ENCODING VIDEO INFORMATION USING BLOCK BASED ADAPTIVE SCAN ORDER

摘要

There is described an encoder (100; 200; 300) for encoding input video information to provide corresponding encoded output data. The encoder (100; 200; 300) comprises: (a) an input for receiving the video information comprising data corresponding to a sequence of image frames (20); (b) first processing hardware (110) for subdividing the data associated with each frame (20) into a plurality of data macro blocks (30); (c) second processing hardware (110) for transforming data of each macro block (30) into a corresponding coefficient data block recording at least spatial information present in its associated macro block (30); (d) third processing hardware (110) for scanning according to a scanning route each coefficient data block to generate a corresponding rearranged data block; and (e) a data compressor (110) for applying data compression to the rearranged data blocks to generate the encoded output data. The third processing hardware (110) is operable to select automatically the scanning route in response to a degree of asymmetry in each coefficient block to enhance data compression of the video information present in the encoded output data. Moreover, the third processing hardware is operable to utilize only a single scanning route for processing each coefficient data block to generate its corresponding rearranged data block.