Complexity Modeling of H.264/AVC CAVLC/UVLC Entropy Decoders

A complexity model for Context-based Adaptive Variable Length Coding (CAVLC) and Universal Variable Length Coding (UVLC) in the H.264/AVC decoder is proposed. CAVLC and UVLC are used to code source data, i.e., Quantized Transformed Coefficients (QTCs), and header data, respectively. CAVLC and UVLC are important in the baseline profile of the H.264/AVC codec since this profile targets at low complexity and low cost applications so that only CAVLC and UVLC are allowed to be the entropy coding tools. This model is verified experimentally. Possible applications of this model are also described.