Scalable computation for spatially scalable video coding using NVIDIA CUDA and multi-core CPU

The scalable video coding (SVC), an extension of H.264/MPEG4-AVC (H.264), was standardized in 2007 by Joint Video Team (JVT). SVC provides spatial, temporal and SNR scalabilities. To achieve these scalabilities, SVC uses additional coding tools and coding modes based on H.264. The coding tools used by SVC and the variety coding modes decision make the corresponding coding complexity become extremely high, so real-time realization of SVC is nearly impossible by using software and single-core CPU only. One possible solution to generate SVC streams in real-time is to parallelize the whole encoding process. Currently, multi-core CPU and GPU are two popular kinds of parallel processing architectures. Not much research has been devoted to realize the parallel SVC encoders based on the co-work of these two architectures. In this paper, a scalable computation model for spatial SVC using multi-core CPU and GPGPU through NVIDIA CUDA is proposed. On the basis of the proposed computational model, a solution to solve the challenging data transition problem (will be detailed later) of this CPU-GPU co-work architecture is then provided. Simulation results show that, through our work, significant speed up gain in spatial SVC encoding can be achieved.