Multimedia applications and embedded platforms are both becoming very complex in order to improve user experience. Thus, multimedia developers need high-level methods to automate time-consuming and error-prone tasks. Dynamic dataflow modeling is attractive to describe complex applications, such as video codecs, at a high level of abstraction. This paper presents a dataflow-based design approach to implement video codecs on embedded multi-core platforms. First, we introduce a custom architecture model to design lowpower multi-core chips based on distributed memory and Transport-Triggered Architecture processor cores. Then, we describe software synthesis techniques to improve dynamic dataflow implementations. This methodology has been implemented into open-source tools and demonstrated on video decoders based on the MPEG-4 Visual standard and the new High Efficiency Video Coding standard. The simulations achieve real-time decoding (40FPS) of high definition (720P) MPEG-4 Visual video sequences on a custom multi-core platformWe would like to thank the organizations which have partially funded this work such as the Center for International Mobility (CIMO) and the Academy of Finland (funding decision 253087). We would also give special thanks to the Orcc and TCE communities as a whole for actively participating in the development of the tools which offers solid basements to this work. clocked at 1Ghz, which is an improvement of more than 100% over previously proposed implementations.

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This paper introduces advanced software synthesis techniques that enhance the implementation of dynamic dataflow programs. These techniques have been implemented into opensource tools and demonstrated on well-known video decoders including one based on the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. The results show an improvement of more than 100% of the frame-rate over previously proposed implementations, and achieve real-time decoding of high definition video sequences.

In this paper, we present Orcc 1 , an open-source development environment that aims at enhancing multimedia development by offering all the advantages of dataflow programming: flexibility, portability and scalability. To do so, Orcc embeds two rich eclipse-based editors that provide an easy writing of dataflow applications, a simulator that allows quick validation of the written code, and a multi-target compiler that is able to translate any dataflow program, written in the RVC-CAL language, into an equivalent description in both hardware and software languages. Orcc has already been used to successfully write tens of multimedia applications, such as a video decoder supporting the new High Efficiency Video Coding standard, that clearly demonstrates the ability of the environment to develop complex applications. Moreover, results show scalable performances on multi-core platforms and achieve real-time decoding frame-rate on HD sequences.