MPEG-4 Coprocessor Mates With RISC Core

Sept. 17, 2001

Multimedia coprocessors are in demand, but designing one is no easy task. ARM processor core users now have an alternative with ARM's MOVE multimedia coprocessor architecture, which can be married with an ARM processor core. This...

William G. Wong

This coprocessor can handle audio and video codec chores like MPEG-4 while offloading the main processor (see the figure). Typical applications in-clude interactive digital TV, video gaming, and mobile multimedia like streaming audio and video. The MOVE co-processor architecture interface is accessed through an application programming interface (API) developed by ARM.

Decode services include bitstream unpacking, Huffman decoding, dequantization, ac-dc prediction, µMotion compensation, IDCT, de-blocking, deringing, and color conversion. Encode operations include color conversion, motion estimation using software algorithms or the co-processor, DCT, quantization, Huffman encoding, and bitstream packing. Voice codec support includes G711 A-Law codec, G.726 advanced differential pulse-code modulation (ADPCM), and G.726-compliant ADPCM audio codecs, in addition to MPEG-4 support. IP and software are now available. Go to www.arm.com.

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William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

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