Perceptually driven video error protection using a distributed source coding approach

In video communication systems, the video signals are typically compressed and sent to the decoder through an error-prone transmission channel that may corrupt the compressed signal, causing the degradation of the final decoded video quality. In this context, it is possible to enhance the error resilience of typical predictive video coding schemes using as inspiration principles and tools from an alternative video coding approach, the so-called Distributed Video Coding (DVC), based on the Distributed Source Coding (DSC) theory. Further improvements in the decoded video quality after error-prone transmission may also be obtained by considering the perceptual relevance of the video content, as distortions occurring in different regions of a picture have a different impact on the user's final experience. In this context, this paper proposes a Perceptually Driven Error Protection (PDEP) video coding solution that enhances the error resilience of a state-of-the-art H.264/AVC predictive video codec using DSC principles and perceptual considerations. To increase the H.264/AVC error resilience performance, the main technical novelties brought by the proposed video coding solution are: (i) design of an improved compressed domain perceptual classification mechanism; (ii) design of an improved transcoding tool for the DSC-based protection mechanism; and (iii) integration of a perceptual classification mechanism in an H.264/AVC compliant codec with a DSC-based error protection mechanism. The performance results obtained show that the proposed PDEP video codec provides a better performing alternative to traditional error protection video coding schemes, notably Forward Error Correction (FEC)-based schemes.     

Novel prediction schemes for error resilient video coding

A conventional video codec uses encoder reconstruction of previous frames for motion compensated prediction. This is designed to minimize the encoder prediction error and assumes error free transmission. In this paper we use a modified prediction mechanism both at the encoder and decoder and propose techniques to improve the error resilience of H.264/AVC when transmitted over error prone networks. In our schemes we provide greater emphasis on Intra pixels during the formation of the reference frame used for prediction, thereby achieving better resilience. We also incorporate leaky prediction to further improve the robustness. We apply leaky prediction selectively at a macroblock level based on a simple mean square error metric in order to reduce the bit-rate penalty. Substantial performance gains have been observed in simulations. The effectiveness of using leaky prediction can be observed in medium and fast moving video sequences.     

MPEG-2 spatial scalable coding and transport stream errorconcealment for satellite TV broadcasting using Ka-band

An effective MPEG-2 spatial scalable video codec is designed, and error concealment technique of associated transport stream is proposed. The spatial scalability can provide robust error resilience for Ka-band rain attenuation, as well as the co-existence of HDTV and SDTV systems. In MPEG-2, the spatial scalable encoder combines both spatial and temporal predictions. This paper proposes a near optimal spatial-temporal weighting analyzer to properly assign weights. Simulation shows that the proposed spatial scalable codec structure outperforms the performance of the other MPEG-2 codecs for TV broadcasting in Ka-band using satellites. We also propose a suitable error protection and concealment method for MPEG-2 transport stream. With the combination of scalable coding and error protection systems, the proposed system will achieve high link availability     

MPEG-2 spatial scalable coding and transport stream errorconcealment for satellite TV broadcasting using Ka-band

In this paper, an effective MPEG-2 spatial scalable video codec is designed, and an error concealment technique for the associated transport stream is proposed. The spatial scalability can provide robust error resilience for Ka-band rain attenuation, as well as the co-existence of HDTV and SDTV systems. In MPEG-2, the spatial scalable encoder combines both spatial and temporal predictions. This paper proposes a near optimal spatial-temporal weighting analyzer to properly assign weights. Simulation shows that the proposed spatial scalable codec structure outperforms the performance of the other MPEG-2 codecs for TV broadcasting in Ka-band using satellites. We also propose a suitable error protection and concealment method for the MPEG-2 transport stream. With the combination of scalable coding and error protection systems, the proposed system will achieve high link availability     

Improving MPEG-4 coding performance by jointly optimisingcompression and blocking effect elimination

In most current block-based image/video coding systems the compression stage and the deblocking stage operate separately and hence they cannot make use of each other to optimise the overall coding performance. It is suggested that the basic structure of the encoding systems should be modified such that the deblocking to be performed can be taken into account in the compression and the two processes can be jointly optimised. An example is also provided to show how this idea works successfully in an MPEG-4 codec to boost the rate-distortion performance when the suggested deblocking filter is exploited in the post-processing stage. The modification does not change the bit-stream format of the codec and hence is fully compatible with the original standard     

基于MPEG-AAC编码器的压缩域音频增强方法

本文基于MPEG-AAC音频编解码器,提出了一种压缩域的音频增强方法.首先,对含噪音频信号的比特流进行解码,得到含噪音频信号的MDCT系数;然后,利用修正的加权递归平均（Modified Weighted Recursive Averaging,MWRA）方法估计噪声功率;再者,利用基于听觉掩蔽原理的自适应β-阶双曲余弦（COSH）统计模型,对含噪音频的MDCT系数进行增强处理;最后,将增强后的MDCT系数重新量化编码,得到用于解码的增强比特流实验结果表明,本文提出的方法能有效去除AAC解码音频信号中的多种背景噪声,其性能明显优于参考方法.     

高清晰度电视信源压缩编解码系统的研究

本文提出了一种码率不高于２２Ｍｂ／ｓ的基于ＭＰＥＧ－２标准的数字高清晰度电视视频编解码实验系统，重点研究了帧／场自适应ＤＣＴ变换及相应的帧／场扫描方式、量化器设计、码率控制及缓存器控制策略、数据流层结构等关键技术。     

视频流传输中的差错复原视频编码技术

视频压缩技术在采用预测技术、变换编码技术和可变长熵编码技术以减少冗余信息的同时,也降低了视频流的容错能力.传输信道中的差错,不仅严重损害了视频服务质量,甚至会使通信系统崩溃,因此,在有错信道上进行视频传输,差错复原视频编码技术就显得尤为重要.对差错复原视频编码技术进行了概括和总结,首先指出在视频传输过程中存在的由于传输错误而引发的比特流同步丢失及错误蔓延问题,然后研究了解决这些问题的差错复原视频编码方法,最后指出:可伸缩视频编码和多描述视频编码是差错复原视频编码的发展方向;多描述编码同多路径技术相结合,能显著提高压缩视频信号的错误恢复能力和传输信道的性能.     

一种符合ITU-T指标要求的嵌入式立体声语音频编码方法

 基于国际电信联盟标准化组织(ITU-T)编码标准G.729.1,本文提出了一种嵌入式变速率立体声语音与音频编码方法.本算法利用G.729.1和改进的调制叠接变换(Modulated Lapped Transform,MLT)编码技术对输入信号的中值与边带信息进行分层编码,形成具有嵌入式结构的码流.编码器可处理宽带和超宽带的立体声信号,宽带立体声信号编码的最大码率为48kb/s,超宽带立体声信号编码的最大速率为64kb/s.实现结果表明,本编码器的编码质量均达到了ITU-T对G.EV-VBR立体声编码的指标要求.     

Bit-stream allocation methods for scalable video coding supporting wireless communications

The demand for video access services through wireless networks, as important parts of larger heterogeneous networks, is constantly increasing. To cope with this demand, flexible compression technology to enable optimum coding performance, especially at low bit-rates, is required. In this context, scalable video coding emerges as the most promising technology. A critical problem in wavelet-based scalable video coding is bit-stream allocation at any bit-rate and in particular when low bit-rates are targeted. In this paper two methods for bit-stream allocation based on the concept of fractional bit-planes are reported. The first method assumes that minimum rate-distortion (R–D) slope of the same fractional bit-plane within the same bit-plane across different subbands is higher than or equal to the maximum R–D slope of the next fractional bit-plane. This method is characterised by a very low complexity since no distortion evaluation is required. Contrasting this approach, in the second method the distortion caused by quantisation of the wavelet coefficients is considered. Here, a simple yet effective statistical distortion model that is used for estimation of R–D slopes for each fractional bit-plane is derived. Three different strategies are derived from this method. In the first one it is assumed that the used wavelet is nearly orthogonal, i.e. the distortion in the transform domain is treated as being equivalent to the distortion in the signal domain. To reduce the error caused by direct distortion evaluation in the wavelet domain, the weighting factors are applied to the used statistical distortion model in the second strategy. In the last strategy, the derived statistical model is used during the bit-plane encoding to determine optimal position of the fractional bit-plane corresponding to refinement information in the compressed bit-stream. Results of selected experiments measuring peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) of decoded video at various bit-rates are reported. Additionally, the PSNR of decoded video at various bit-rates is measured for two specific cases: when the methods for bit-stream allocation are used to assign quality layers in the compressed bit-stream, and when quality layers are not assigned.     

Low bit-rate video coding with spatio-temporal geometric transforms

A low bit-rate video coding technique that uses spatio-temporal geometric transforms is presented. Motion compensation based on the bilinear transform is employed to reduce the temporal redundancy of the video. The spatial redundancy of the motion compensated error images is reduced by a combination of fractals and the DCT. It is shown that in the objects boundaries of the motion compensated error image fractals outperforms the DCT, while in the smooth areas the DCT is better than fractals. A hybrid combination of fractals and the DCT gives the best result. The performance of this hybrid codec with geometrically transformed motion compensation is compared against the H.261 standard video codec at 64 kbit/s     

Error resilient video coding techniques

We review error resilience techniques for real-time video transport over unreliable networks. Topics covered include an introduction to today's protocol and network environments and their characteristics, encoder error resilience tools, decoder error concealment techniques, as well as techniques that require cooperation between encoder, decoder, and the network. We provide a review of general principles of these techniques as well as specific implementations adopted by the H.263 and MPEG-4 video coding standards. The majority of the article is devoted to the techniques developed for block-based hybrid coders using motion-compensated prediction and transform coding. A separate section covers error resilience techniques for shape coding in MPEG-4     

无线视频传输容错算法研究新进展

视频信号经过压缩编码后通过Rayleigh衰减无线信道传输，容易受到突发性错误的影响，造成视频传输质量下降。容错(error resilience)是保证无线视频传输质量的重要措施。本文首先对几种无线信道模型进行了概括与比较，然后总结了各种容错算法的优缺点和最新研究进展情况。重点讨论了在传输层实施的前向纠错编码(FEC)和反馈差错控制，在编码器端根据不同的信道传输特性所采用的容错算法，包括帧内刷新、长期限存储、分层编码和多描述编码。本文还通过一种传输方案对容错策略的组合实施情况进行了分析。最后探讨了无线视频传输容错算法的发展趋势和挑战，提出了几个值得重视的发展方向。     

Frame distortion estimation for unequal error protection methods in scalable video coding (SVC)

In many multimedia applications, coded video is transmitted over error prone heterogeneous networks. Because of the predictive mechanism used in video coding, transmission error would propagate temporally and spatially and would result in significant quality losses. In order to address this problem, different error resilience methods have been proposed. One of the techniques, which is commonly used in video streaming, is unequal error protection (UEP) of scalable video coding (SVC). In this technique, different independent layers of an SVC stream are protected differently and based on their importance by using forward error correction (FEC) codes. Accurately analyzing the importance or utility of each video part is a critical component and would lead to a better protection and higher quality of the received video. Calculation of the utility is usually based on multiple decoding of sub-bitstreams and is highly computationally complex. In this work, we propose an accurate low complexity utility estimation technique that can be used in different applications. This technique estimates the utility of each network abstraction layer (NAL) by considering the error propagation to future frames. We utilize this method in an UEP framework with the scalable extension of H.264/AVC codec and it achieves almost the same performance as highly complex estimation techniques (an average loss of 0.05 dB). Furthermore, we propose a low delay version of this technique that can be used in delay constrained application. The estimation accuracy and performance of our proposed technique are studied extensively.     

Context-based, adaptive, lossless image coding

We propose a context-based, adaptive, lossless image codec (CALIC). The codec obtains higher lossless compression of continuous-tone images than other lossless image coding techniques in the literature. This high coding efficiency is accomplished with relatively low time and space complexities. The CALIC puts heavy emphasis on image data modeling. A unique feature of the CALIC is the use of a large number of modeling contexts (states) to condition a nonlinear predictor and adapt the predictor to varying source statistics. The nonlinear predictor can correct itself via an error feedback mechanism by learning from its mistakes under a given context in the past. In this learning process, the CALIC estimates only the expectation of prediction errors conditioned on a large number of different contexts rather than estimating a large number of conditional error probabilities. The former estimation technique can afford a large number of modeling contexts without suffering from the context dilution problem of insufficient counting statistics as in the latter approach, nor from excessive memory use. The low time and space complexities are also attributed to efficient techniques for forming and quantizing modeling contexts     

OFDM-based turbo-coded hierarchical and non-hierarchicalterrestrial mobile digital video broadcasting

The feasibility of terrestrial digital video broadcast (DVB) to mobile receivers is studied and turbo coded performance enhancements are proposed. Initially, the MPEG-2 codec is subjected to a rigorous bit error sensitivity investigation, in order to assist in designing various error protection schemes for wireless DVB transmission. The turbo codec is shown to provide signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance advantages in excess of 5-6 dB over conventional convolutional coding both in terms of bit error rate and video quality. Our experiments suggested that-despite our expectations-multi-class data partitioning did not result in error resilience improvements, since a high proportion of relatively sensitive video bits had to be relegated to the lower integrity subchannel, when invoking a powerful low-rate channel codec in the high-integrity protection class. Nonetheless, DVB transmission to mobile receivers is feasible, when using turbo-coded OFDM transceivers at realistic power-budget requirements under the investigated highly dispersive fading channel conditions. It is interesting to note furthermore that the 5-6 dB SNR improvement due to turbo coding allows us to invoke for example the double-throughput 16-level quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) mode instead of the standard convolutional-coded 4-QAM mode. This facilitates doubling the bit rate and hence improving the video quality     

一种甚低速率语音编码的抗误码算法

为满足在高误码率的窄带信道上进行语音通信的需求，本文研究了一种适用于甚低速率语音通信的抗误码参数估值算法。在一定的解码状态下，声码器通过计算最小均方误差（MMSE）估计的方法估计最优参数，充分降低信道误码对重建语音质量的影响。对于解码状态参数，通过计算最大后验转移概率的方法作最佳估计，并给出了一种简化的计算方法。这种抗误码算法复杂度低。计算机仿真结果表明，在不同误码率下该算法恢复出的语音的平均谱失真（ASD）低于帧删除方法的谱失真最大可达0.4dB。     

Motion compensation based on tangent distance prediction for video compression

We present a new algorithm for motion compensation that uses a motion estimation method based on tangent distance. The method is compared with a Block-Matching based approach in various common situations. Whereas Block-Matching algorithms usually only predict positions of blocks over time, our method also predicts the evolution of pixels into these blocks. The prediction error is then drastically decreased. The method is implemented into the Theora codec proving that this algorithm improves the video codec performances.     

Perceptual-based distributed video coding

In this paper, we propose a perceptual-based distributed video coding (DVC) technique. Unlike traditional video codecs, DVC applies video prediction process at the decoder side using previously received frames. The predicted video frames (i.e., side information) contain prediction errors. The encoder then transmits error-correcting parity bits to the decoder to reconstruct the video frames from side information. However, channel codes based on i.i.d. noise models are not always efficient in correcting video prediction errors. In addition, some of the prediction errors do not cause perceptible visual distortions. From perceptual coding point of view, there is no need to correct such errors. This paper proposes a scheme for the decoder to perform perceptual quality analysis on the predicted side information. The decoder only requests parity bits to correct visually sensitive errors. More importantly, with the proposed technique, key frames can be encoded at higher rates while still maintaining consistent visual quality across the video sequence. As a result, even the objective PSNR measure of the decoded video sequence will increase too. Experimental results show that the proposed technique improves the R-D performance of a transform domain DVC codec both subjectively and objectively. Comparisons with a well-known DVC codec show that the proposed perceptual-based DVC coding scheme is very promising for distributed video coding framework.