Computational RAM Implementation of Vector Quantization for Image Compression

Vector Quantization (VQ) is a powerful techreported in the literature. One class of architectures is nique for low-bit rate image and video compression. However, VQ is a computational intensive technique. In this paper, a Computational RAM (C*RAM) implementation of VQ for real-time image compression is presented. The C*RAM architecture enables parallel search in the direction of codewords. The C*RAM implementation uses a simple multiplication-free distortion measure, and also has a possibility of early exit condition resulting in significant reductions in complexity. In addition, the proposed achitecture can be externally programmed in contrast to other dedicated hardware implementations. High-level functional simulations show that the C*RAM architecture can implement VQ in real-time for image compression.