Data storage exploration and bandwidth analysis for distributed MPEG-4 decoding

The low bit-rate profiles of the MPEG-4 standard enable video-streaming for mobile Consumer Electronics (CE) and computing devices. Prediction of the system behavior is a critical issue for the implementation of such applications on a resource-limited (e.g. mobile) platform. The high complexity of the MPEG-4 standard (e.g. the shape-texture decoding) and the resulting dynamic allocation of resources are conflicting with resource limitations. For implementation, we explore a multiprocessor architecture, because it enables an efficient mapping combined with low power consumption. In this paper, we focus on a detailed analysis of the dynamic behavior and bandwidth, using an earlier proposed linear parametrical computation model (1). The analysis reveals that the actual average bandwidth requirements are about 2.5 times lower than the worst-case estimation. As a consequence of the resulting bandwidth, an additional video stream may be decoded on the average with the same target platform, though control may be needed for worst-case situations 1 .