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+/*!\page decoder_guide AV1 DECODER GUIDE
+
+ Describe AV1 decoding techniques here.
+
+ \cond
+ \if av1_md_support
+ [AV1 Algorithm Description](\ref LALGORITHMDESCRIPTION)
+ \endif
+ \endcond
+
+*/
diff --git a/third_party/aom/doc/dev_guide/av1_encoder.dox b/third_party/aom/doc/dev_guide/av1_encoder.dox
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+/*!\page encoder_guide AV1 ENCODER GUIDE
+
+\tableofcontents
+
+\section architecture_introduction Introduction
+
+This document provides an architectural overview of the libaom AV1 encoder.
+
+It is intended as a high level starting point for anyone wishing to contribute
+to the project, that will help them to more quickly understand the structure
+of the encoder and find their way around the codebase.
+
+It stands above and will where necessary link to more detailed function
+level documents.
+
+\subsection architecture_gencodecs Generic Block Transform Based Codecs
+
+Most modern video encoders including VP8, H.264, VP9, HEVC and AV1
+(in increasing order of complexity) share a common basic paradigm. This
+comprises separating a stream of raw video frames into a series of discrete
+blocks (of one or more sizes), then computing a prediction signal and a
+quantized, transform coded, residual error signal. The prediction and residual
+error signal, along with any side information needed by the decoder, are then
+entropy coded and packed to form the encoded bitstream. See Figure 1: below,
+where the blue blocks are, to all intents and purposes, the lossless parts of
+the encoder and the red block is the lossy part.
+
+This is of course a gross oversimplification, even in regard to the simplest
+of the above codecs. For example, all of them allow for block based
+prediction at multiple different scales (i.e. different block sizes) and may
+use previously coded pixels in the current frame for prediction or pixels from
+one or more previously encoded frames. Further, they may support multiple
+different transforms and transform sizes and quality optimization tools like
+loop filtering.
+
+\image html genericcodecflow.png "" width=70%
+
+\subsection architecture_av1_structure AV1 Structure and Complexity
+
+As previously stated, AV1 adopts the same underlying paradigm as other block
+transform based codecs. However, it is much more complicated than previous
+generation codecs and supports many more block partitioning, prediction and
+transform options.
+
+AV1 supports block partitions of various sizes from 128x128 pixels down to 4x4
+pixels using a multi-layer recursive tree structure as illustrated in figure 2
+below.
+
+\image html av1partitions.png "" width=70%
+
+AV1 also provides 71 basic intra prediction modes, 56 single frame inter prediction
+modes (7 reference frames x 4 modes x 2 for OBMC (overlapped block motion
+compensation)), 12768 compound inter prediction modes (that combine inter
+predictors from two reference frames) and 36708 compound inter / intra
+prediction modes. Furthermore, in addition to simple inter motion estimation,
+AV1 also supports warped motion prediction using affine transforms.
+
+In terms of transform coding, it has 16 separable 2-D transform kernels
+\f$(DCT, ADST, fADST, IDTX)^2\f$ that can be applied at up to 19 different
+scales from 64x64 down to 4x4 pixels.
+
+When combined together, this means that for any one 8x8 pixel block in a
+source frame, there are approximately 45,000,000 different ways that it can
+be encoded.
+
+Consequently, AV1 requires complex control processes. While not necessarily
+a normative part of the bitstream, these are the algorithms that turn a set
+of compression tools and a bitstream format specification, into a coherent
+and useful codec implementation. These may include but are not limited to
+things like :-
+
+- Rate distortion optimization (The process of trying to choose the most
+ efficient combination of block size, prediction mode, transform type
+ etc.)
+- Rate control (regulation of the output bitrate)
+- Encoder speed vs quality trade offs.
+- Features such as two pass encoding or optimization for low delay
+ encoding.
+
+For a more detailed overview of AV1's encoding tools and a discussion of some
+of the design considerations and hardware constraints that had to be
+accommodated, please refer to <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.06091">
+A Technical Overview of AV1</a>.
+
+Figure 3 provides a slightly expanded but still simplistic view of the
+AV1 encoder architecture with blocks that relate to some of the subsequent
+sections of this document. In this diagram, the raw uncompressed frame buffers
+are shown in dark green and the reconstructed frame buffers used for
+prediction in light green. Red indicates those parts of the codec that are
+(or may be) lossy, where fidelity can be traded off against compression
+efficiency, whilst light blue shows algorithms or coding tools that are
+lossless. The yellow blocks represent non-bitstream normative configuration
+and control algorithms.
+
+\image html av1encoderflow.png "" width=70%
+
+\section architecture_command_line The Libaom Command Line Interface
+
+ Add details or links here: TODO ? elliotk@
+
+\section architecture_enc_data_structures Main Encoder Data Structures
+
+The following are the main high level data structures used by the libaom AV1
+encoder and referenced elsewhere in this overview document:
+
+- \ref AV1_PRIMARY
+ - \ref AV1_PRIMARY.gf_group (\ref GF_GROUP)
+ - \ref AV1_PRIMARY.lap_enabled
+ - \ref AV1_PRIMARY.twopass (\ref TWO_PASS)
+ - \ref AV1_PRIMARY.p_rc (\ref PRIMARY_RATE_CONTROL)
+ - \ref AV1_PRIMARY.tf_info (\ref TEMPORAL_FILTER_INFO)
+
+- \ref AV1_COMP
+ - \ref AV1_COMP.oxcf (\ref AV1EncoderConfig)
+ - \ref AV1_COMP.rc (\ref RATE_CONTROL)
+ - \ref AV1_COMP.speed
+ - \ref AV1_COMP.sf (\ref SPEED_FEATURES)
+
+- \ref AV1EncoderConfig (Encoder configuration parameters)
+ - \ref AV1EncoderConfig.pass
+ - \ref AV1EncoderConfig.algo_cfg (\ref AlgoCfg)
+ - \ref AV1EncoderConfig.kf_cfg (\ref KeyFrameCfg)
+ - \ref AV1EncoderConfig.rc_cfg (\ref RateControlCfg)
+
+- \ref AlgoCfg (Algorithm related configuration parameters)
+ - \ref AlgoCfg.arnr_max_frames
+ - \ref AlgoCfg.arnr_strength
+
+- \ref KeyFrameCfg (Keyframe coding configuration parameters)
+ - \ref KeyFrameCfg.enable_keyframe_filtering
+
+- \ref RateControlCfg (Rate control configuration)
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.mode
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.target_bandwidth
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.best_allowed_q
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.worst_allowed_q
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.cq_level
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.under_shoot_pct
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.over_shoot_pct
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.maximum_buffer_size_ms
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.starting_buffer_level_ms
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.optimal_buffer_level_ms
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.vbrbias
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.vbrmin_section
+ - \ref RateControlCfg.vbrmax_section
+
+- \ref PRIMARY_RATE_CONTROL (Primary Rate control status)
+ - \ref PRIMARY_RATE_CONTROL.gf_intervals[]
+ - \ref PRIMARY_RATE_CONTROL.cur_gf_index
+
+- \ref RATE_CONTROL (Rate control status)
+ - \ref RATE_CONTROL.intervals_till_gf_calculate_due
+ - \ref RATE_CONTROL.frames_till_gf_update_due
+ - \ref RATE_CONTROL.frames_to_key
+
+- \ref TWO_PASS (Two pass status and control data)
+
+- \ref GF_GROUP (Data related to the current GF/ARF group)
+
+- \ref FIRSTPASS_STATS (Defines entries in the first pass stats buffer)
+ - \ref FIRSTPASS_STATS.coded_error
+
+- \ref SPEED_FEATURES (Encode speed vs quality tradeoff parameters)
+ - \ref SPEED_FEATURES.hl_sf (\ref HIGH_LEVEL_SPEED_FEATURES)
+
+- \ref HIGH_LEVEL_SPEED_FEATURES
+ - \ref HIGH_LEVEL_SPEED_FEATURES.recode_loop
+ - \ref HIGH_LEVEL_SPEED_FEATURES.recode_tolerance
+
+- \ref TplParams
+
+\section architecture_enc_use_cases Encoder Use Cases
+
+The libaom AV1 encoder is configurable to support a number of different use
+cases and rate control strategies.
+
+The principle use cases for which it is optimised are as follows:
+
+ - <b>Video on Demand / Streaming</b>
+ - <b>Low Delay or Live Streaming</b>
+ - <b>Video Conferencing / Real Time Coding (RTC)</b>
+ - <b>Fixed Quality / Testing</b>
+
+Other examples of use cases for which the encoder could be configured but for
+which there is less by way of specific optimizations include:
+
+ - <b>Download and Play</b>
+ - <b>Disk Playback</b>>
+ - <b>Storage</b>
+ - <b>Editing</b>
+ - <b>Broadcast video</b>
+
+Specific use cases may have particular requirements or constraints. For
+example:
+
+<b>Video Conferencing:</b> In a video conference we need to encode the video
+in real time and to avoid any coding tools that could increase latency, such
+as frame look ahead.
+
+<b>Live Streams:</b> In cases such as live streaming of games or events, it
+may be possible to allow some limited buffering of the video and use of
+lookahead coding tools to improve encoding quality. However, whilst a lag of
+a second or two may be fine given the one way nature of this type of video,
+it is clearly not possible to use tools such as two pass coding.
+
+<b>Broadcast:</b> Broadcast video (e.g. digital TV over satellite) may have
+specific requirements such as frequent and regular key frames (e.g. once per
+second or more) as these are important as entry points to users when switching
+channels. There may also be strict upper limits on bandwidth over a short
+window of time.
+
+<b>Download and Play:</b> Download and play applications may have less strict
+requirements in terms of local frame by frame rate control but there may be a
+requirement to accurately hit a file size target for the video clip as a
+whole. Similar considerations may apply to playback from mass storage devices
+such as DVD or disk drives.
+
+<b>Editing:</b> In certain special use cases such as offline editing, it may
+be desirable to have very high quality and data rate but also very frequent
+key frames or indeed to encode the video exclusively as key frames. Lossless
+video encoding may also be required in this use case.
+
+<b>VOD / Streaming:</b> One of the most important and common use cases for AV1
+is video on demand or streaming, for services such as YouTube and Netflix. In
+this use case it is possible to do two or even multi-pass encoding to improve
+compression efficiency. Streaming services will often store many encoded
+copies of a video at different resolutions and data rates to support users
+with different types of playback device and bandwidth limitations.
+Furthermore, these services support dynamic switching between multiple
+streams, so that they can respond to changing network conditions.
+
+Exact rate control when encoding for a specific format (e.g 360P or 1080P on
+YouTube) may not be critical, provided that the video bandwidth remains within
+allowed limits. Whilst a format may have a nominal target data rate, this can
+be considered more as the desired average egress rate over the video corpus
+rather than a strict requirement for any individual clip. Indeed, in order
+to maintain optimal quality of experience for the end user, it may be
+desirable to encode some easier videos or sections of video at a lower data
+rate and harder videos or sections at a higher rate.
+
+VOD / streaming does not usually require very frequent key frames (as in the
+broadcast case) but key frames are important in trick play (scanning back and
+forth to different points in a video) and for adaptive stream switching. As
+such, in a use case like YouTube, there is normally an upper limit on the
+maximum time between key frames of a few seconds, but within certain limits
+the encoder can try to align key frames with real scene cuts.
+
+Whilst encoder speed may not seem to be as critical in this use case, for
+services such as YouTube, where millions of new videos have to be encoded
+every day, encoder speed is still important, so libaom allows command line
+control of the encode speed vs quality trade off.
+
+<b>Fixed Quality / Testing Mode:</b> Libaom also has a fixed quality encoder
+pathway designed for testing under highly constrained conditions.
+
+\section architecture_enc_speed_quality Speed vs Quality Trade Off
+
+In any modern video encoder there are trade offs that can be made in regard to
+the amount of time spent encoding a video or video frame vs the quality of the
+final encode.
+
+These trade offs typically limit the scope of the search for an optimal
+prediction / transform combination with faster encode modes doing fewer
+partition, reference frame, prediction mode and transform searches at the cost
+of some reduction in coding efficiency.
+
+The pruning of the size of the search tree is typically based on assumptions
+about the likelihood of different search modes being selected based on what
+has gone before and features such as the dimensions of the video frames and
+the Q value selected for encoding the frame. For example certain intra modes
+are less likely to be chosen at high Q but may be more likely if similar
+modes were used for the previously coded blocks above and to the left of the
+current block.
+
+The speed settings depend both on the use case (e.g. Real Time encoding) and
+an explicit speed control passed in on the command line as <b>--cpu-used</b>
+and stored in the \ref AV1_COMP.speed field of the main compressor instance
+data structure (<b>cpi</b>).
+
+The control flags for the speed trade off are stored the \ref AV1_COMP.sf
+field of the compressor instancve and are set in the following functions:-
+
+- \ref av1_set_speed_features_framesize_independent()
+- \ref av1_set_speed_features_framesize_dependent()
+- \ref av1_set_speed_features_qindex_dependent()
+
+A second factor impacting the speed of encode is rate distortion optimisation
+(<b>rd vs non-rd</b> encoding).
+
+When rate distortion optimization is enabled each candidate combination of
+a prediction mode and transform coding strategy is fully encoded and the
+resulting error (or distortion) as compared to the original source and the
+number of bits used, are passed to a rate distortion function. This function
+converts the distortion and cost in bits to a single <b>RD</b> value (where
+lower is better). This <b>RD</b> value is used to decide between different
+encoding strategies for the current block where, for example, a one may
+result in a lower distortion but a larger number of bits.
+
+The calculation of this <b>RD</b> value is broadly speaking as follows:
+
+\f[
+ RD = (&lambda; * Rate) + Distortion
+\f]
+
+This assumes a linear relationship between the number of bits used and
+distortion (represented by the rate multiplier value <b>&lambda;</b>) which is
+not actually valid across a broad range of rate and distortion values.
+Typically, where distortion is high, expending a small number of extra bits
+will result in a large change in distortion. However, at lower values of
+distortion the cost in bits of each incremental improvement is large.
+
+To deal with this we scale the value of <b>&lambda;</b> based on the quantizer
+value chosen for the frame. This is assumed to be a proxy for our approximate
+position on the true rate distortion curve and it is further assumed that over
+a limited range of distortion values, a linear relationship between distortion
+and rate is a valid approximation.
+
+Doing a rate distortion test on each candidate prediction / transform
+combination is expensive in terms of cpu cycles. Hence, for cases where encode
+speed is critical, libaom implements a non-rd pathway where the <b>RD</b>
+value is estimated based on the prediction error and quantizer setting.
+
+\section architecture_enc_src_proc Source Frame Processing
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_frame_proc_data Main Data Structures
+
+The following are the main data structures referenced in this section
+(see also \ref architecture_enc_data_structures):
+
+- \ref AV1_PRIMARY ppi (the primary compressor instance data structure)
+ - \ref AV1_PRIMARY.tf_info (\ref TEMPORAL_FILTER_INFO)
+
+- \ref AV1_COMP cpi (the main compressor instance data structure)
+ - \ref AV1_COMP.oxcf (\ref AV1EncoderConfig)
+
+- \ref AV1EncoderConfig (Encoder configuration parameters)
+ - \ref AV1EncoderConfig.algo_cfg (\ref AlgoCfg)
+ - \ref AV1EncoderConfig.kf_cfg (\ref KeyFrameCfg)
+
+- \ref AlgoCfg (Algorithm related configuration parameters)
+ - \ref AlgoCfg.arnr_max_frames
+ - \ref AlgoCfg.arnr_strength
+
+- \ref KeyFrameCfg (Keyframe coding configuration parameters)
+ - \ref KeyFrameCfg.enable_keyframe_filtering
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_frame_proc_ingest Frame Ingest / Coding Pipeline
+
+ To encode a frame, first call \ref av1_receive_raw_frame() to obtain the raw
+ frame data. Then call \ref av1_get_compressed_data() to encode raw frame data
+ into compressed frame data. The main body of \ref av1_get_compressed_data()
+ is \ref av1_encode_strategy(), which determines high-level encode strategy
+ (frame type, frame placement, etc.) and then encodes the frame by calling
+ \ref av1_encode(). In \ref av1_encode(), \ref av1_first_pass() will execute
+ the first_pass of two-pass encoding, while \ref encode_frame_to_data_rate()
+ will perform the final pass for either one-pass or two-pass encoding.
+
+ The main body of \ref encode_frame_to_data_rate() is
+ \ref encode_with_recode_loop_and_filter(), which handles encoding before
+ in-loop filters (with recode loops \ref encode_with_recode_loop(), or
+ without any recode loop \ref encode_without_recode()), followed by in-loop
+ filters (deblocking filters \ref loopfilter_frame(), CDEF filters and
+ restoration filters \ref cdef_restoration_frame()).
+
+ Except for rate/quality control, both \ref encode_with_recode_loop() and
+ \ref encode_without_recode() call \ref av1_encode_frame() to manage the
+ reference frame buffers and \ref encode_frame_internal() to perform the
+ rest of encoding that does not require access to external frames.
+ \ref encode_frame_internal() is the starting point for the partition search
+ (see \ref architecture_enc_partitions).
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_frame_proc_tf Temporal Filtering
+
+\subsubsection architecture_enc_frame_proc_tf_overview Overview
+
+Video codecs exploit the spatial and temporal correlations in video signals to
+achieve compression efficiency. The noise factor in the source signal
+attenuates such correlation and impedes the codec performance. Denoising the
+video signal is potentially a promising solution.
+
+One strategy for denoising a source is motion compensated temporal filtering.
+Unlike image denoising, where only the spatial information is available,
+video denoising can leverage a combination of the spatial and temporal
+information. Specifically, in the temporal domain, similar pixels can often be
+tracked along the motion trajectory of moving objects. Motion estimation is
+applied to neighboring frames to find similar patches or blocks of pixels that
+can be combined to create a temporally filtered output.
+
+AV1, in common with VP8 and VP9, uses an in-loop motion compensated temporal
+filter to generate what are referred to as alternate reference frames (or ARF
+frames). These can be encoded in the bitstream and stored as frame buffers for
+use in the prediction of subsequent frames, but are not usually directly
+displayed (hence they are sometimes referred to as non-display frames).
+
+The following command line parameters set the strength of the filter, the
+number of frames used and determine whether filtering is allowed for key
+frames.
+
+- <b>--arnr-strength</b> (\ref AlgoCfg.arnr_strength)
+- <b>--arnr-maxframes</b> (\ref AlgoCfg.arnr_max_frames)
+- <b>--enable-keyframe-filtering</b>
+ (\ref KeyFrameCfg.enable_keyframe_filtering)
+
+Note that in AV1, the temporal filtering scheme is designed around the
+hierarchical ARF based pyramid coding structure. We typically apply denoising
+only on key frame and ARF frames at the highest (and sometimes the second
+highest) layer in the hierarchical coding structure.
+
+\subsubsection architecture_enc_frame_proc_tf_algo Temporal Filtering Algorithm
+
+Our method divides the current frame into "MxM" blocks. For each block, a
+motion search is applied on frames before and after the current frame. Only
+the best matching patch with the smallest mean square error (MSE) is kept as a
+candidate patch for a neighbour frame. The current block is also a candidate
+patch. A total of N candidate patches are combined to generate the filtered
+output.
+
+Let f(i) represent the filtered sample value and \f$p_{j}(i)\f$ the sample
+value of the j-th patch. The filtering process is:
+
+\f[
+ f(i) = \frac{p_{0}(i) + \sum_{j=1}^{N} &omega;_{j}(i).p_{j}(i)}
+ {1 + \sum_{j=1}^{N} &omega;_{j}(i)}
+\f]
+
+where \f$ &omega;_{j}(i) \f$ is the weight of the j-th patch from a total of
+N patches. The weight is determined by the patch difference as:
+
+\f[
+ &omega;_{j}(i) = exp(-\frac{D_{j}(i)}{h^2})
+\f]
+
+where \f$ D_{j}(i) \f$ is the sum of squared difference between the current
+block and the j-th candidate patch:
+
+\f[
+ D_{j}(i) = \sum_{k\in&Omega;_{i}}||p_{0}(k) - p_{j}(k)||_{2}
+\f]
+
+where:
+- \f$p_{0}\f$ refers to the current frame.
+- \f$&Omega;_{i}\f$ is the patch window, an "LxL" pixel square.
+- h is a critical parameter that controls the decay of the weights measured by
+ the Euclidean distance. It is derived from an estimate of noise amplitude in
+ the source. This allows the filter coefficients to adapt for videos with
+ different noise characteristics.
+- Usually, M = 32, N = 7, and L = 5, but they can be adjusted.
+
+It is recommended that the reader refers to the code for more details.
+
+\subsubsection architecture_enc_frame_proc_tf_funcs Temporal Filter Functions
+
+The main entry point for temporal filtering is \ref av1_temporal_filter().
+This function returns 1 if temporal filtering is successful, otherwise 0.
+When temporal filtering is applied, the filtered frame will be held in
+the output_frame, which is the frame to be
+encoded in the following encoding process.
+
+Almost all temporal filter related code is in av1/encoder/temporal_filter.c
+and av1/encoder/temporal_filter.h.
+
+Inside \ref av1_temporal_filter(), the reader's attention is directed to
+\ref tf_setup_filtering_buffer() and \ref tf_do_filtering().
+
+- \ref tf_setup_filtering_buffer(): sets up the frame buffer for
+ temporal filtering, determines the number of frames to be used, and
+ calculates the noise level of each frame.
+
+- \ref tf_do_filtering(): the main function for the temporal
+ filtering algorithm. It breaks each frame into "MxM" blocks. For each
+ block a motion search \ref tf_motion_search() is applied to find
+ the motion vector from one neighboring frame. tf_build_predictor() is then
+ called to build the matching patch and \ref av1_apply_temporal_filter_c() (see
+ also optimised SIMD versions) to apply temporal filtering. The weighted
+ average over each pixel is accumulated and finally normalized in
+ \ref tf_normalize_filtered_frame() to generate the final filtered frame.
+
+- \ref av1_apply_temporal_filter_c(): the core function of our temporal
+ filtering algorithm (see also optimised SIMD versions).
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_frame_proc_film Film Grain Modelling
+
+ Add details here.
+
+\section architecture_enc_rate_ctrl Rate Control
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_rate_ctrl_data Main Data Structures
+
+The following are the main data structures referenced in this section
+(see also \ref architecture_enc_data_structures):
+
+ - \ref AV1_PRIMARY ppi (the primary compressor instance data structure)
+ - \ref AV1_PRIMARY.twopass (\ref TWO_PASS)
+
+ - \ref AV1_COMP cpi (the main compressor instance data structure)
+ - \ref AV1_COMP.oxcf (\ref AV1EncoderConfig)
+ - \ref AV1_COMP.rc (\ref RATE_CONTROL)
+ - \ref AV1_COMP.sf (\ref SPEED_FEATURES)
+
+ - \ref AV1EncoderConfig (Encoder configuration parameters)
+ - \ref AV1EncoderConfig.rc_cfg (\ref RateControlCfg)
+
+ - \ref FIRSTPASS_STATS *frame_stats_buf (used to store per frame first
+ pass stats)
+
+ - \ref SPEED_FEATURES (Encode speed vs quality tradeoff parameters)
+ - \ref SPEED_FEATURES.hl_sf (\ref HIGH_LEVEL_SPEED_FEATURES)
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_rate_ctrl_options Supported Rate Control Options
+
+Different use cases (\ref architecture_enc_use_cases) may have different
+requirements in terms of data rate control.
+
+The broad rate control strategy is selected using the <b>--end-usage</b>
+parameter on the command line, which maps onto the field
+\ref aom_codec_enc_cfg_t.rc_end_usage in \ref aom_encoder.h.
+
+The four supported options are:-
+
+- <b>VBR</b> (Variable Bitrate)
+- <b>CBR</b> (Constant Bitrate)
+- <b>CQ</b> (Constrained Quality mode ; A constrained variant of VBR)
+- <b>Fixed Q</b> (Constant quality of Q mode)
+
+The value of \ref aom_codec_enc_cfg_t.rc_end_usage is in turn copied over
+into the encoder rate control configuration data structure as
+\ref RateControlCfg.mode.
+
+In regards to the most important use cases above, Video on demand uses either
+VBR or CQ mode. CBR is the preferred rate control model for RTC and Live
+streaming and Fixed Q is only used in testing.
+
+The behaviour of each of these modes is regulated by a series of secondary
+command line rate control options but also depends somewhat on the selected
+use case, whether 2-pass coding is enabled and the selected encode speed vs
+quality trade offs (\ref AV1_COMP.speed and \ref AV1_COMP.sf).
+
+The list below gives the names of the main rate control command line
+options together with the names of the corresponding fields in the rate
+control configuration data structures.
+
+- <b>--target-bitrate</b> (\ref RateControlCfg.target_bandwidth)
+- <b>--min-q</b> (\ref RateControlCfg.best_allowed_q)
+- <b>--max-q</b> (\ref RateControlCfg.worst_allowed_q)
+- <b>--cq-level</b> (\ref RateControlCfg.cq_level)
+- <b>--undershoot-pct</b> (\ref RateControlCfg.under_shoot_pct)
+- <b>--overshoot-pct</b> (\ref RateControlCfg.over_shoot_pct)
+
+The following control aspects of vbr encoding
+
+- <b>--bias-pct</b> (\ref RateControlCfg.vbrbias)
+- <b>--minsection-pct</b> ((\ref RateControlCfg.vbrmin_section)
+- <b>--maxsection-pct</b> ((\ref RateControlCfg.vbrmax_section)
+
+The following relate to buffer and delay management in one pass low delay and
+real time coding
+
+- <b>--buf-sz</b> (\ref RateControlCfg.maximum_buffer_size_ms)
+- <b>--buf-initial-sz</b> (\ref RateControlCfg.starting_buffer_level_ms)
+- <b>--buf-optimal-sz</b> (\ref RateControlCfg.optimal_buffer_level_ms)
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_vbr Variable Bitrate (VBR) Encoding
+
+For streamed VOD content the most common rate control strategy is Variable
+Bitrate (VBR) encoding. The CQ mode mentioned above is a variant of this
+where additional quantizer and quality constraints are applied. VBR
+encoding may in theory be used in conjunction with either 1-pass or 2-pass
+encoding.
+
+VBR encoding varies the number of bits given to each frame or group of frames
+according to the difficulty of that frame or group of frames, such that easier
+frames are allocated fewer bits and harder frames are allocated more bits. The
+intent here is to even out the quality between frames. This contrasts with
+Constant Bitrate (CBR) encoding where each frame is allocated the same number
+of bits.
+
+Whilst for any given frame or group of frames the data rate may vary, the VBR
+algorithm attempts to deliver a given average bitrate over a wider time
+interval. In standard VBR encoding, the time interval over which the data rate
+is averaged is usually the duration of the video clip. An alternative
+approach is to target an average VBR bitrate over the entire video corpus for
+a particular video format (corpus VBR).
+
+\subsubsection architecture_enc_1pass_vbr 1 Pass VBR Encoding
+
+The command line for libaom does allow 1 Pass VBR, but this has not been
+properly optimised and behaves much like 1 pass CBR in most regards, with bits
+allocated to frames by the following functions:
+
+- \ref av1_calc_iframe_target_size_one_pass_vbr()
+- \ref av1_calc_pframe_target_size_one_pass_vbr()
+
+\subsubsection architecture_enc_2pass_vbr 2 Pass VBR Encoding
+
+The main focus here will be on 2-pass VBR encoding (and the related CQ mode)
+as these are the modes most commonly used for VOD content.
+
+2-pass encoding is selected on the command line by setting --passes=2
+(or -p 2).
+
+Generally speaking, in 2-pass encoding, an encoder will first encode a video
+using a default set of parameters and assumptions. Depending on the outcome
+of that first encode, the baseline assumptions and parameters will be adjusted
+to optimize the output during the second pass. In essence the first pass is a
+fact finding mission to establish the complexity and variability of the video,
+in order to allow a better allocation of bits in the second pass.
+
+The libaom 2-pass algorithm is unusual in that the first pass is not a full
+encode of the video. Rather it uses a limited set of prediction and transform
+options and a fixed quantizer, to generate statistics about each frame. No
+output bitstream is created and the per frame first pass statistics are stored
+entirely in volatile memory. This has some disadvantages when compared to a
+full first pass encode, but avoids the need for file I/O and improves speed.
+
+For two pass encoding, the function \ref av1_encode() will first be called
+for each frame in the video with the value \ref AV1EncoderConfig.pass = 1.
+This will result in calls to \ref av1_first_pass().
+
+Statistics for each frame are stored in \ref FIRSTPASS_STATS frame_stats_buf.
+
+After completion of the first pass, \ref av1_encode() will be called again for
+each frame with \ref AV1EncoderConfig.pass = 2. The frames are then encoded in
+accordance with the statistics gathered during the first pass by calls to
+\ref encode_frame_to_data_rate() which in turn calls
+ \ref av1_get_second_pass_params().
+
+In summary the second pass code :-
+
+- Searches for scene cuts (if auto key frame detection is enabled).
+- Defines the length of and hierarchical structure to be used in each
+ ARF/GF group.
+- Allocates bits based on the relative complexity of each frame, the quality
+ of frame to frame prediction and the type of frame (e.g. key frame, ARF
+ frame, golden frame or normal leaf frame).
+- Suggests a maximum Q (quantizer value) for each ARF/GF group, based on
+ estimated complexity and recent rate control compliance
+ (\ref RATE_CONTROL.active_worst_quality)
+- Tracks adherence to the overall rate control objectives and adjusts
+ heuristics.
+
+The main two pass functions in regard to the above include:-
+
+- \ref find_next_key_frame()
+- \ref define_gf_group()
+- \ref calculate_total_gf_group_bits()
+- \ref get_twopass_worst_quality()
+- \ref av1_gop_setup_structure()
+- \ref av1_gop_bit_allocation()
+- \ref av1_twopass_postencode_update()
+
+For each frame, the two pass algorithm defines a target number of bits
+\ref RATE_CONTROL.base_frame_target, which is then adjusted if necessary to
+reflect any undershoot or overshoot on previous frames to give
+\ref RATE_CONTROL.this_frame_target.
+
+As well as \ref RATE_CONTROL.active_worst_quality, the two pass code also
+maintains a record of the actual Q value used to encode previous frames
+at each level in the current pyramid hierarchy
+(\ref PRIMARY_RATE_CONTROL.active_best_quality). The function
+\ref rc_pick_q_and_bounds(), uses these values to set a permitted Q range
+for each frame.
+
+\subsubsection architecture_enc_1pass_lagged 1 Pass Lagged VBR Encoding
+
+1 pass lagged encode falls between simple 1 pass encoding and full two pass
+encoding and is used for cases where it is not possible to do a full first
+pass through the entire video clip, but where some delay is permissible. For
+example near live streaming where there is a delay of up to a few seconds. In
+this case the first pass and second pass are in effect combined such that the
+first pass starts encoding the clip and the second pass lags behind it by a
+few frames. When using this method, full sequence level statistics are not
+available, but it is possible to collect and use frame or group of frame level
+data to help in the allocation of bits and in defining ARF/GF coding
+hierarchies. The reader is referred to the \ref AV1_PRIMARY.lap_enabled field
+in the main compressor instance (where <b>lap</b> stands for
+<b>look ahead processing</b>). This encoding mode for the most part uses the
+same rate control pathways as two pass VBR encoding.
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_rc_loop The Main Rate Control Loop
+
+Having established a target rate for a given frame and an allowed range of Q
+values, the encoder then tries to encode the frame at a rate that is as close
+as possible to the target value, given the Q range constraints.
+
+There are two main mechanisms by which this is achieved.
+
+The first selects a frame level Q, using an adaptive estimate of the number of
+bits that will be generated when the frame is encoded at any given Q.
+Fundamentally this mechanism is common to VBR, CBR and to use cases such as
+RTC with small adjustments.
+
+As the Q value mainly adjusts the precision of the residual signal, it is not
+actually a reliable basis for accurately predicting the number of bits that
+will be generated across all clips. A well predicted clip, for example, may
+have a much smaller error residual after prediction. The algorithm copes with
+this by adapting its predictions on the fly using a feedback loop based on how
+well it did the previous time around.
+
+The main functions responsible for the prediction of Q and the adaptation over
+time, for the two pass encoding pipeline are:
+
+- \ref rc_pick_q_and_bounds()
+ - \ref get_q()
+ - \ref av1_rc_regulate_q()
+ - \ref get_rate_correction_factor()
+ - \ref set_rate_correction_factor()
+ - \ref find_closest_qindex_by_rate()
+- \ref av1_twopass_postencode_update()
+ - \ref av1_rc_update_rate_correction_factors()
+
+A second mechanism for control comes into play if there is a large rate miss
+for the current frame (much too big or too small). This is a recode mechanism
+which allows the current frame to be re-encoded one or more times with a
+revised Q value. This obviously has significant implications for encode speed
+and in the case of RTC latency (hence it is not used for the RTC pathway).
+
+Whether or not a recode is allowed for a given frame depends on the selected
+encode speed vs quality trade off. This is set on the command line using the
+--cpu-used parameter which maps onto the \ref AV1_COMP.speed field in the main
+compressor instance data structure.
+
+The value of \ref AV1_COMP.speed, combined with the use case, is used to
+populate the speed features data structure AV1_COMP.sf. In particular
+\ref HIGH_LEVEL_SPEED_FEATURES.recode_loop determines the types of frames that
+may be recoded and \ref HIGH_LEVEL_SPEED_FEATURES.recode_tolerance is a rate
+error trigger threshold.
+
+For more information the reader is directed to the following functions:
+
+- \ref encode_with_recode_loop()
+- \ref encode_without_recode()
+- \ref recode_loop_update_q()
+- \ref recode_loop_test()
+- \ref av1_set_speed_features_framesize_independent()
+- \ref av1_set_speed_features_framesize_dependent()
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_fixed_q Fixed Q Mode
+
+There are two main fixed Q cases:
+-# Fixed Q with adaptive qp offsets: same qp offset for each pyramid level
+ in a given video, but these offsets are adaptive based on video content.
+-# Fixed Q with fixed qp offsets: content-independent fixed qp offsets for
+ each pyramid level.
+
+The reader is also refered to the following functions:
+- \ref av1_rc_pick_q_and_bounds()
+- \ref rc_pick_q_and_bounds_no_stats_cbr()
+- \ref rc_pick_q_and_bounds_no_stats()
+- \ref rc_pick_q_and_bounds()
+
+\section architecture_enc_frame_groups GF/ ARF Frame Groups & Hierarchical Coding
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_frame_groups_data Main Data Structures
+
+The following are the main data structures referenced in this section
+(see also \ref architecture_enc_data_structures):
+
+- \ref AV1_COMP cpi (the main compressor instance data structure)
+ - \ref AV1_COMP.rc (\ref RATE_CONTROL)
+
+- \ref FIRSTPASS_STATS *frame_stats_buf (used to store per frame first pass
+stats)
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_frame_groups_groups Frame Groups
+
+To process a sequence/stream of video frames, the encoder divides the frames
+into groups and encodes them sequentially (possibly dependent on previous
+groups). In AV1 such a group is usually referred to as a golden frame group
+(GF group) or sometimes an Alt-Ref (ARF) group or a group of pictures (GOP).
+A GF group determines and stores the coding structure of the frames (for
+example, frame type, usage of the hierarchical structure, usage of overlay
+frames, etc.) and can be considered as the base unit to process the frames,
+therefore playing an important role in the encoder.
+
+The length of a specific GF group is arguably the most important aspect when
+determining a GF group. This is because most GF group level decisions are
+based on the frame characteristics, if not on the length itself directly.
+Note that the GF group is always a group of consecutive frames, which means
+the start and end of the group (so again, the length of it) determines which
+frames are included in it and hence determines the characteristics of the GF
+group. Therefore, in this document we will first discuss the GF group length
+decision in Libaom, followed by frame structure decisions when defining a GF
+group with a certain length.
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_gf_length GF / ARF Group Length Determination
+
+The basic intuition of determining the GF group length is that it is usually
+desirable to group together frames that are similar. Hence, we may choose
+longer groups when consecutive frames are very alike and shorter ones when
+they are very different.
+
+The determination of the GF group length is done in function \ref
+calculate_gf_length(). The following encoder use cases are supported:
+
+<ul>
+ <li><b>Single pass with look-ahead disabled(\ref has_no_stats_stage()):
+ </b> in this case there is no information available on the following stream
+ of frames, therefore the function will set the GF group length for the
+ current and the following GF groups (a total number of MAX_NUM_GF_INTERVALS
+ groups) to be the maximum value allowed.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Single pass with look-ahead enabled (\ref AV1_PRIMARY.lap_enabled):</b>
+ look-ahead processing is enabled for single pass, therefore there is a
+ limited amount of information available regarding future frames. In this
+ case the function will determine the length based on \ref FIRSTPASS_STATS
+ (which is generated when processing the look-ahead buffer) for only the
+ current GF group.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Two pass:</b> the first pass in two-pass encoding collects the stats
+ and will not call the function. In the second pass, the function tries to
+ determine the GF group length of the current and the following GF groups (a
+ total number of MAX_NUM_GF_INTERVALS groups) based on the first-pass
+ statistics. Note that as we will be discussing later, such decisions may not
+ be accurate and can be changed later.</li>
+</ul>
+
+Except for the first trivial case where there is no prior knowledge of the
+following frames, the function \ref calculate_gf_length() tries to determine the
+GF group length based on the first pass statistics. The determination is divided
+into two parts:
+
+<ol>
+ <li>Baseline decision based on accumulated statistics: this part of the function
+ iterates through the firstpass statistics of the following frames and
+ accumulates the statistics with function accumulate_next_frame_stats.
+ The accumulated statistics are then used to determine whether the
+ correlation in the GF group has dropped too much in function detect_gf_cut.
+ If detect_gf_cut returns non-zero, or if we've reached the end of
+ first-pass statistics, the baseline decision is set at the current point.</li>
+
+ <li>If we are not at the end of the first-pass statistics, the next part will
+ try to refine the baseline decision. This algorithm is based on the analysis
+ of firstpass stats. It tries to cut the groups in stable regions or
+ relatively stable points. Also it tries to avoid cutting in a blending
+ region.</li>
+</ol>
+
+As mentioned, for two-pass encoding, the function \ref
+calculate_gf_length() tries to determine the length of as many as
+MAX_NUM_GF_INTERVALS groups. The decisions are stored in
+\ref PRIMARY_RATE_CONTROL.gf_intervals[]. The variables
+\ref RATE_CONTROL.intervals_till_gf_calculate_due and
+\ref PRIMARY_RATE_CONTROL.gf_intervals[] help with managing and updating the stored
+decisions. In the function \ref define_gf_group(), the corresponding
+stored length decision will be used to define the current GF group.
+
+When the maximum GF group length is larger or equal to 32, the encoder will
+enforce an extra layer to determine whether to use maximum GF length of 32
+or 16 for every GF group. In such a case, \ref calculate_gf_length() is
+first called with the original maximum length (>=32). Afterwards,
+\ref av1_tpl_setup_stats() is called to analyze the determined GF group
+and compare the reference to the last frame and the middle frame. If it is
+decided that we should use a maximum GF length of 16, the function
+\ref calculate_gf_length() is called again with the updated maximum
+length, and it only sets the length for a single GF group
+(\ref RATE_CONTROL.intervals_till_gf_calculate_due is set to 1). This process
+is shown below.
+
+\image html tplgfgroupdiagram.png "" width=40%
+
+Before encoding each frame, the encoder checks
+\ref RATE_CONTROL.frames_till_gf_update_due. If it is zero, indicating
+processing of the current GF group is done, the encoder will check whether
+\ref RATE_CONTROL.intervals_till_gf_calculate_due is zero. If it is, as
+discussed above, \ref calculate_gf_length() is called with original
+maximum length. If it is not zero, then the GF group length value stored
+in \ref PRIMARY_RATE_CONTROL.gf_intervals[\ref PRIMARY_RATE_CONTROL.cur_gf_index] is used
+(subject to change as discussed above).
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_gf_structure Defining a GF Group's Structure
+
+The function \ref define_gf_group() defines the frame structure as well
+as other GF group level parameters (e.g. bit allocation) once the length of
+the current GF group is determined.
+
+The function first iterates through the first pass statistics in the GF group to
+accumulate various stats, using accumulate_this_frame_stats() and
+accumulate_next_frame_stats(). The accumulated statistics are then used to
+determine the use of the use of ALTREF frame along with other properties of the
+GF group. The values of \ref PRIMARY_RATE_CONTROL.cur_gf_index, \ref
+RATE_CONTROL.intervals_till_gf_calculate_due and \ref
+RATE_CONTROL.frames_till_gf_update_due are also updated accordingly.
+
+The function \ref av1_gop_setup_structure() is called at the end to determine
+the frame layers and reference maps in the GF group, where the
+construct_multi_layer_gf_structure() function sets the frame update types for
+each frame and the group structure.
+
+- If ALTREF frames are allowed for the GF group: the first frame is set to
+ KF_UPDATE, GF_UPDATE or ARF_UPDATE. The last frames of the GF group is set to
+ OVERLAY_UPDATE. Then in set_multi_layer_params(), frame update
+ types are determined recursively in a binary tree fashion, and assigned to
+ give the final IBBB structure for the group. - If the current branch has more
+ than 2 frames and we have not reached maximum layer depth, then the middle
+ frame is set as INTNL_ARF_UPDATE, and the left and right branches are
+ processed recursively. - If the current branch has less than 3 frames, or we
+ have reached maximum layer depth, then every frame in the branch is set to
+ LF_UPDATE.
+
+- If ALTREF frame is not allowed for the GF group: the frames are set
+ as LF_UPDATE. This basically forms an IPPP GF group structure.
+
+As mentioned, the encoder may use Temporal dependancy modelling (TPL - see \ref
+architecture_enc_tpl) to determine whether we should use a maximum length of 32
+or 16 for the current GF group. This requires calls to \ref define_gf_group()
+but should not change other settings (since it is in essence a trial). This
+special case is indicated by the setting parameter <b>is_final_pass</b> for to
+zero.
+
+For single pass encodes where look-ahead processing is disabled
+(\ref AV1_PRIMARY.lap_enabled = 0), \ref define_gf_group_pass0() is used
+instead of \ref define_gf_group().
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_kf_groups Key Frame Groups
+
+A special constraint for GF group length is the location of the next keyframe
+(KF). The frames between two KFs are referred to as a KF group. Each KF group
+can be encoded and decoded independently. Because of this, a GF group cannot
+span beyond a KF and the location of the next KF is set as a hard boundary
+for GF group length.
+
+<ul>
+ <li>For two-pass encoding \ref RATE_CONTROL.frames_to_key controls when to
+ encode a key frame. When it is zero, the current frame is a keyframe and
+ the function \ref find_next_key_frame() is called. This in turn calls
+ \ref define_kf_interval() to work out where the next key frame should
+ be placed.</li>
+
+ <li>For single-pass with look-ahead enabled, \ref define_kf_interval()
+ is called whenever a GF group update is needed (when
+ \ref RATE_CONTROL.frames_till_gf_update_due is zero). This is because
+ generally KFs are more widely spaced and the look-ahead buffer is usually
+ not long enough.</li>
+
+ <li>For single-pass with look-ahead disabled, the KFs are placed according
+ to the command line parameter <b>--kf-max-dist</b> (The above two cases are
+ also subject to this constraint).</li>
+</ul>
+
+The function \ref define_kf_interval() tries to detect a scenecut.
+If a scenecut within kf-max-dist is detected, then it is set as the next
+keyframe. Otherwise the given maximum value is used.
+
+\section architecture_enc_tpl Temporal Dependency Modelling
+
+The temporal dependency model runs at the beginning of each GOP. It builds the
+motion trajectory within the GOP in units of 16x16 blocks. The temporal
+dependency of a 16x16 block is evaluated as the predictive coding gains it
+contributes to its trailing motion trajectory. This temporal dependency model
+reflects how important a coding block is for the coding efficiency of the
+overall GOP. It is hence used to scale the Lagrangian multiplier used in the
+rate-distortion optimization framework.
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_tpl_config Configurations
+
+The temporal dependency model and its applications are by default turned on in
+libaom encoder for the VoD use case. To disable it, use --tpl-model=0 in the
+aomenc configuration.
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_tpl_algoritms Algorithms
+
+The scheme works in the reverse frame processing order over the source frames,
+propagating information from future frames back to the current frame. For each
+frame, a propagation step is run for each MB. it operates as follows:
+
+<ul>
+ <li> Estimate the intra prediction cost in terms of sum of absolute Hadamard
+ transform difference (SATD) noted as intra_cost. It also loads the motion
+ information available from the first-pass encode and estimates the inter
+ prediction cost as inter_cost. Due to the use of hybrid inter/intra
+ prediction mode, the inter_cost value is further upper bounded by
+ intra_cost. A propagation cost variable is used to collect all the
+ information flowed back from future processing frames. It is initialized as
+ 0 for all the blocks in the last processing frame in a group of pictures
+ (GOP).</li>
+
+ <li> The fraction of information from a current block to be propagated towards
+ its reference block is estimated as:
+\f[
+ propagation\_fraction = (1 - inter\_cost/intra\_cost)
+\f]
+ It reflects how much the motion compensated reference would reduce the
+ prediction error in percentage.</li>
+
+ <li> The total amount of information the current block contributes to the GOP
+ is estimated as intra_cost + propagation_cost. The information that it
+ propagates towards its reference block is captured by:
+
+\f[
+ propagation\_amount =
+ (intra\_cost + propagation\_cost) * propagation\_fraction
+\f]</li>
+
+ <li> Note that the reference block may not necessarily sit on the grid of
+ 16x16 blocks. The propagation amount is hence dispensed to all the blocks
+ that overlap with the reference block. The corresponding block in the
+ reference frame accumulates its own propagation cost as it receives back
+ propagation.
+
+\f[
+ propagation\_cost = propagation\_cost +
+ (\frac{overlap\_area}{(16*16)} * propagation\_amount)
+\f]</li>
+
+ <li> In the final encoding stage, the distortion propagation factor of a block
+ is evaluated as \f$(1 + \frac{propagation\_cost}{intra\_cost})\f$, where the second term
+ captures its impact on later frames in a GOP.</li>
+
+ <li> The Lagrangian multiplier is adapted at the 64x64 block level. For every
+ 64x64 block in a frame, we have a distortion propagation factor:
+
+\f[
+ dist\_prop[i] = 1 + \frac{propagation\_cost[i]}{intra\_cost[i]}
+\f]
+
+ where i denotes the block index in the frame. We also have the frame level
+ distortion propagation factor:
+
+\f[
+ dist\_prop = 1 +
+ \frac{\sum_{i}propagation\_cost[i]}{\sum_{i}intra\_cost[i]}
+\f]
+
+ which is used to normalize the propagation factor at the 64x64 block level. The
+ Lagrangian multiplier is hence adapted as:
+
+\f[
+ &lambda;[i] = &lambda;[0] * \frac{dist\_prop}{dist\_prop[i]}
+\f]
+
+ where &lambda;0 is the multiplier associated with the frame level QP. The
+ 64x64 block level QP is scaled according to the Lagrangian multiplier.
+</ul>
+
+\subsection architecture_enc_tpl_keyfun Key Functions and data structures
+
+The reader is also refered to the following functions and data structures:
+
+- \ref TplParams
+- \ref av1_tpl_setup_stats() builds the TPL model.
+- \ref setup_delta_q() Assign different quantization parameters to each super
+ block based on its TPL weight.
+
+\section architecture_enc_partitions Block Partition Search
+
+ A frame is first split into tiles in \ref encode_tiles(), with each tile
+ compressed by av1_encode_tile(). Then a tile is processed in superblock rows
+ via \ref av1_encode_sb_row() and then \ref encode_sb_row().
+
+ The partition search processes superblocks sequentially in \ref
+ encode_sb_row(). Two search modes are supported, depending upon the encoding
+ configuration, \ref encode_nonrd_sb() is for 1-pass and real-time modes,
+ while \ref encode_rd_sb() performs more exhaustive rate distortion based
+ searches.
+
+ Partition search over the recursive quad-tree space is implemented by
+ recursive calls to \ref av1_nonrd_use_partition(),
+ \ref av1_rd_use_partition(), or av1_rd_pick_partition() and returning best
+ options for sub-trees to their parent partitions.
+
+ In libaom, the partition search lays on top of the mode search (predictor,
+ transform, etc.), instead of being a separate module. The interface of mode
+ search is \ref pick_sb_modes(), which connects the partition_search with
+ \ref architecture_enc_inter_modes and \ref architecture_enc_intra_modes. To
+ make good decisions, reconstruction is also required in order to build
+ references and contexts. This is implemented by \ref encode_sb() at the
+ sub-tree level and \ref encode_b() at coding block level.
+
+ See also \ref partition_search
+
+\section architecture_enc_intra_modes Intra Mode Search
+
+AV1 also provides 71 different intra prediction modes, i.e. modes that predict
+only based upon information in the current frame with no dependency on
+previous or future frames. For key frames, where this independence from any
+other frame is a defining requirement and for other cases where intra only
+frames are required, the encoder need only considers these modes in the rate
+distortion loop.
+
+Even so, in most use cases, searching all possible intra prediction modes for
+every block and partition size is not practical and some pruning of the search
+tree is necessary.
+
+For the Rate distortion optimized case, the main top level function
+responsible for selecting the intra prediction mode for a given block is
+\ref av1_rd_pick_intra_mode_sb(). The readers attention is also drawn to the
+functions \ref hybrid_intra_mode_search() and \ref av1_nonrd_pick_intra_mode()
+which may be used where encode speed is critical. The choice between the
+rd path and the non rd or hybrid paths depends on the encoder use case and the
+\ref AV1_COMP.speed parameter. Further fine control of the speed vs quality
+trade off is provided by means of fields in \ref AV1_COMP.sf (which has type
+\ref SPEED_FEATURES).
+
+Note that some intra modes are only considered for specific use cases or
+types of video. For example the palette based prediction modes are often
+valueable for graphics or screen share content but not for natural video.
+(See \ref av1_search_palette_mode())
+
+See also \ref intra_mode_search for more details.
+
+\section architecture_enc_inter_modes Inter Prediction Mode Search
+
+For inter frames, where we also allow prediction using one or more previously
+coded frames (which may chronologically speaking be past or future frames or
+non-display reference buffers such as ARF frames), the size of the search tree
+that needs to be traversed, to select a prediction mode, is considerably more
+massive.
+
+In addition to the 71 possible intra modes we also need to consider 56 single
+frame inter prediction modes (7 reference frames x 4 modes x 2 for OBMC
+(overlapped block motion compensation)), 12768 compound inter prediction modes
+(these are modes that combine inter predictors from two reference frames) and
+36708 compound inter / intra prediction modes.
+
+As with the intra mode search, libaom supports an RD based pathway and a non
+rd pathway for speed critical use cases. The entry points for these two cases
+are \ref av1_rd_pick_inter_mode() and \ref av1_nonrd_pick_inter_mode_sb()
+respectively.
+
+Various heuristics and predictive strategies are used to prune the search tree
+with fine control provided through the speed features parameter in the main
+compressor instance data structure \ref AV1_COMP.sf.
+
+It is worth noting, that some prediction modes incurr a much larger rate cost
+than others (ignoring for now the cost of coding the error residual). For
+example, a compound mode that requires the encoder to specify two reference
+frames and two new motion vectors will almost inevitable have a higher rate
+cost than a simple inter prediction mode that uses a predicted or 0,0 motion
+vector. As such, if we have already found a mode for the current block that
+has a low RD cost, we can skip a large number of the possible modes on the
+basis that even if the error residual is 0 the inherent rate cost of the
+mode itself will garauntee that it is not chosen.
+
+See also \ref inter_mode_search for more details.
+
+\section architecture_enc_tx_search Transform Search
+
+AV1 implements the transform stage using 4 seperable 1-d transforms (DCT,
+ADST, FLIPADST and IDTX, where FLIPADST is the reversed version of ADST
+and IDTX is the identity transform) which can be combined to give 16 2-d
+combinations.
+
+These combinations can be applied at 19 different scales from 64x64 pixels
+down to 4x4 pixels.
+
+This gives rise to a large number of possible candidate transform options
+for coding the residual error after prediction. An exhaustive rate-distortion
+based evaluation of all candidates would not be practical from a speed
+perspective in a production encoder implementation. Hence libaom addopts a
+number of strategies to prune the selection of both the transform size and
+transform type.
+
+There are a number of strategies that have been tested and implememnted in
+libaom including:
+
+- A statistics based approach that looks at the frequency with which certain
+ combinations are used in a given context and prunes out very unlikely
+ candidates. It is worth noting here that some size candidates can be pruned
+ out immediately based on the size of the prediction partition. For example it
+ does not make sense to use a transform size that is larger than the
+ prediction partition size but also a very large prediction partition size is
+ unlikely to be optimally pared with small transforms.
+
+- A Machine learning based model
+
+- A method that initially tests candidates using a fast algorithm that skips
+ entropy encoding and uses an estimated cost model to choose a reduced subset
+ for full RD analysis. This subject is covered more fully in a paper authored
+ by Bohan Li, Jingning Han, and Yaowu Xu titled: <b>Fast Transform Type
+ Selection Using Conditional Laplace Distribution Based Rate Estimation</b>
+
+<b>TODO Add link to paper when available</b>
+
+See also \ref transform_search for more details.
+
+\section architecture_post_enc_filt Post Encode Loop Filtering
+
+AV1 supports three types of post encode <b>in loop</b> filtering to improve
+the quality of the reconstructed video.
+
+- <b>Deblocking Filter</b> The first of these is a farily traditional boundary
+ deblocking filter that attempts to smooth discontinuities that may occur at
+ the boundaries between blocks. See also \ref in_loop_filter.
+
+- <b>CDEF Filter</b> The constrained directional enhancement filter (CDEF)
+ allows the codec to apply a non-linear deringing filter along certain
+ (potentially oblique) directions. A primary filter is applied along the
+ selected direction, whilst a secondary filter is applied at 45 degrees to
+ the primary direction. (See also \ref in_loop_cdef and
+ <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.06091"> A Technical Overview of AV1</a>.
+
+- <b>Loop Restoration Filter</b> The loop restoration filter is applied after
+ any prior post filtering stages. It acts on units of either 64 x 64,
+ 128 x 128, or 256 x 256 pixel blocks, refered to as loop restoration units.
+ Each unit can independently select either to bypass filtering, use a Wiener
+ filter, or use a self-guided filter. (See also \ref in_loop_restoration and
+ <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.06091"> A Technical Overview of AV1</a>.
+
+\section architecture_entropy Entropy Coding
+
+\subsection architecture_entropy_aritmetic Arithmetic Coder
+
+VP9, used a binary arithmetic coder to encode symbols, where the propability
+of a 1 or 0 at each descision node was based on a context model that took
+into account recently coded values (for example previously coded coefficients
+in the current block). A mechanism existed to update the context model each
+frame, either explicitly in the bitstream, or implicitly at both the encoder
+and decoder based on the observed frequency of different outcomes in the
+previous frame. VP9 also supported seperate context models for different types
+of frame (e.g. inter coded frames and key frames).
+
+In contrast, AV1 uses an M-ary symbol arithmetic coder to compress the syntax
+elements, where integer \f$M\in[2, 14]\f$. This approach is based upon the entropy
+coding strategy used in the Daala video codec and allows for some bit-level
+parallelism in its implementation. AV1 also has an extended context model and
+allows for updates to the probabilities on a per symbol basis as opposed to
+the per frame strategy in VP9.
+
+To improve the performance / throughput of the arithmetic encoder, especially
+in hardware implementations, the probability model is updated and maintained
+at 15-bit precision, but the arithmetic encoder only uses the most significant
+9 bits when encoding a symbol. A more detailed discussion of the algorithm
+and design constraints can be found in
+<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.06091"> A Technical Overview of AV1</a>.
+
+TODO add references to key functions / files.
+
+As with VP9, a mechanism exists in AV1 to encode some elements into the
+bitstream as uncrompresed bits or literal values, without using the arithmetic
+coder. For example, some frame and sequence header values, where it is
+beneficial to be able to read the values directly.
+
+TODO add references to key functions / files.
+
+\subsection architecture_entropy_coef Transform Coefficient Coding and Optimization
+\image html coeff_coding.png "" width=70%
+
+\subsubsection architecture_entropy_coef_what Transform coefficient coding
+Transform coefficient coding is where the encoder compresses a quantized version
+of prediction residue into the bitstream.
+
+\paragraph architecture_entropy_coef_prepare Preparation - transform and quantize
+Before the entropy coding stage, the encoder decouple the pixel-to-pixel
+correlation of the prediction residue by transforming the residue from the
+spatial domain to the frequency domain. Then the encoder quantizes the transform
+coefficients to make the coefficients ready for entropy coding.
+
+\paragraph architecture_entropy_coef_coding The coding process
+The encoder uses \ref av1_write_coeffs_txb() to write the coefficients of
+a transform block into the bitstream.
+The coding process has three stages.
+1. The encoder will code transform block skip flag (txb_skip). If the skip flag is
+off, then the encoder will code the end of block position (eob) which is the scan
+index of the last non-zero coefficient plus one.
+2. Second, the encoder will code lower magnitude levels of each coefficient in
+reverse scan order.
+3. Finally, the encoder will code the sign and higher magnitude levels for each
+coefficient if they are available.
+
+Related functions:
+- \ref av1_write_coeffs_txb()
+- write_inter_txb_coeff()
+- \ref av1_write_intra_coeffs_mb()
+
+\paragraph architecture_entropy_coef_context Context information
+To improve the compression efficiency, the encoder uses several context models
+tailored for transform coefficients to capture the correlations between coding
+symbols. Most of the context models are built to capture the correlations
+between the coefficients within the same transform block. However, transform
+block skip flag (txb_skip) and the sign of dc coefficient (dc_sign) require
+context info from neighboring transform blocks.
+
+Here is how context info spread between transform blocks. Before coding a
+transform block, the encoder will use get_txb_ctx() to collect the context
+information from neighboring transform blocks. Then the context information
+will be used for coding transform block skip flag (txb_skip) and the sign of
+dc coefficient (dc_sign). After the transform block is coded, the encoder will
+extract the context info from the current block using
+\ref av1_get_txb_entropy_context(). Then encoder will store the context info
+into a byte (uint8_t) using av1_set_entropy_contexts(). The encoder will use
+the context info to code other transform blocks.
+
+Related functions:
+- \ref av1_get_txb_entropy_context()
+- av1_set_entropy_contexts()
+- get_txb_ctx()
+- \ref av1_update_intra_mb_txb_context()
+
+\subsubsection architecture_entropy_coef_rd RD optimization
+Beside the actual entropy coding, the encoder uses several utility functions
+to make optimal RD decisions.
+
+\paragraph architecture_entropy_coef_cost Entropy cost
+The encoder uses \ref av1_cost_coeffs_txb() or \ref av1_cost_coeffs_txb_laplacian()
+to estimate the entropy cost of a transform block. Note that
+\ref av1_cost_coeffs_txb() is slower but accurate whereas
+\ref av1_cost_coeffs_txb_laplacian() is faster but less accurate.
+
+Related functions:
+- \ref av1_cost_coeffs_txb()
+- \ref av1_cost_coeffs_txb_laplacian()
+- \ref av1_cost_coeffs_txb_estimate()
+
+\paragraph architecture_entropy_coef_opt Quantized level optimization
+Beside computing entropy cost, the encoder also uses \ref av1_optimize_txb()
+to adjust the coefficient’s quantized levels to achieve optimal RD trade-off.
+In \ref av1_optimize_txb(), the encoder goes through each quantized
+coefficient and lowers the quantized coefficient level by one if the action
+yields a better RD score.
+
+Related functions:
+- \ref av1_optimize_txb()
+
+All the related functions are listed in \ref coefficient_coding.
+
+*/
+
+/*!\defgroup encoder_algo Encoder Algorithm
+ *
+ * The encoder algorithm describes how a sequence is encoded, including high
+ * level decision as well as algorithm used at every encoding stage.
+ */
+
+/*!\defgroup high_level_algo High-level Algorithm
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes sequence level/frame level algorithm in AV1.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+
+/*!\defgroup speed_features Speed vs Quality Trade Off
+ * \ingroup high_level_algo
+ * This module describes the encode speed vs quality tradeoff
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup speed_features */
+
+/*!\defgroup src_frame_proc Source Frame Processing
+ * \ingroup high_level_algo
+ * This module describes algorithms in AV1 assosciated with the
+ * pre-processing of source frames. See also \ref architecture_enc_src_proc
+ *
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup src_frame_proc */
+
+/*!\defgroup rate_control Rate Control
+ * \ingroup high_level_algo
+ * This module describes rate control algorithm in AV1.
+ * See also \ref architecture_enc_rate_ctrl
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup rate_control */
+
+/*!\defgroup tpl_modelling Temporal Dependency Modelling
+ * \ingroup high_level_algo
+ * This module includes algorithms to implement temporal dependency modelling.
+ * See also \ref architecture_enc_tpl
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup tpl_modelling */
+
+/*!\defgroup two_pass_algo Two Pass Mode
+ \ingroup high_level_algo
+
+ In two pass mode, the input file is passed into the encoder for a quick
+ first pass, where statistics are gathered. These statistics and the input
+ file are then passed back into the encoder for a second pass. The statistics
+ help the encoder reach the desired bitrate without as much overshooting or
+ undershooting.
+
+ During the first pass, the codec will return "stats" packets that contain
+ information useful for the second pass. The caller should concatenate these
+ packets as they are received. In the second pass, the concatenated packets
+ are passed in, along with the frames to encode. During the second pass,
+ "frame" packets are returned that represent the compressed video.
+
+ A complete example can be found in `examples/twopass_encoder.c`. Pseudocode
+ is provided below to illustrate the core parts.
+
+ During the first pass, the uncompressed frames are passed in and stats
+ information is appended to a byte array.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{.c}
+// For simplicity, assume that there is enough memory in the stats buffer.
+// Actual code will want to use a resizable array. stats_len represents
+// the length of data already present in the buffer.
+void get_stats_data(aom_codec_ctx_t *encoder, char *stats,
+ size_t *stats_len, bool *got_data) {
+ const aom_codec_cx_pkt_t *pkt;
+ aom_codec_iter_t iter = NULL;
+ while ((pkt = aom_codec_get_cx_data(encoder, &iter))) {
+ *got_data = true;
+ if (pkt->kind != AOM_CODEC_STATS_PKT) continue;
+ memcpy(stats + *stats_len, pkt->data.twopass_stats.buf,
+ pkt->data.twopass_stats.sz);
+ *stats_len += pkt->data.twopass_stats.sz;
+ }
+}
+
+void first_pass(char *stats, size_t *stats_len) {
+ struct aom_codec_enc_cfg first_pass_cfg;
+ ... // Initialize the config as needed.
+ first_pass_cfg.g_pass = AOM_RC_FIRST_PASS;
+ aom_codec_ctx_t first_pass_encoder;
+ ... // Initialize the encoder.
+
+ while (frame_available) {
+ // Read in the uncompressed frame, update frame_available
+ aom_image_t *frame_to_encode = ...;
+ aom_codec_encode(&first_pass_encoder, img, pts, duration, flags);
+ get_stats_data(&first_pass_encoder, stats, stats_len);
+ }
+ // After all frames have been processed, call aom_codec_encode with
+ // a NULL ptr repeatedly, until no more data is returned. The NULL
+ // ptr tells the encoder that no more frames are available.
+ bool got_data;
+ do {
+ got_data = false;
+ aom_codec_encode(&first_pass_encoder, NULL, pts, duration, flags);
+ get_stats_data(&first_pass_encoder, stats, stats_len, &got_data);
+ } while (got_data);
+
+ aom_codec_destroy(&first_pass_encoder);
+}
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+ During the second pass, the uncompressed frames and the stats are
+ passed into the encoder.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{.c}
+// Write out each encoded frame to the file.
+void get_cx_data(aom_codec_ctx_t *encoder, FILE *file,
+ bool *got_data) {
+ const aom_codec_cx_pkt_t *pkt;
+ aom_codec_iter_t iter = NULL;
+ while ((pkt = aom_codec_get_cx_data(encoder, &iter))) {
+ *got_data = true;
+ if (pkt->kind != AOM_CODEC_CX_FRAME_PKT) continue;
+ fwrite(pkt->data.frame.buf, 1, pkt->data.frame.sz, file);
+ }
+}
+
+void second_pass(char *stats, size_t stats_len) {
+ struct aom_codec_enc_cfg second_pass_cfg;
+ ... // Initialize the config file as needed.
+ second_pass_cfg.g_pass = AOM_RC_LAST_PASS;
+ cfg.rc_twopass_stats_in.buf = stats;
+ cfg.rc_twopass_stats_in.sz = stats_len;
+ aom_codec_ctx_t second_pass_encoder;
+ ... // Initialize the encoder from the config.
+
+ FILE *output = fopen("output.obu", "wb");
+ while (frame_available) {
+ // Read in the uncompressed frame, update frame_available
+ aom_image_t *frame_to_encode = ...;
+ aom_codec_encode(&second_pass_encoder, img, pts, duration, flags);
+ get_cx_data(&second_pass_encoder, output);
+ }
+ // Pass in NULL to flush the encoder.
+ bool got_data;
+ do {
+ got_data = false;
+ aom_codec_encode(&second_pass_encoder, NULL, pts, duration, flags);
+ get_cx_data(&second_pass_encoder, output, &got_data);
+ } while (got_data);
+
+ aom_codec_destroy(&second_pass_encoder);
+}
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ */
+
+ /*!\defgroup look_ahead_buffer The Look-Ahead Buffer
+ \ingroup high_level_algo
+
+ A program should call \ref aom_codec_encode() for each frame that needs
+ processing. These frames are internally copied and stored in a fixed-size
+ circular buffer, known as the look-ahead buffer. Other parts of the code
+ will use future frame information to inform current frame decisions;
+ examples include the first-pass algorithm, TPL model, and temporal filter.
+ Note that this buffer also keeps a reference to the last source frame.
+
+ The look-ahead buffer is defined in \ref av1/encoder/lookahead.h. It acts as an
+ opaque structure, with an interface to create and free memory associated with
+ it. It supports pushing and popping frames onto the structure in a FIFO
+ fashion. It also allows look-ahead when using the \ref av1_lookahead_peek()
+ function with a non-negative number, and look-behind when -1 is passed in (for
+ the last source frame; e.g., firstpass will use this for motion estimation).
+ The \ref av1_lookahead_depth() function returns the current number of frames
+ stored in it. Note that \ref av1_lookahead_pop() is a bit of a misnomer - it
+ only pops if either the "flush" variable is set, or the buffer is at maximum
+ capacity.
+
+ The buffer is stored in the \ref AV1_PRIMARY::lookahead field.
+ It is initialized in the first call to \ref aom_codec_encode(), in the
+ \ref av1_receive_raw_frame() sub-routine. The buffer size is defined by
+ the g_lag_in_frames parameter set in the
+ \ref aom_codec_enc_cfg_t::g_lag_in_frames struct.
+ This can be modified manually but should only be set once. On the command
+ line, the flag "--lag-in-frames" controls it. The default size is 19 for
+ non-realtime usage and 1 for realtime. Note that a maximum value of 35 is
+ enforced.
+
+ A frame will stay in the buffer as long as possible. As mentioned above,
+ the \ref av1_lookahead_pop() only removes a frame when either flush is set,
+ or the buffer is full. Note that each call to \ref aom_codec_encode() inserts
+ another frame into the buffer, and pop is called by the sub-function
+ \ref av1_encode_strategy(). The buffer is told to flush when
+ \ref aom_codec_encode() is passed a NULL image pointer. Note that the caller
+ must repeatedly call \ref aom_codec_encode() with a NULL image pointer, until
+ no more packets are available, in order to fully flush the buffer.
+
+ */
+
+/*! @} - end defgroup high_level_algo */
+
+/*!\defgroup partition_search Partition Search
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * For and overview of the partition search see \ref architecture_enc_partitions
+ * @{
+ */
+
+/*! @} - end defgroup partition_search */
+
+/*!\defgroup intra_mode_search Intra Mode Search
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes intra mode search algorithm in AV1.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup intra_mode_search */
+
+/*!\defgroup inter_mode_search Inter Mode Search
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes inter mode search algorithm in AV1.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup inter_mode_search */
+
+/*!\defgroup palette_mode_search Palette Mode Search
+ * \ingroup intra_mode_search
+ * This module describes palette mode search algorithm in AV1.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup palette_mode_search */
+
+/*!\defgroup transform_search Transform Search
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes transform search algorithm in AV1.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup transform_search */
+
+/*!\defgroup coefficient_coding Transform Coefficient Coding and Optimization
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes the algorithms of transform coefficient coding and optimization in AV1.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup coefficient_coding */
+
+/*!\defgroup in_loop_filter In-loop Filter
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes in-loop filter algorithm in AV1.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup in_loop_filter */
+
+/*!\defgroup in_loop_cdef CDEF
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes the CDEF parameter search algorithm
+ * in AV1. More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup in_loop_restoration */
+
+/*!\defgroup in_loop_restoration Loop Restoration
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes the loop restoration search
+ * and estimation algorithm in AV1.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup in_loop_restoration */
+
+/*!\defgroup cyclic_refresh Cyclic Refresh
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes the cyclic refresh (aq-mode=3) in AV1.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup cyclic_refresh */
+
+/*!\defgroup SVC Scalable Video Coding
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes scalable video coding algorithm in AV1.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup SVC */
+/*!\defgroup variance_partition Variance Partition
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes variance partition algorithm in AV1.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup variance_partition */
+/*!\defgroup nonrd_mode_search NonRD Optimized Mode Search
+ * \ingroup encoder_algo
+ * This module describes NonRD Optimized Mode Search used in Real-Time mode.
+ * More details will be added.
+ * @{
+ */
+/*! @} - end defgroup nonrd_mode_search */
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