Patent ID: 8432975

Claim:
An apparatus for processing a picture frame comprising a plurality of macroblocks (MBs), and each MB comprises a plurality of blocks, the apparatus comprising: a memory; an image processing unit; and a decoder, being configured to decode a received bitstream to generate a plurality of decoded blocks, and to deblock the decoded blocks with the following operations for removing visual blocking effect: deblocking a decoded block to generate a deblocked block and transmit the deblocked block to the image processing unit when deblocking of the decoded block does not require data of a next MB row; and deblocking a first portion of the decoded block requiring data of the next MB row to generate a first deblocked portion of a deblocked block and storing the first deblocked portion and a second portion of the decoded block requiring no data of the next MB row in the memory when deblocking of the decoded block requires data of the next MB row, wherein the decoder further accesses the second portion of the decoded block from the memory to generate a second deblocked portion of the deblocked block through deblocking and transmits the second deblocked portion to the image processing unit when the data of the next MB row is available; wherein the memory stores the decoded blocks and the deblocked blocks generated by the decoder; and the image processing unit receives the deblocked blocks from the decoder or from both the decoder and the memory for compensating the deblocked blocks for visual preference.