DESIGN OF A LOW-POWER VIDEO DECOMPRESSION CHIP SET FOR PORTABLE APPLICATIONS

This paper describes the design process of a chip set which performs r eal-time video decompression for wireless portable applications and co ncentrates on four critical aspects of the design: compression algorit hm development, control complexity, programmability, and throughput. F or each of these design areas, this paper evaluates the design trade-o ffs between low power, compression efficiency, and throughput, which a re the three main requirements for wireless portable video. The chip s et consists of a subband reconstruction chip and a pyramid vector quan tization (PVQ) decoder chip and requires no external memory support or frame buffer. For portable applications with a resolution of 176 pixe ls wide, 240 lines, and 30 frames per second color video, the chip set , operating at a 1.35 V supply, dissipates less than 9 mW.