Arithmetic coding using hierarchical dependency context model for H.264/AVC video coding

In this paper, a hierarchical dependency context model (HDCM) is firstly proposed to exploit the statistical correlations of DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) coefficients in H.264/AVC video coding standard, in which the number of non-zero coefficients in a DCT block and the scanned position are used to capture the magnitude varying tendency of DCT coefficients. Then a new binary arithmetic coding using hierarchical dependency context model (HDCMBAC) is proposed. HDCMBAC associates HDCM with binary arithmetic coding to code the syntax elements for a DCT block, which consist of the number of non-zero coefficients, significant flag and level information. Experimental results demonstrate that HDCMBAC can achieve similar coding performance as CABAC at low and high QPs (quantization parameter). Meanwhile the context modeling and the arithmetic decoding in HDCMBAC can be carried out in parallel, since the context dependency only exists among different parts of basic syntax elements in HDCM.