Error Concealment Using Adaptive Multilayer Perceptrons (MLPs) for Block-Based Image Coding

Image coding algorithms such as Vector Quantisation (VQ), JPEG and MPEG have been widely used for encoding image and video. These compression systems utilise block-based coding techniques to achieve a higher compression ratio. However, a cell loss or a random bit error during network transmission will permeate into the whole block, and then generate several damaged blocks. Therefore, an efficient Error Concealment (EC) scheme is essential for diminishing the impact of damaged blocks in a compressed image. In this paper, a novel adaptive EC algorithm is proposed to conceal the error for block-based image coding systems by using neural network techniques in the spatial domain. In the proposed algorithm, only the intra-frame information is used for reconstructing the image with damaged blocks. The information of pixels surrounding a damaged block is used to recover the errors using the neural network models. Computer simulation results show that the visual quality and the PSNR evaluation of a reconstructed image are significantly improved using the proposed EC algorithm.     

A high quality and small shadow size visual secret sharing scheme based on hybrid strategy for grayscale images

Many secret sharing schemes for digital images have been developed in recent decades. Traditional schemes typically must deal with the problem of computational complexity, and other visual secret sharing schemes come with a higher transmission cost and storage cost; that is, each shadow size is m times as big as the original secret image. The new (2,n) secret sharing scheme for grayscale images proposed in this paper is based a combination of acceptable image quality using block truncation coding (BTC), high compression ratio discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and good subjective performance of the vector quantization (VQ) technique. Experimental results confirm that our proposed scheme not only generates a high quality reconstructed original image but also generates small, random-like grayscale shadows.     

Data hiding based on compressed VQ indices of images

The VQ-based data hiding technique has not received much attention compared to various spatial domain-based data hiding techniques in digital images. Consequently, a new data hiding scheme, applied in the VQ-compressed domain of cover images, is introduced in this article. To provide more hiding capacity for secret data and to keep an acceptable bit rate for the compressed cover images, the search-order-coding (SOC) algorithm was implemented to compress the VQ indices of the cover images in the process of data hiding. During the process of data hiding, the proposed scheme embeds secret data into the compressed VQ indices of the cover image adaptively, adjusting the bit rate according to the size of the secret data and the compressed cover image. In addition, the hiding process induces no extra coding distortion. Experiments show that the receiver can efficiently receive both the secret data and the compressed cover image simultaneously with an acceptable bit rate. Simulation results also demonstrate that our proposed scheme outperforms earlier proposed methods.     

零树小波图像编码中的一种选择性系数扫描算法

针对图像作小波分解后各子带系数的分布特征,提出一种自适应的系数顺序选择算法,用于基于零树结构的图像编码中,结果表明,该算法在不增加编解码复杂度和码率的前提下,较为有效地保存了原图像的高频细节,改善了重建图像的视觉效果,在低码率的视频和图像编码应用中,该算法对视觉质量的改进尤为显著。     

Multiresolution HVS and statistically based image coding scheme

In this paper a novel multiresolution human visual system and statistically based image coding scheme is presented. It decorrelates the input image into a number of subbands using a lifting based wavelet transform. The codec employs a novel statistical encoding algorithm to code the coefficients in the detail subbands. Perceptual weights are applied to regulate the threshold value of each detail subband that is required in the statistical encoding process. The baseband coefficients are losslessly coded. An extension of the codec to the progressive transmission of images is also developed. To evaluate the performance of the coding scheme, it was applied to a number of test images and its performance with and without perceptual weights is evaluated. The results indicate significant improvement in both subjective and objective quality of the reconstructed images when perceptual weights are employed. The performance of the proposed technique was also compared to JPEG and JPEG2000. The results show that the proposed coding scheme outperforms both coding standards at low compression ratios, while offering satisfactory performance at higher compression ratios.     

A path optional lossless data hiding scheme based on VQ joint neighboring coding

Data hiding is an important technique for covert communication that embeds secret data into a cover image with minimal perceptible degradation. Lossless data hiding is a special type of data hiding technique that guarantees not only the secret data but the cover media can be reconstructed without any distortion. In this paper, a novel path optional lossless data hiding scheme based on the joint neighboring coding (JNC) of the vector quantization (VQ) index table is proposed. The proposed scheme generates a VQ index table based on the cover image first. Next, according to an initial key and secret data content, different adjacent indices may be chosen to perform joint neighboring coding for each index and hide secret data. Finally, an appropriate output codestream is generated based on the minimal length principle. Our main contributions lie in three aspects: (1) the method combines the novel path_based shift method with the traditional JNC method to improve the capacity and stego image quality simultaneously. (2) The secret data extraction and cover image recovering processes are separated and both can be publicized to users. (3) The method is path optional to meet various users’ requirements. To testify the superiority of the proposed method, we compare it with the side match VQ (SMVQ)-based and modified fast correlation VQ (MFCVQ)-based algorithms. According to the experimental results, the proposed scheme outperforms the SMVQ-based and MFCVQ-based algorithms in four aspects, i.e., hiding capacity, stego image quality, transmission efficiency and security level.     

VQ-based watermarking scheme with genetic codebook partition

To enhance the traditional vector quantisation (VQ) system by adding the watermarking ability, a digital image watermarking scheme, which modifies the VQ indices to carry watermark bits, is presented. This scheme partitions the main codebook into two sub-codebooks by referring to the user-key. Then, for each input vector of the cover image, a sub-codebook is selected according to the watermark bit to be embedding. The traditional VQ coding procedure is then done using the sub-codebook for the vector. Furthermore, to improve the performance of the scheme, a genetic codebook partition (GCP) procedure, which employs the genetic algorithm (GA) to find a better way to split the codebook, is proposed. It is demonstrated that the proposed methods provide faster encoding time, better imperceptibility, stronger robustness under some common attacks, and easier implementation than some related VQ-based watermarking schemes proposed in the literature.     

小波树结构快速矢量量化编码方法

提出了基于人眼视觉属性和应用小波树结构２快速图象编码的矢量量化图象编码方法，简称为树结构快速矢量量化编码。在分析此方法矢量量化特点之后，设计产生码本的统计方法，并提出了矢量量化编码的快速算法。     

用于矢量量化的神经网络竞争学习算法

对典型的竞争学习算法进行了研究和分析，提出了一种基于神经元获胜概率的概率敏感竞争虎法。与传统竞争学习算法只有一个神经元获胜而得到学习不同，ＰＳＣＬ算法按照各种凶的获胜概率并通过对失真距离的调整使每个神经元均得到不同的学习，可以有效地克服神经元欠利用问题。     

A lossless data embedding technique by joint neighboring coding

Information hiding methods are currently exploited by many researchers for various applications. Proposing an efficient and feasible information hiding method is valuable. This paper presents a new reversible information hiding method for vector quantization (VQ)-compressed grayscale images by using joint neighboring coding (JNC) technique. The proposed method embeds secret data by using the difference values between the current VQ-compressed index and left or upper neighboring indices. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves the best visual quality of reconstructed images compared with the two related works. In addition, the proposed method obtains as high embedding capacity as Lin and Chang's method, followed by Yang et al.'s method. As for execution speed, Yang et al.'s method is fastest, followed by the proposed method, and then Lin and Chang's method. With respect to bit rate, the proposed method has a little higher bit rate in comparison with the two related works.     

Secret sharing: using meaningful image shadows based on Gray code

Steganography, such as secret sharing, is an important technique to use for protecting transmitted confidential data from the attention of any adversaries. Gray code is a commonly encountered binary labeling that was proposed by Frank Gray of Bell Laboratories in 1940 to prevent errors when using pulse-code modulation to transmit signals. The main features of Gray code are its recursive construction method and the fact that any two adjacent codes change only one bit. According to our observations, the image pixel correction based on these features is suitable for application secret sharing without making significant changes to the pixel value. We designed a reversible secret sharing method using meaningful image shadows based on Gray code. Our design applies absolute moment block truncation coding (AMBTC) compression to reduce the transmission bit rate. The experimental results show that our scheme can achieve the adequate visual quality of shadow images with lower communication overhead, thus proving it practical for numerous applications.     

适合水声信道传输的水下图像高效编码算法

为抵抗水声信道的传输差错,提出了一种具有较高抗误码能力的水下图像高效编码算法。该算法根据水下图像的特点,对图像进行小波变换预处理以去除其中的视觉冗余。对低频系数采用定长量化编码;对重要高频系数采用数值和位置独立编码的方案,其中对重要高频系数的数值提出了变精度定长量化编码方法,而对重要高频系数的位置采用基于位置差降的可逆变长编码算法。为抵抗水声信道的传输差错,提出了合理的分割、交织策略和变长编码块相对定长信道包的存放策略;对低频和高频系数,分别提出了相应的差错检测和掩盖算法。实验结果表明,提出的算法不仅具有较高的压缩效率,而且具有较高的抗误码能力,满足了水声信道传输图像的要求。     

基于感兴趣区域的医学图像近无损压缩

在应用整数小波变换和基于分层树集合分割排序算法的基础上,提出了一种新的基于感兴趣区域的编码方法.本文还提出了一种感兴趣区优先编码策略,可以保证在极低的码率下感兴趣区的重建质量远远好于非感兴趣区的重建质量.这些方法得到的压缩码流都具有嵌入的特点,支持渐进传输.     

降低空间分辨率视频编码转换方法

根据漂移误差与帧间编码块的运动活动性的关系,提出了一种自适应帧内刷新方法。该方法根据目标比特率和实际比特率的差值,动态地调整阈值,从而有效地减少了帧内编码的比特率,保持了对差错的鲁棒性,限制了差错的时间传播。同时,根据率失真定理,在保证失真最小的情况下,为帧内不同的宏块选用最佳的量化系数。仿真结果表明:文中提出的方法有效地平滑了缓冲器的输出,同时峰值信噪比也有所提高。     

An encoding method for both image compression and data lossless information hiding

Reversible image data hiding technology means the cover image can be totally recovered after the embedded secret data is extracted. In this paper, we propose a reversible image data hiding scheme based on vector quantization (VQ) compressed images. The secret bits are embedded into the VQ index table by modifying the index value according to the difference of neighboring indices. The data hiding capacity and the size of the final codestream (embedded result) are a trade-off, and it can be decided by users. In other words, the proposed scheme has flexible hiding capacity ability. To estimate the performance, the proposed scheme was compared with the scheme proposed by Wang and Lu (2009). The results of the comparison showed that our proposed scheme is superior to the scheme proposed by Wang and Lu in both data hiding capacity and bit rate.     

图像的多描述编码

图像的多描述编码(MDC)是针对单描述编码(SDC)而言,其编码方法是将图像编码为多个位流(描述),并使每个描述都能恢复可接受质量的图像。其恢复图像的质量只依赖描述的个数,即如果解码器接收到的描述越多,则由这些描述共同形成的图像质量就越高。在图像通信应用中,在无信道编码的情况下,用MDC方法可适应传输条件恶劣的信道,尤其是无线信道和网络信道。为了能在传输信道恶劣的条件下进行有效的图像传输,在对MDC的基本理论及其应用以及近几年MDC的研究现状进行概述和总结的基础上,提出了一种基于EZW编码的MDC方法。实验结果表明,此法简单、有效,其不仅实现了压缩图像传输的健壮性,同时兼顾了压缩效率。     

分布式视频编码中关键帧丢失错误保护

目的 分布式视频编码较其传统视频编码具有编码简单、误码鲁棒性高等特点,可以很好地满足如无人机航拍、无线监控等新型视频业务的需求。在分布式视频编码中,视频图像被交替分为关键帧和Wyner-Ziv帧,由于受到信道衰落和干扰等因素的影响,采用传统帧内编码方式的关键帧的误码鲁棒性远不如基于信道编码的Wyner-Ziv帧。关键帧能否正确传输和解码对于Wyner-Ziv帧能否正确解码起着决定性的作用,进而影响着整个系统的压缩效率和率失真性能。为此针对关键帧在异构网络中的鲁棒性传输问题,提出一种基于小波域的关键帧质量可分级保护传输方案。方法 在编码端对关键帧同时进行传统的帧内视频编码和基于小波域的Wyner-Ziv编码,解码端将经过错误隐藏后的误码关键帧作为基本层,Wyner-Ziv编码产生的校验信息码流作为增强层。为了提高系统的分层特性以便使系统的码率适应不同的网络条件,进一步将小波分解后图像的各个不同层的低频带和高频带组合成不同的增强层,根据不同信道环境,传输不同层的Wyner-Ziv校验数据。同时对误码情况下关键帧的虚拟噪声模型进行了改进,利用第1个增强层已解码重建的频带与其对应边信息来获得第2个和第3个增强层对应频带的更加符合实际的虚拟信道模型的估计。结果 针对不同的视频序列在关键帧误码率为1%20%时,相比较于传统的帧内错误隐藏算法,所提方案可以提高视频重建图像的主观质量和整体系统的率失真性能。例如在关键帧误码率为5%时,通过传输第1个增强层,不同的视频序列峰值信噪比（PSNR）提升可达25 dB左右;如果继续传输第2个增强层的校验信息,视频图像的PSNR也可以提升0.51.6 dB左右;如果3个增强层的校验信息都传输的话,基本上可以达到无误码情况下关键帧的PSNR。结论 本文所提方案可以很好地解决分布式视频编码系统中的关键帧在实际信道传输过程中可能出现的误码问题,同时采用的分层传输方案可以适应不同网络的信道情况。     

基于整数小波变换和子带比特平面编码的图象压缩算法

在分析图象整数小波变换的基础上 ,提出了基于子带比特平面编码的压缩算法 .该算法将整数小波系数按子带分为若干比特平面 ,称之为子带比特平面 ,并采用简单高效的率失真优化算法确定子带比特平面的编码顺序 ,且这一顺序与图象无关 .按此顺序对子带比特平面进行自适应 MQ算术编码 ,便得到嵌入式压缩码流 .该算法可以从无损到有损 ,以任意倍率或质量进行图象压缩 ,压缩效率达到了浮点 EZW算法和 JPEG2 0 0 0整数小波编码方案的水平 ,而速度远快于这两者的速度 .该算法还具有复杂度低 ,占用内存少的优点 .