=============================================
Snow Video Codec Specification Draft 20080110
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Introduction:
=============
This specification describes the Snow bitstream syntax and semantics as
well as the formal Snow decoding process.
The decoding process is described precisely and any compliant decoder
MUST produce the exact same output for a spec-conformant Snow stream.
For encoding, though, any process which generates a stream compliant to
the syntactical and semantic requirements and which is decodable by
the process described in this spec shall be considered a conformant
Snow encoder.
Definitions:
============
MUST the specific part must be done to conform to this standard
SHOULD it is recommended to be done that way, but not strictly required
ilog2(x) is the rounded down logarithm of x with basis 2
ilog2(0) = 0
Type definitions:
=================
b 1-bit range coded
u unsigned scalar value range coded
s signed scalar value range coded
Bitstream syntax:
=================
frame:
header
prediction
residual
header:
keyframe b MID_STATE
if(keyframe || always_reset)
reset_contexts
if(keyframe){
version u header_state
always_reset b header_state
temporal_decomposition_type u header_state
temporal_decomposition_count u header_state
spatial_decomposition_count u header_state
colorspace_type u header_state
chroma_h_shift u header_state
chroma_v_shift u header_state
spatial_scalability b header_state
max_ref_frames-1 u header_state
qlogs
}
if(!keyframe){
update_mc b header_state
if(update_mc){
for(plane=0; plane<2; plane++){
diag_mc b header_state
htaps/2-1 u header_state
for(i= p->htaps/2; i; i--)
|hcoeff[i]| u header_state
}
}
update_qlogs b header_state
if(update_qlogs){
spatial_decomposition_count u header_state
qlogs
}
}
spatial_decomposition_type s header_state
qlog s header_state
mv_scale s header_state
qbias s header_state
block_max_depth s header_state
qlogs:
for(plane=0; plane<2; plane++){
quant_table[plane][0][0] s header_state
for(level=0; level < spatial_decomposition_count; level++){
quant_table[plane][level][1]s header_state
quant_table[plane][level][3]s header_state
}
}
reset_contexts
*_state[*]= MID_STATE
prediction:
for(y=0; y<block_count_vertical; y++)
for(x=0; x<block_count_horizontal; x++)
block(0)
block(level):
mvx_diff=mvy_diff=y_diff=cb_diff=cr_diff=0
if(keyframe){
intra=1
}else{
if(level!=max_block_depth){
s_context= 2*left->level + 2*top->level + topleft->level + topright->level
leaf b block_state[4 + s_context]
}
if(level==max_block_depth || leaf){
intra b block_state[1 + left->intra + top->intra]
if(intra){
y_diff s block_state[32]
cb_diff s block_state[64]
cr_diff s block_state[96]
}else{
ref_context= ilog2(2*left->ref) + ilog2(2*top->ref)
if(ref_frames > 1)
ref u block_state[128 + 1024 + 32*ref_context]
mx_context= ilog2(2*abs(left->mx - top->mx))
my_context= ilog2(2*abs(left->my - top->my))
mvx_diff s block_state[128 + 32*(mx_context + 16*!!ref)]
mvy_diff s block_state[128 + 32*(my_context + 16*!!ref)]
}
}else{
block(level+1)
block(level+1)
block(level+1)
block(level+1)
}
}
residual:
residual2(luma)
residual2(chroma_cr)
residual2(chroma_cb)
residual2:
for(level=0; level<spatial_decomposition_count; level++){
if(level==0)
subband(LL, 0)
subband(HL, level)
subband(LH, level)
subband(HH, level)
}
subband:
FIXME
Tag description:
----------------
version
0
this MUST NOT change within a bitstream
always_reset
if 1 then the range coder contexts will be reset after each frame
temporal_decomposition_type
0
temporal_decomposition_count
0
spatial_decomposition_count
FIXME
colorspace_type
0
this MUST NOT change within a bitstream
chroma_h_shift
log2(luma.width / chroma.width)
this MUST NOT change within a bitstream
chroma_v_shift
log2(luma.height / chroma.height)
this MUST NOT change within a bitstream
spatial_scalability
0
max_ref_frames
maximum number of reference frames
this MUST NOT change within a bitstream
update_mc
indicates that motion compensation filter parameters are stored in the
header
diag_mc
flag to enable faster diagonal interpolation
this SHOULD be 1 unless it turns out to be covered by a valid patent
htaps
number of half pel interpolation filter taps, MUST be even, >0 and <10
hcoeff
half pel interpolation filter coefficients, hcoeff[0] are the 2 middle
coefficients [1] are the next outer ones and so on, resulting in a filter
like: ...eff[2], hcoeff[1], hcoeff[0], hcoeff[0], hcoeff[1], hcoeff[2] ...
the sign of the coefficients is not explicitly stored but alternates
after each coeff and coeff[0] is positive, so ...,+,-,+,-,+,+,-,+,-,+,...
hcoeff[0] is not explicitly stored but found by subtracting the sum
of all stored coefficients with signs from 32
hcoeff[0]= 32 - hcoeff[1] - hcoeff[2] - ...
a good choice for hcoeff and htaps is
htaps= 6
hcoeff={40,-10,2}
an alternative which requires more computations at both encoder and
decoder side and may or may not be better is
htaps= 8
hcoeff={42,-14,6,-2}
ref_frames
minimum of the number of available reference frames and max_ref_frames
for example the first frame after a key frame always has ref_frames=1
spatial_decomposition_type
wavelet type
0 is a 9/7 symmetric compact integer wavelet
1 is a 5/3 symmetric compact integer wavelet
others are reserved
stored as delta from last, last is reset to 0 if always_reset || keyframe
qlog
quality (logarthmic quantizer scale)
stored as delta from last, last is reset to 0 if always_reset || keyframe
mv_scale
stored as delta from last, last is reset to 0 if always_reset || keyframe
FIXME check that everything works fine if this changes between frames
qbias
dequantization bias
stored as delta from last, last is reset to 0 if always_reset || keyframe
block_max_depth
maximum depth of the block tree
stored as delta from last, last is reset to 0 if always_reset || keyframe
quant_table
quantiztation table
Highlevel bitstream structure:
=============================
--------------------------------------------
| Header |
--------------------------------------------
| ------------------------------------ |
| | Block0 | |
| | split? | |
| | yes no | |
| | ......... intra? | |
| | : Block01 : yes no | |
| | : Bl