Reconfigurable video coding framework and decoder reconfiguration instantiation of AVS

In 2004, a new standardization activity called reconfigurable video coding (RVC) was started by MPEG with the purpose of offering a framework which provides reconfiguration capabilities for standard video coding technology. The essential idea of RVC framework is a dynamic dataflow mechanism of constructing new video codecs by a collection of video coding tools from video tool libraries. With this objective, RVC framework is not restricted to specific coding standard, but defined at coding tools level with interoperability to achieve high flexibility and reusability. Three elements are normative in RVC framework: decoder description (DID), video tool library (VTL) and abstract decoder model (ADM). With these elements, a standard or new decoder is able to be reconfigured in RVC framework. This paper presents the procedure of describing a reconfigured decoder in DD, reusing and exchanging tools from VTLs and initializing ADM in the dataflow formalism of RVC framework. A decoder configuration which can be instantiated as AVS intra decoder configuration or other new decoder configurations in RVC framework is described as an example by using coding tools from China audio video coding standard (AVS) and MPEG series. It is shown that the process mechanism offered by RVC framework is versatile and flexible to achieve high reusability and exchangeability in decoder configurations. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.