Method and apparatus of HEVC de-blocking filter

A method of filtering a processed video comprising:

• receiving the processed video, the processed video comprising a plurality of blocks and each block comprising a plurality of sub-blocks, a current block of the plurality of blocks comprising vertical edges and horizontal edges, the processed video further comprising a set of control parameters and reconstructed pixels corresponding to the current block;
• estimating a boundary strength index at the vertical edges and at the horizontal edges of the current block;
• loading the set of control parameters, the reconstructed pixels corresponding to the current block and partially filtered pixels corresponding to a set of adjacent sub-blocks;
• forming a processing block from the reconstructed pixels corresponding to the current block and from the partially filtered pixels corresponding to the set of adjacent sub-blocks;
• filtering edges of a set of sub-blocks in the processing block, and storing the remaining sub-blocks in the processing block in a work memory;
• and
• filtering the vertical edges and the horizontal edges of the current block based on the boundary strength index and the set of control parameters, wherein a vertical edge of the current block is filtered before filtering at least one horizontal edge of the current block.

A computing device comprising:

• a processing unit;
• a memory module coupled to the processing unit;
• a video processing unit coupled to the processing unit and the memory module, the video processing unit comprising a de-blocking filter, the de-blocking filter comprising:
• a boundary strength block configured to receive a set of control parameters associated with a processed video and configured to estimate a boundary strength index at vertical edges and at horizontal edges of a current block of a plurality of blocks, the processed video comprises the plurality of blocks and each block comprises a plurality of sub-blocks;
• a reconstructed memory coupled to the boundary strength block and configured to receive the processed video and configured to store reconstructed pixels corresponding to the current block received in the processed video;
• a de-block controller coupled to the boundary strength block and the reconstructed memory;
• a work memory coupled to the de-block controller and configured to store partially filtered pixels corresponding to a set of adjacent sub-blocks, the de-block controller configured to load the set of control parameters, the boundary strength index at the vertical edges and the horizontal edges of the current block and the reconstructed pixels corresponding to the current block in the work memory;
• and
• a de-blocking filter engine comprising a plurality of core engines, the de-blocking filter engine configured to filter the vertical edges and the horizontal edges of the current block based on the boundary strength index and the set of control parameters, wherein a vertical edge of the current block is filtered before filtering at least one horizontal edge of the current block.

A video decoder comprising:

• an entropy decoder configured to receive a coded video and configured to decode the coded video;
• an inverse quantization and inverse transform unit coupled to the entropy decoder and configured to quantize and transform the decoded video received from the entropy decoder;
• an adder coupled to the inverse quantization and inverse transform unit and configured to generate a processed video;
• an intra prediction unit coupled to the adder and configured to generate a predicted block from the processed video;
• an in-loop filter coupled to the adder and configured to generate a video output in response to the processed video received from the adder, the in-loop filter comprising a de-blocking filter and a sample adaptive offset (SAO) filter;
• a picture buffer coupled to the in-loop filter and configured to store the video output generated by the in-loop filter;
• a motion compensation unit coupled to the picture buffer and configured to perform motion compensation on the video output;
• and
• an intra/inter mode selection unit coupled to the intra prediction unit and the motion compensation unit, the intra/inter mode selection unit configured to select an output of at least one of the intra prediction unit and the motion compensation unit, wherein an output of the intra/inter mode selection unit is provided to the adder, wherein the de-blocking filter comprises:
• a boundary strength block configured to receive a set of control parameters associated with the processed video and configured to estimate a boundary strength index at vertical edges and at horizontal edges of a current block of a plurality of blocks, the processed video comprises the plurality of blocks and each block comprises a plurality of sub-blocks;
• and
• a reconstructed memory coupled to the boundary strength block and configured to receive the processed video and configured to store reconstructed pixels corresponding to the current block received in the processed video.