Statistical Multiplexing based on MPEG-4 Fine Granularity Scalability Coding

Conventional statistical multiplexing methods for MPEG-1/2 programs involve high computationally complex transcoding (decoding and re-encoding) process to convert the original bit-rate into the target bit-rate. To avoid a time-consuming transcoding process, a new statistical multiplexer is proposed to enable content provider to easily convert the bit-rates by exploiting the MPEG-4 fine granularity scalability (FGS) coding scheme. The proposed statistical multiplexer is particularly useful for multiple-program broadcasting applications, including Internet television and video on demand, as well as value-added MPEG-4 video streaming services for DVB and ATSC digital TV systems. The proposed multiplexer mainly includes two parts: the FGS-based frame lag scheme and the optimal bit-plane truncation scheme. The FGS-based frame lag scheme exploits intra- and inter-layer correlations exist in MPEG-4 FGS bit-streams. The optimal bit-plane truncation scheme dynamically truncates enhancement layers of FGS bit-streams under the available bandwidth constraint and the quality/smoothness constraint. Experimental results show that high statistical multiplexing efficiency, inter-program fairness, and intra-program smoothness are achieved by the proposed multiplexer. Portion of this work was presented at Third International Workshop on Digital and Computational Video (DCV2003), USA, November 2002. Xiaokang Yang received B.S. degree from Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, in 1994, M.Eng. degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China, in 1997, and the Ph.D. degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, in 2000. From September 2000 to March 2002, he worked as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Signal Processing, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. From April 2002 to October 2004, he was a Research Scientist with the Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R), Singapore. He is currently an Associate Professor of the Institute of Image Communication and Information Processing, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. His current research interests include scalable video coding, perceptual video processing, video transmission over networks, and digital television. He has published over 60 refereed papers and filed six patents. He is currently a member of Visual Signal Processing and Communications Technical Committee of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society. He has received awards from A-STAR and Tan Kah Kee foundations (Singapore), and the Best Young Investigator Paper Award at IS&T/SPIE International Conference on Video Communication and Image Processing (VCIP'2003) in perceptual video processing. Nam Ling received a B.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering from Singapore. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, both in Computer Engineering, from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S.A. Prof. Ling is currently a full Professor with the Department of Computer Engineering and the Associate Dean (Graduate Studies and Research) for the School of Engineering at Santa Clara University (SCU), California, U.S.A. Prof. Ling is also a Consulting Professor and Honorary Advisor to the National University of Singapore. Prof. Ling has over 120 publications in the fields of video coding, decoder design, video streaming, and systolic arrays. He is the primary author of the book entitled Specification and Verification of Systolic Arrays. Prof. Ling received the Arthur Vining Davis Junior Faculty Fellowship in 1991 and the SCU Outstanding Achievement Award in Teaching, Research, and Service, in 1992. Prof. Ling was named 1999 Researcher of the Year by SCU Engineering. He received the SCU Award for Recent Achievement in Scholarship in 2002 and the President's Special Recognition Award in 2005. He was named IEEE Distinguished Lecturer (Circuits and Systems) for the year 2002-2003. Prof. Ling also received the 2003 IEEE ICCE Best Paper Award. His co-authored fast motion estimation method was adopted into the MPEG/VCEG JVT video international standard in 2005. Prof. Ling served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems--I in 2002--03. He is currently a Guest Co-editor for the Journal of VLSI Signal Processing Systems. In 1993--1995, Prof. Ling served as the Chair of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee (TC) on Microprocessors and Microcomputers. Currently he serves as the Chair-elect for the CASCOM TC (IEEE CAS Society). He is a member in the VSPC TC (IEEE CAS Society) and the DISPS TC (IEEE SP Society). Prof. Ling was the General Chair of the IEEE Hot Chips Symposium in 1995. He served as Program Chair for DCV'02 and SiPS'00. He has been a Track Co-Chair for ISCAS since 2004. Prof. Ling served in program committees, organizing committees, and as session chairs for many IEEE conferences. He holds professional memberships in IEEE, SPIE, and ASEE.