
ZORAN Corporation
USBvision II Data Decoder
ZR36505 Data Sheet
November-99
Page 36 of 36
Compressed Data Format
The ZR36504 compressor is designed to compress YUV 4:2:0 frames (12 bit/pixel) in a
factor between 1:3 to 1:15 (resulting in 4 to 0.8 bit/pixel). The compression algorithm is a
proprietary development of Zoran, which meets 3 important requirements that were made to
guarantee the high performance of the ZR36504:
Fits the selectable bandwidth of the USB (0.5-7.5 Mbit/sec)
Variable Compression Rate (in very small steps)
Requires minimum CPU time for Decompression (also, fits MMX
concept)
The ZR36504 compressor compresses specific frames using its Intra mode, and all the
others - using its Inter mode. The Intra mode does not require any one of the previous
frames, while the Inter mode is always based on the reconstructed previous frame. The Intra
frames provide the algorithm some robustness against error propagation between frames,
but consume more bits per pixel than the Inter frames. Error propagation within the frame
itself (from higher lines to lower lines) is eliminated by dividing the frame into many horizontal
strips.
The ZR36504 uses 6 parameters to determine how deep a compression to apply. These
parameters are expected to be dynamically modified by the software driver in order to
achieve the desired frame rate for a given USB bandwidth.
The following table specifies the registers that are used to control the Intra/Inter relationship,
and the number of lines in every strip. The table also contains the special threshold
parameters that affect the compression rate. Note that these parameters are only relevant
when using the Compressed data format:
Parameter
Register
address
INTRA_CYC[7..0]
Reg.44
INTRA_CYC
Usage
Automatic Intra cycle length. Specifies the number of
Inter frames between every two automatic Intra frames:
n = 0: Apply Intra mode on all frames
n = 1-254: Allow n Inter frames between every two
automatic Intra frames.
n = 255: Never apply Intra mode automatically
Force Intra mode on all new frames. The software
driver is supposed to set this bit temporarily to prevent
a channel error from propagating to further frames.
0: Normal operation (do not force Intra)
1: Force Intra mode
Force usage of previous video line to compress current
line. The software driver may set this bit to 1 if certain
cameras are used as the video source.
FORCE_INTRA
Reg.46
FORCE_INTRA
FORCE_UP
Reg.47
FORCE_UP