METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DECODING MPEG VIDEO SIGNALS USING MULTIPLE DATA TRANSFER UNITS

A method and system for decoding and reconstructing an incoming MPEG video data stream for producing decoded MPEG video data is provided. The method and system utilizes a first memory storage device with at least two memory buffers associated with a co-processor, and a second memory device with a plurality of memory buffers associated with a core-processor. Also provided is a first data transfer unit coupled to the first memory storage device and the second memory device. The first data transfer unit in response to a first signal from the core processor selects one of the first memory storage device buffer (B0) as a source and a buffer in the second memory storage device as a destination buffer (MB_B0′). The data transfer unit is adapted to read content from B0 and write the content of B0 to MB_B0′. Simultaneously, data transfer unit also selects the other buffer of the first memory storage device (B1) as a second source buffer and a second destination buffer (MB-B1′) from the plurality of buffers in the second memory storage device. Again the data transfer unit is adapted to read the content of B1 and write the content of B1 to MB_B1′, wherein the transfer from B1 to MB_B1′ comprises a wait indicating that a transfer from B0 to MB-B0′ is complete.