Description

This project features a complete JPEG Hardware Compressor (standard Baseline DCT, JFIF header) with 2:1:1 subsampling, able to compress at a rate of up to 24 images per second (on XC2V1000-4 @ 40 MHz with resolution 352x288).

Image resolution is not limited. It takes an RGB input (row-wise) and outputs to a memory the compressed JPEG image. Its quality is comparable to software solutions.

A testbench has been made that takes a bitmap image from your computer and writes a compressed JPEG file by simulating the code. Download the code and try it, it's easy.

The source code is VHDL and it is LGPL, so it can be used in commercial applications as long as the terms of the license are respected.

Anyone interested in the image standards used in this project, they can be downloaded from the following places:

JPEG (ITU-T81 standard): http://www.w3.org/Graphics/JPEG/itu-t81.pdf
JFIF (JPEG file headers): http://www.w3.org/Graphics/JPEG/jfif3.pdf
BMP (bitmaps for the testbench): http://netghost.narod.ru/gff/vendspec/micbmp/bmp.txt

Features

• JPEG (ISO standard compliant and ITU-T81 compliant)
• Baseline DCT
• Huffman Encoding
• JFIF Header
• Three quantization (compression) levels

• Hardware resources (included in source)
• Xilinx Coregen DCT core (2D Forward DCT)
• SP BlockRAM memories (11, not counting memory for final compressed image)
• Total LUTs: 3969 (38% of XC2V1000-4)
• Clock Freq: 41.2 MHz for XC2V1000-4

Status

• 13/Jul/2007 : Project posted at Sourceforge.net
• 14/Mar/2005 : New directory structure for source files. Updated source code thanks to Peter Eisemann to include fixes to allow correct simulation under ModelSim. (Functionality has not changed).
• 03/Jan/2005 : Project posted at Opencores.org

JPEG Hardware Compressor: Detailed Description

Notes

Some quick notes until the time I upload the full documentation:

• This implementation is compliant with ISO standard (and ITU standard T-81), it features a compliant JPEG compressor Baseline DCT with Huffman encoding and 2x2 1x1 1x1 subsampling. The header is the widely employed JFIF. Baseline DCT JPEG with JFIF header is one of the most used image formats.
• Included with the source code is a Testbench which allows you to compress a bitmap (uncompressed 24 bit BMP) file located in the project folder (if using Active-HDL then in the design folder) just by simulating it. Its name MUST be "image.bmp". By the way, remember that a bitmap image stores the information bottom up, and JPEG is top-bottom, so you should flip (invert) the bitmap image (see the test image if you don't understand what I mean). This is only important for simulation.
• The testbench is made in such a way that it will automatically exit the simulation when it finishes. A 352x288 image takes almost 40 ms of simulation time (that will take some minutes depending on your machine). The output image will be in the same folder as "image.bmp" and its name will be "image.jpg" (it will overwrite previous outputs without warning).
• It has been simulated on Windows machines, so I can't guarantee anything on simulation over Linux though I don't think there could be any problem at all. Please update me on this.
• It has been synthesized and tested in a Xilinx Virtex-2 XC2V1000-4 running at 40 MHz (that is why it takes 40 ms, the testbench simulates a 40 MHz clock). This is one of the worst speed grades (-4), so with most other FPGAs you will get faster implementations.
• It uses at minimum 11 BlockRAMs (one of them for the DCT block), but you will need some more to store the final compressed image (whose size varies as compression depends on the image as well as in the compression level), the source code in the Downloads page includes a memory for this purpose of 51.200 bytes (buffer_img), that is 25 BlockRAMs.
• There is an easily overridable limitation on input image resolution, for a description on how to change the maximum input image size see the Notes at the beginning of the main source file "compressor.vhd".
• The only real limitation is that the input image must have width and height multiple of 16 (that is, an image 32x32 will produce a strictly compliant JPEG image file, but not a 32x24 or a 24x32 input image, although the resulting image will more likely still be viewable), this is due to the subsampling method employed. This limitation could be overriden with some extra logic (for padding as indicated in the JPEG standard).

• Finally I would like to apologize if you find this code somewhat messy. When I programmed it, I imposed myself very strict deadlines and making it opensource was not in my mind, mainly because, if I were to do it again, I would do it in other way to get much more performance. The main problem faced with this implementation was a very scarce availability of BlockRAM in the target FPGA, so some areas that could perfectly run in parallel, speeding a lot the whole process, had to be made sequential in order to save up BlockRAMs. Anyways, this code works (it functioned as a webcam, attached to a CMOS sensor) and, though not as fast as it could be, it has a good performance. This source code is LGPL. Any questions, suggestions, comments (positive criticism) is always welcome.

Functional Description

The source code is composed of 9 VHDL files:

• compressor_tb.vhd : Testbench file for the project. It reads an uncompressed BMP located in the project folder (not necessarily the source code folder) and outputs a JPG compressed image (the actual writing of the output file is carried out by the next file).

• compressor.vhd : This is the main code file. Inside, there are a few concurrent instructions, declarations of the needed componentes (BlockRAMs and DCT block) and two processes which are responsible of the whole compression process. To better follow the next explanation consult the figure located after this explanation. The first process is RGB2YCbCr is in charge of converting the input signals (Red, Green and Blue, strobed by ProcessRGB signal) to the YCbCr color space and to apply a level shift as specified by the JPEG standard. The second is the process JPEG, it feeds the DCT block (DCT-2D Core in the figure) with data from the previous process (the interface between the two processes are three memories (Y, Cb and Cr Compression Buffers in the figure), one for luminance (Y) data, one for blue chrominance (Cb) and another for red chrominance (Cr)); after the DCT has processed the data (calculated the Forward 2D-DCT) it is quantized with the values stored in memory q_rom (Q ROM in the figure). As this quantization implies dividing by an integer number (remember that only divisions by power of 2 numbers and multiplications times an integer can be made really efficient in digital logic thru the use of shifts, right for division, left for multiplication), the solution was to convert the number to divide into a fraction with denominator 16384 for all the quantization values (128 for every compression level and there are three of these) so that we can multiply times an integer (left shift and some additions) and divide by a power of 2 number (right shift). For instance: to divide by 11 is the same as multiplying times 1/11, which is almost the same as multiplying times 1489/16384, which is actually equal to dividing by 11.003357. Using this apparently complicated way of handling real number operations we get the fastest implementation and no floating point, only a minimal error (you would never notice the visual difference). After quantization of all the values, Huffman encoding starts by looking up the tables stored in huff_rom (Huffman ROM in the figure) and storing in the final image buffer the compressed image (should be buffer_img but in the figure is left as a blue upwards pointing arrow). By the way, at the beginning, when a compression level is selected and the port CompressImage signals the start of a new image, the header in buffer_img (yes, there are some hundred bytes pre-stored with the fixed fields in the header) is updated with image dimensions and with the quantization tables for the selected compression (they are read from the ROM tabla_q in the figure and copied to the appropiate location in buffer_img).

• buffer_img.vhd : CoreGen generated file with wrapper for the 25 SP BlockRAMs, Read/Write, WidthxDepth = 8 bits x 51200, where final image is stored.

• buffer_comp.vhd : CoreGen generated file with wrapper for 5 SP BlockRAMs, Read/Write, WidthxDepth = 12 bits x 5632. Y pixels (8 bits) stored here and also, after transformation by DCT, their quantized counterparts (12 bits) are stored over them.

• buffer_comp_chrom.vhd : CoreGen generated file with wrapper for 1 SP BlockRAM, Read/Write, WidthxDepth = 12 bits x 1408. This component is instantiated twice, one for Cb pixels, and other for Cr pixels. Cx pixels (8 bits) stored here and also, after transformation by DCT, their quantized counterparts (12 bits) are stored over them.

• huff_rom.vhd : CoreGen generated file with wrapper for 1 SP BlockRAM, Read Only, WidthxDepth = 20 bits x 352. Huffman Code Tables stored here.

• q_rom.vhd : CoreGen generated file with wrapper for 1 SP BlockRAM, Read Only, WidthxDepth = 13 bits x 384. Quantization Numerators stored here for multiplication and later division by 16384 as explained above. Three compression levels, two tables for each one (AC and DC), 64 elements in each one : 3x2x64=384.

• tabla_q.vhd : CoreGen generated file with wrapper for 1 SP BlockRAM, Read Only, WidthxDepth = 8 bits x 384. Quantization Tables stored here for updating of the final JPEG file header. Three compression levels, two tables for each one (AC and DC), 64 elements in each one : 3x2x64=384.

• dct2d.vhd : CoreGen generated file with wrapper for 2-D Discrete Cosine Transform (Forward DCT), Data Width = 8 bits Signed, Coefficients Width = 24 (Enable Symmetry), Precision Control: Round, Internal Width: 19, Result Width: 19, Performance: Clock Cycles per input=9, Transpose Memory = Block, Reset: No. (Results: Latency = 95 cycles, Row Latency = 15 cycles, Column Latency = 15 cycles). Takes as input sixty-four 8 bits signed values and outputs sixty-four 19 bits signed numbers in the frequency domain (the LSBs are decimals).

JPEG HW Compressor Block Diagram

Output Images

Here are some examples of compressed images outputted by the Compressor.
The compressor has in ROM three different quantization tables which allow it to output images with three different compression/quality levels.

Input image (297 KB uncompressed)

Output Image (39.7 KB Low Compression Q15)

Output Image (19.6 KB Medium Compression Q31=ITU Standard Compression)

Output Image (10.0 KB High Compression Q50)

Comparisons

Here we have two comparisons:

• First, a compressed image without subsampling and one with the subsampling used by the HW JPEG Compressor (2:1:1). The visual difference is not noticeable, but size reduction is.
• Second, an image compressed with the same quantization tables (Q15) first by the commercial software Paint Shop Pro 8 and then by this HW JPEG Compressor. There exists a minimum difference in chroma treatment (notice it around the smaller balloons). This project follows the recommendation of the standard when subsampling (average pixels). It could be due to an enhanced subsampling method, I am open to suggestions...

Without subsampling (20.8 KB, as many chroma pixels as luminance pixels)

2:1:1 Subsampling (16.8 KB, for every 4 luminance pixels, only one for red chroma and one for blue chroma)

JPEG Image Outputted by PSP8 (38.2 KB, Q15)

JPEG Image Outputted by JPEG HW Compressor (38.4 KB, Q15)