METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AN HDR HARDWARE PROCESSOR INLINE TO HARDWARE ENCODER AND DECODER

A device includes an encoder, decoder, codec or combination thereof and inline hardware conversion units that are operative to convert stored image data into one of: an HDR/WCG format and an SDR/SCG format during the conversion process. Each of the inline hardware conversion units is operative to perform the conversion process independent of another read operation with the memory that stores the image data to be converted. In one example, an encoding unit is operative to perform a write operation with a memory to store the converted image data after completing the conversion process. In another example, a decoding unit is operative to perform a read operation with the memory to retrieve the image data from the memory before initiating the conversion process. In another example, an encoder/decoder unit is operative to perform at least one of: the read operation and the write operation.