Multiview side information creation for efficient Wyner–Ziv video coding: Classifying and reviewing

In recent years, the interest in multiview video systems has increased. In these systems, a typical predictive coding approach exploits the inter-view correlation at a joint encoder, requiring the various cameras to communicate among them. However, many applications ask for simple sensing systems preventing the various cameras to communicate among them, and thus the adoption of a predictive coding approach. Wyner–Ziv (WZ) video coding is a promising solution for those applications since it is the WZ decoder task to (fully or partly) exploit the video redundancy. The rate-distortion (RD) performance of WZ video coding strongly depends on the quality of the so-called side information (SI), which is a decoder estimate of the original frame to code. In multiview WZ (MV-WZ) video coding, the target is to exploit in the best way the available correlation not only in time, as for the monoview case, but also between views. Thus, the multiview SI results from the fusion of a temporally created SI and an inter-view created SI. In this context, the main objective of this paper is to propose a classification taxonomy to organize the many inter-view SI creation and SI fusion techniques available in the literature and to review the most relevant techniques in each class. The inter-view SI creation techniques are classified into two classes, notably matching and scene geometry based, while the SI fusion techniques are classified into three classes, notably time, view and time-view driven. After reviewing the most relevant inter-view SI creation and SI fusion techniques guided by the proposed classification taxonomy, conclusions are drawn about the current status quo, thus allowing to better identify the next research challenges in the multiview WZ video coding paradigm.     

Advanced side information creation techniques and framework for Wyner–Ziv video coding

Recently, several distributed video coding (DVC) solutions based on the distributed source coding (DSC) paradigm have appeared in the literature. Wyner–Ziv (WZ) video coding, a particular case of DVC where side information is made available at the decoder, enable to achieve a flexible distribution of the computational complexity between the encoder and decoder, promising to fulfill novel requirements from applications such as video surveillance, sensor networks and mobile camera phones. The quality of the side information at the decoder has a critical role in determining the WZ video coding rate-distortion (RD) performance, notably to raise it to a level as close as possible to the RD performance of standard predictive video coding schemes. Towards this target, efficient motion search algorithms for powerful frame interpolation are much needed at the decoder. In this paper, the RD performance of a Wyner–Ziv video codec is improved by using novel, advanced motion compensated frame interpolation techniques to generate the side information. The development of these type of side information estimators is a difficult problem in WZ video coding, especially because the decoder only has available some reference, decoded frames. Based on the regularization of the motion field, novel side information creation techniques are proposed in this paper along with a new frame interpolation framework able to generate higher quality side information at the decoder. To illustrate the RD performance improvements, this novel side information creation framework has been integrated in a transform domain turbo coding based Wyner–Ziv video codec. Experimental results show that the novel side information creation solution leads to better RD performance than available state-of-the-art side information estimators, with improvements up to 2 dB; moreover, it allows outperforming H.264/AVC Intra by up to 3 dB with a lower encoding complexity.     

Wyner–Ziv-based bidirectionally decodable video coding

In this paper, we propose a novel Wyner–Ziv-based video compression scheme which supports encoding a new type of inter frame called ‘M-frame’. Different from traditional multi-hypothesis inter frames, the M-frame is specially compressed with its two neighbor frames as reference at the encoder, but can be identically reconstructed by using any one of them as prediction at the decoder. Based on this, the proposed Wyner–Ziv-based bidirectionally decodable video compression scheme supports decoding the frames in a video stream in both temporal order and reverse order. Unlike the other schemes which support reverse playback, our scheme achieves the reversibility with low extra cost of storage and bandwidth. In error-resilient test, our scheme outperforms H.264 based schemes up to 3.5 dB at same bit rate. The proposed scheme also provides more flexibility for stream switching.     

Decoder side Wyner–Ziv frame estimation using Chebyshev polynomial-based FLANN technique for distributed video coding

Multidimensional Systems and Signal Processing - In this paper, a Chebyshev polynomial-based functional link artificial neural network (CFLANN) technique for Wyner–Ziv (WZ) frame estimation...     

Deep chroma prediction of Wyner–Ziv frames in distributed video coding of wireless capsule endoscopy video

Compression of captured video frames is crucial for saving the power in wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE). A low complexity encoder is desired to limit the power consumption required for compressing the WCE video. Distributed video coding (DVC) technique is best suitable for designing a low complexity encoder. In this technique, frames captured in RGB colour space are converted into YCbCr colour space. Both Y and CbCr representing luma and chroma components of the Wyner–Ziv (WZ) frames are processed and encoded in existing DVC techniques proposed for WCE video compression. In the WCE video, consecutive frames exhibit more similarity in texture and colour properties. The proposed work uses these properties to present a method for processing and encoding only the luma component of a WZ frame. The chroma components of the WZ frame are predicted by an encoder–decoder based deep chroma prediction model at the decoder by matching luma and texture information of the keyframe and WZ frame. The proposed method reduces the computations required for encoding and transmitting of WZ chroma component. The results show that the proposed DVC with a deep chroma prediction model performs better when compared to motion JPEG and existing DVC systems for WCE at the reduced encoder complexity.     

Reduced decoder complexity and latency in pixel-domain Wyner–Ziv video coders

In some video coding applications, it is desirable to reduce the complexity of the video encoder at the expense of a more complex decoder. Wyner–Ziv (WZ) video coding is a new paradigm that aims to achieve this. To allocate a proper number of bits to each frame, most WZ video coding algorithms use a feedback channel, which allows the decoder to request additional bits when needed. However, due to these multiple bit requests, the complexity and the latency of WZ video decoders increase massively. To overcome these problems, in this paper we propose a rate allocation (RA) algorithm for pixel-domain WZ video coders. This algorithm estimates at the encoder the number of bits needed for the decoding of every frame while still keeping the encoder complexity low. Experimental results show that, by using our RA algorithm, the number of bit requests over the feedback channel—and hence, the decoder complexity and the latency—are significantly reduced. Meanwhile, a very near-to-optimal rate-distortion performance is maintained. This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and the European Commission (FEDER) under grant TEC2005-07751-C02-01. A. Pižurica is a postdoctoral research fellow of FWO, Flanders.     

Rough mode cost–based fast intra coding for high-efficiency video coding

The quadtree-based coding unit (CU) and transform unit (TU) structure, as well as various prediction units (PUs) of HEVC, considerably increase encoding complexity in intra coding and inter coding. This paper proposes a rough mode cost (RMC)-based algorithm for accelerating CU/TU depth decisions and PU mode decisions in HEVC intra coding. For CU depth decisions, RMC values are used for the fast determination of CU partition. In the case of PU mode decisions, modes with higher RMCs are removed from the candidate list to reduce the number of test modes. For TU depth decisions, the TU partition of the mode with the least RMC is used to determine the TU partitions of remaining modes. The proposed TU partitioning method demonstrates superior performance to the default method in reference software. The proposed algorithm can reduce encoding time by approximately 51% on average, with a 0.69% increase in the Bjøntegaard-Delta (BD) rate.     

A joint encoder–decoder error control framework for stereoscopic video coding

Stereoscopic video coding (SSVC) plays an important role in various 3D video applications. In SSVC, robust stereoscopic video transmission over error-prone networks is still a challenge problem to be solved. In this paper, we propose a joint encoder–decoder error control framework for SSVC, where error-resilient source coding, transmission network conditions, and error concealment scheme are jointly considered to achieve better error robustness performance. The proposed joint encoder–decoder error control framework includes two parts: an error concealment algorithm at the decoder side and a rate–distortion optimized error resilience algorithm at the encoder side. For error concealment at the decoder side, an overlapped block motion and disparity compensation based error concealment scheme is proposed to adaptively utilize inter-view correlations and temporal correlations. For error resilience at the encoder side, first, the inter-view refreshment is proposed for SSVC to suppress error propagations. Then, an end-to-end distortion model for SSVC is derived, which jointly considers the transmission network conditions, inter-view refreshment, and error concealment tools at the decoder side. Finally, based on the derived end-to-end distortion model, the rate–distortion optimized error resilience algorithm is presented to adaptively select inter-view, inter- or intra-coding for SSVC. The experimental results show that the proposed joint encoder–decoder error control framework has superior error robustness performance for stereoscopic video transmission over error-prone networks.     

A new fast motion estimation algorithm based on the loop–epipolar constraint for multiview video coding

There lie geometric constraints between neighboring frames in multiview video sequences. The geometric constraints are valuable for reducing spatial and temporal redundancy in multiview video coding (MVC). In this paper, we propose a new fast motion estimation algorithm based on the loop–epipolar constraint which combines loop and epipolar constraints. A practical search technique is designed according to the characteristics of the loop–epipolar constraint. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is efficient for sequences under different multiview camera setups.     

Novel rate control scheme for intra frame video coding with exponential rate–distortion model on H.264/AVC

Rate control regulates the output bit rate of a video encoder in order to obtain optimum visual quality within the available network bandwidth and to maintain buffer fullness within a specified tolerance range. Due to the benefits of intra-only encoding, such as less computational cost and less latency, it has been more and more widely used. In this paper, we propose an accurate intra-only rate control scheme for H.264/AVC, which includes a novel complexity measurement and a new rate–distortion (R–D) model. We also propose a linear rate–complexity model which takes the intercept into consideration to reduce the estimation error. The proposed R–D model is integrated by the linear rate–complexity model and an exponential rate–quantization model. Based on theoretical analysis and experimental validation, the proposed scheme has high bits prediction precision, and it can also accurately handle buffer fullness. Compared with JVT-W042, our algorithm achieves higher average PSNR and improves the coding quality up to 0.35 dB.     

Video coding for OFDM systems with imperfect CSI: A hybrid digital–analog approach

Performance of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system is greatest when the exact channel state information (CSI) is used for transmitter rate control and power allocation. However, in real systems CSI can only be approximately known. Moreover, in video communication, it can be difficult to use any CSI for rate control of a video codec if the channel changes significantly during a group of pictures coded jointly, such as when the receiver is moving. We address this issue through a hybrid digital–analog (HDA) coding system where a standard video codec is used to generate a fixed-rate base layer upon which the analog quantization error is superimposed as a refinement layer. The system adapts to channel variations by proper transmit-power allocation between digital and analog components and across OFDM subcarriers, based on CSI. We present a power allocation scheme for this system which explicitly takes into account the imprecise nature of the available CSI. Experimental results obtained with simulated OFDM channel traces show that proposed scheme is able to achieve a much better quality-vs-reliability trade-off in video transmission, compared to the best known digital-only and analog-only alternatives.     

Spirobifluorene/sulfone hybrid: Highly efficient solution-processable material for UV–violet electrofluorescence,blue and green phosphorescent OLEDs

A high efficient UV–violet emission type material bis[4-(9,9′-spirobifluorene-2-yl)phenyl] sulfone (SF-DPSO) has been synthesized by incorporating electron deficient sulfone and morphologically stable spirobifluorene into one molecule. The steric and bulky compound SF-DPSO exhibits an excellent solid state photoluminescence quantum yield (Φ_PL = 92%), high glass transition temperature (T_g = 211 °C) and high triplet energy (E_T = 2.85 eV). In addition, the uniform amorphous thin film could be formed by spin-coating from its solution. These promising physical properties of the material made it suitable for using as UV–violet emitter in non-doped device and appropriate host in phosphorescent OLEDs. With SF-DPSO as an emitter, the non-doped solution processed device achieved an efficient UV–violet emission with the EL peak around 400 nm. By using SF-DPSO as a host, solution processed blue and green phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes showed a high luminous efficiency of 13.7 and 30.2 cd A⁻¹, respectively.     

An efficient remote user authentication and key agreement protocol for mobile client–server environment from pairings

With the continue evaluation of mobile devices in terms of the capabilities and services, security concerns increase dramatically. To provide secured communication in mobile client–server environment, many user authentication protocols from pairings have been proposed. In 2009, Goriparthi et al. proposed a new user authentication scheme for mobile client–server environment. In 2010, Wu et al. demonstrated that Goriparthi et al.’s protocol fails to provide mutual authentication and key agreement between the client and the server. To improve security, Wu et al. proposed an improved protocol and demonstrated that their protocol is provably secure in random oracle model. Based on Wu et al.’s work, Yoon et al. proposed another scheme to improve performance. However, their scheme just reduces one hash function operation at the both of client side and the server side. In this paper, we present a new user authentication and key agreement protocol using bilinear pairings for mobile client–server environment. Performance analysis shows that our protocol has better performance than Wu et al.’s protocol and Yoon et al.’s protocol. Then our protocol is more suited for mobile client–server environment. Security analysis is also given to demonstrate that our proposed protocol is provably secure against previous attacks.