Flexible macroblock ordering with reduced data traffic and power consumption

A video encoder, comprising:

• an external memory which stores a current frame and a reference frame;
• and
• a processing block, comprising:
• a memory interface coupled to said external memory;
• a local memory coupled to said memory interface;
• and
• a processor, coupled to said memory interface and said local memory, which encodes said current frame in raster scan macroblock order for flexible macroblock ordering (FMO) using information from said reference frame, which converts encoded information into compressed information, and which organizes said compressed information into a plurality of slice groups according to said FMO;
• wherein said processor begins encoding a second one of said plurality of slice groups of said current frame before completing encoding of a first one of said plurality of slice groups of said current frame.

A method of encoding video, comprising:

• encoding each macroblock of a current video frame in raster scan macroblock order for flexible macroblock ordering (FMO) using information from a reference frame and providing encoded information;
• converting the encoded information into compressed information;
• and
• storing the compressed information into a plurality of slice groups according to the FMO;
• wherein said encoding each macroblock of a current video frame includes encoding a macroblock of a second one of the plurality of slice groups before encoding each macroblock of a first one of the plurality of slice groups.