while the compression quality of non-motionless portions is decreased. The QP of a portion of image data, such as a macroblock, is modified for successive motionless portions from a start QP to a target QP in accordance with a multi-step change.

Abstract: There is described herein a system and method for processing data streams in a codec having multiple modules, whereby each module may process macroblocks using its own designated processing order. The processing order of a first module may differ from the processing order of a second module.

Abstract: There is described an image compressing/decompressing method and device that provides the lossless data compression/decompression scheme in two separate modules. Partially entropy encoded/decoded data is written to memory by a first module after a first part of the process and retrieved by a second module to perform the second part of the lossless compression/decompression scheme.

Abstract: A method of memory management using a page table is provided where the method supports memory pages having a plurality of page sizes including a first page size and a second page size, where the second page size is a multiple (N) of the first page size. If the page table does not include an entry for a memory page of the first page size, the method includes reducing a size of the page table by eliminating at least one of a plurality of sections of the page table.

Abstract: There is described herein a method and system for dynamically controlling the bit rate of a codec during image data compression by analyzing information output by a first module that processes the group of macroblocks as part of the compression scheme, and configuring a second module to process the group of macroblocks according to this analysis.

Abstract: There is described a method and circuit for independently processing a plurality of regions of an image to be displayed on a display device. The circuit comprises a plurality of transformation modules; a multiplexer having a plurality of inputs and an output for selectively transmitting one of the output values from one of the plurality of transformation modules, and a selector line; and a selection module operatively connected to the selector line of the multiplexer and configured to determine a position of the pixel in the image and identify a transformation module corresponding to a region with a highest priority level for a pixel position, and cause the multiplexer to output the output value from the identified transformation module as the post-transformation pixel for display on the display device.

Abstract: There is described an image compressing/decompressing method and device that provides the lossless data compression/decompression scheme in two separate modules. Partially entropy encoded/decoded data is written to memory by a first module after a first part of the process and retrieved by a second module to perform the second part of the lossless compression/decompression scheme.

Abstract: A system and method for cryptographically securing a graphics system connectable via an external bus to a computing system, the graphics system including a graphics processor, a video memory and a memory controller for controlling the flow of data to and from the video memory. The graphics system further includes a copy engine for copying data between a system memory of the computing system and the video memory, where this copy engine acts independently of the graphics processor of the graphics system. The present invention enables the copy engine of the graphics system to decrypt encrypted data in the course of copying data from the system memory to the video memory and to encrypt unencrypted data in the course of copying data from the video memory to the system memory. Thus, cryptographic protection of secure content may be assured by the graphics system without the excessive usage of its primary resources for this non-graphical purpose.

Abstract: A pixel shader program for execution by a processing unit in a graphics processing module is designed to execute a color space processing function on individual pixels of a video image. The color space processing function is broken down into series of steps, each of which is amenable to representation by an individual instruction taken from an instruction set. The instructions cause the processor to load pixel color data into first memory elements, to read the first memory elements as well as second memory elements containing pre-loaded parameters representative of the color space processing function and to generate a processed set of color data for each pixel by manipulating the first and second memory elements. In this way, color space processing functionality, such as color space conversion and procamp controls, is provided without the need for specialized hardware and without encroaching upon the computational efficiency of the host CPU.

Abstract: A method and system for displaying graphics on a display of a second module remotely connected with a first module via a data communications medium. A first controller for the first module and a second controller for the second module are connected to first and second graphics processors, respectively, both graphics processors being operative to request data from the first module when ready to process data. The first controller interfaces between the first graphics processor and the first module. The second controller interfaces between the second graphics processor and the first module via the data communications medium and the first controller. The first controller duplicates data returned to the first graphics processor by the first module in response to data requests, and transmits the duplicated data to the second controller via the data communications medium.