基于朴素贝叶斯分类的DVC-HEVC快速转码

分布式视频编码(DVC)与传统视频编码之间的转码为移动终端设备之间的低功耗视频通信提供了一种有效的实现思路。以DVC与HEVC转码为研究对象,利用DVC解码端信息,针对高效视频编码(HEVC)中复杂度极高的编码单元(CU)划分过程进行复杂度优化研究。在DVC解码端提取与CU划分相关的纹理复杂度、运动矢量及预测残差3种特征信息;在HEVC编码端基于朴素贝叶斯原理建立CU快速划分模型,模型生成后便可以通过输入特征信息对当前CU划分进行快速决策,避免大量率失真(RD)代价计算过程。实验结果表明,本方案在编码比特率略有上升的情况下大幅缩短了HEVC编码时间,平均下降幅度达到58.26%,且几乎不影响视频质量。     

FITD: Fast Intra Transcoding from H.264/AVC to high efficiency video coding based on DCT coefficients and prediction modes

In the literatures, the designs of H.264 to High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) transcoders mostly focus on inter transcoding. In this paper, a fast intra transcoding system from H.264 to HEVC based on discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients and intra prediction modes, called FITD, is proposed by using the intra information retrieved from an H.264 decoder for transcoding. To design effective transcoding strategies, FITD not only refers block size of intra prediction and intra prediction modes, but also effectively uses the DCT coefficients to help a transcoder to predict the complexity of the blocks. We successfully use DCT coefficients as well as intra prediction information embedded in H.264 bitstreams to predict the coding depth map for depth limitation and early termination to simplify HEVC re-encoding process. After a HEVC encoder gets the prediction of a certain CU size from depth map, if it reaches the predicted depth, the HEVC encoder will stop the next CU branch. As a result, the numbers of CU branches and predictions in HEVC re-encoder will be substantially reduced to achieve fast and precise intra transcoding. The experimental results show that the FITD is 1.7–2.5 times faster than the original HEVC in encoding intra frames, while the bitrate is only increased to 3% or less and the PSNR degradation is also controlled within 0.1 dB. Compared to the previous H.264 to HEVC transcoding approaches, FITD clearly maintains the better trade-off between re-encoding speed and video quality.     

An image feature-based method to efficiently determine inter-coding depth in HEVC

The quad-tree based picture partition scheme in High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) results in a more substantial increase in computational complexity than those incurred by its predecessor video coding standards because of the need in this scheme to determine the best coding unit (CU) partitions. In this paper, we propose a method to effectively reduce the computational complexity of inter-prediction coding in the HEVC standard. The relative displacement of the largest coding unit (LCU) at the corresponding position between adjacent frames is tested through optical flow (motion estimation). The texture intensity of the LCU at the given time is tested if the condition that determines the coding depth in advance cannot be satisfied. The depth of the coding unit (CU) can be determined in advance beyond the xCompressCU function by using our proposed method, which does not require the calculation of the rate-distortion (RD) cost for each level of depth, and thus reduces the circular traversal times of the xCompressCU function. Experimental results proved that our proposed method is effective, as it reduced the computational complexity of an encoder by 53.2% on average, and had a slight influence on coding performance.     

基于深层特征学习的高效率视频编码中帧内快速预测算法

高效视频编码(HEVC)标准相对于H.264/AVC标准提升了压缩效率,但由于引入的编码单元四叉树划分结构也使得编码复杂度大幅度提升。对此,该文提出一种针对HEVC帧内编码模式下编码单元(CU)划分表征矢量预测的多层特征传递卷积神经网络(MLFT-CNN),大幅度降低了视频编码复杂度。首先,提出融合CU划分结构信息的降分辨率特征提取模块;其次,改进通道注意力机制以提升特征的纹理表达性能;再次,设计特征传递机制,用高深度编码单元划分特征指导低深度编码单元的划分;最后建立分段特征表示的目标损失函数,训练端到端的CU划分表征矢量预测网络。实验结果表明,在不影响视频编码质量的前提下,该文所提算法有效地降低了HEVC的编码复杂度,与标准方法相比,编码复杂度平均下降了70.96%。     

一种基于时域相关性的高性能视频编码快速帧间预测单元模式判决算法

为了降低高性能视频编码(HEVC)的编码计算复杂度,根据视频时域上高度相关性的特点,该文提出一种快速高性能视频编码(HEVC)帧间预测单元(PU)模式判决算法。分析了时域上相邻帧两帧相同位置编码单元(CU)的PU模式之间的相关性;同时,针对视频中可能存在对象运动,还分析了前一帧对应位置CU的周边CU与当前帧中当前CU间PU模式的相关性。根据分析的时域相关性,跳过当前CU中冗余的PU模式,从而降低编码复杂度。实验结果表明,在编码效率和峰值信噪比(PSNR)损失很小的情况下,在目前已有的HEVC快速帧间预测算法的基础上,进一步降低了31.30%的编码时间。     

Low complexity encoder optimization for HEVC

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) improved the coding efficiency significantly. Compared to its predecessor H.264/AVC, it can provide equivalent subjective quality with more than 57% bit rate reduction. However, the improvement on coding efficiency is obtained at the expense of much more intensive computation complexity. In this paper, based on an overall analysis of computation complexity at the HEVC encoder, a low complexity encoder optimization scheme is proposed by reducing the number of available candidates for evaluation in terms of the intra prediction mode decision, early termination of coding unit (CU) splitting and adaptive reference frame selection. With the proposed scheme, the rate distortion optimization (RDO) technique of HEVC can be implemented in a low-complexity way for complexity-constrained encoders. Experimental results demonstrate that, compared with the original HEVC reference encoder implementation, the proposed optimization scheme can achieve more than 40% complexity reduction on average with coding performance degradation as only 0.43% which can be ignorable.     

CU encoding depth prediction,early CU splitting termination and fast mode decision for fast HEVC intra-coding

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is a new video coding standard achieving about a 50% bit rate reduction compared to the popular H.264/AVC High Profile with the same subjective reproduced video quality. Better coding efficiency is attained, however, at the cost of significantly increased encoding complexity. Therefore, fast encoding algorithms with little loss in coding efficiency is necessary for HEVC to be successfully adopted for real applications. In this paper we propose a fast encoding technique applicable to HEVC all intra encoding. The proposed fast encoding technique consists of coding unit (CU) search depth prediction, early CU splitting termination, and fast mode decision. In CU search depth prediction, the depth of encoded CU in the current coding tree unit (CTU) is limited to predicted range, which is mostly narrower than the full depth range. Early CU splitting skips mode search of its sub-CUs when rate distortion (RD) cost of current CU is below the estimated RD cost at the current CU depth. RD cost and encoded CU depth distribution of the collocated CTU of the previous frame are utilized both to predict the encoding CU depth search range and to estimate the RD cost for CU splitting termination. Fast mode decision reduces the number of candidate modes for full rate distortion optimized quantization on the basis of the low complexity costs computed in the preceding rough mode decision step. When all these three methods are applied, proposed fast HEVC intra encoding technique reduces the encoding time of the reference encoder by 57% on the average, with only 0.6% of coding efficiency loss in terms of Bjontegaard delta (BD) rate increase under the HEVC common test conditions.     

Efficient prediction of CU depth and PU mode for fast HEVC encoding using statistical analysis

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) adopts complex quadtree-structured CU (coding unit) and PU (prediction unit) modes. Thus, the search process for optimal modes causes high computational complexity in HEVC. To solve this problem, a fast coding algorithm is proposed. Thirteen neighboring CTUs (Coding Tree Unit) are divided into three classes with the k-means method, and are selectively used as the reference CTUs to calculate the predicted CU depth levels for the current CTU. Additionally, for every CU depth, we skip some rarely used PU modes to reduce the complexity of the PU selection algorithm. Experimental results show that compared with the HEVC reference software, our algorithm can achieve 56.71% time saving with Low Delay Configuration profile and 59.76% with Random Access Configuration profile, whereas values of BDBR (Bjontegaard Delta Bit Rate) are only 1.0517% and 0.9918%, respectively. Compared with five state-of-the-art algorithms, the proposed algorithm has significant encoding time reduction with good bitrate performances.     

A Fast Intra‐Prediction Method in HEVC Using Rate‐Distortion Estimation Based on Hadamard Transform

A fast intra‐prediction method is proposed for High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) using a fast intra‐mode decision and fast coding unit (CU) size decision. HEVC supports very sophisticated intra modes and a recursive quadtree‐based CU structure. To provide a high coding efficiency, the mode and CU size are selected in a rate‐distortion optimized manner. This causes a high computational complexity in the encoder, and, for practical applications, the complexity should be significantly reduced. In this paper, among the many predefined modes, the intra‐prediction mode is chosen without rate‐distortion optimization processes, instead using the difference between the minimum and second minimum of the rate‐distortion cost estimation based on the Hadamard transform. The experiment results show that the proposed method achieves a 49.04% reduction in the intra‐prediction time and a 32.74% reduction in the total encoding time with a nearly similar coding performance to that of HEVC test model 2.1.     

A novel fast intra algorithm for VVC based on histogram of oriented gradient

The latest Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard incorporates a series of effective and complex new intra coding tools, which obtains superior coding efficiency than the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). However, this makes the intra coding more complicated and time-consuming. A fast algorithm for VVC from two aspects of fast mode decision and fast partition decision is proposed in this paper. For the fast mode decision, the relationship between bins with Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) and intra modes is created for the mode selection, decreasing the planar modes for SATD and RDO. Moreover, we analyze the maximum bins to determine the final modes, and we use the modes of left and upper blocks as a reference for the current CU, which can early terminate RDO. Moreover, a two-step fast partition algorithm is proposed based on HOG for fast partition decision, in which two thresholds are investigated to control the uniformity of textures. The proposed fast algorithm is implemented on the VVC test model, and the experimental results show that it can achieve 69.07% time savings with only 2.96% BDBR increases averagely, which outperforms other relatively existing state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, to convince the universality of our algorithm, we further implement our method in Fraunhofer Versatile Video Encoder (VVenc) and Fraunhofer Versatile Video Decoder (VVdec), which have five settings to control the trade-off between encoding quality and efficiency for intra coding. The fast intra mode decision algorithm and fast partition algorithm decrease the complexity of intra coding for both VTM and VVenc, which shows the efficiency and universality of the proposed fast partition and fast mode decision algorithms.     

Low-Complexity Intra-Coding Scheme for HEVC

Compared with H.264/AVC, the latest video standard High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) known as H.265 improves the coding efficiency by adopting the quadtree splitting structure which is flexible in representing various textural and structural information in images. However, the computational complexity is dramatically increased, especially in the intra-mode decision process owing to supporting more partitions and modes. In this paper, we propose a low-complexity algorithm for HEVC intra-coding, which consists of a fast coding unit (CU) size decision (FCUSD) method and a fast prediction unit (PU) mode decision (FPUMD) method. In FCUSD, unnecessary CU sizes are skipped early according to the depth level of neighboring CUs and the rate distortion (RD) cost threshold derived from the former coded frame. In FPUMD, the PU mode and RD cost correlations between different depth levels are utilized to terminate unnecessary candidate modes. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can achieve about 50.99 % computational complexity reduction on average with 1.18 % BD-rate increase and 0.08 dB BD-psnr loss.     

Detection of transcoded HEVC videos based on in-loop filtering and PU partitioning analyses

With the increasing maturity of video editing technology, forgers are more inclined to transcode videos to High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) videos, as HEVC not only enables people to enjoy high-definition videos but also allows broadcasters to stream it more efficiently across networks. Therefore, to verify the originality and authenticity, it is of great significance to propose an algorithm for detecting transcoded HEVC videos. In this paper, a theoretical model of video transcoding is first constructed, and a novel transcoding detection algorithm based on In-loop Filtering and Prediction Units (PU) Partition (IFPP) is proposed. By analyzing the statistical characteristics of strong and normal filtering modes in deblocking filtering and calculating offset values in Sample Adaptive Offset (SAO) filtering, the transcoding traces in inter-coded frames can be captured. In addition, PU partition statistics are also extracted to make full use of traces in intra-coded frames. By fusing these subfeatures, the proposed IFPP feature with 17 dimensions can be obtained, which is further fed to the Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. Finally, experiments are conducted on datasets with various coding parameters. Results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms existing algorithms and has better robustness.     

Cost-efficient HEVC-based quadtree splitting (HEQUS) for VVC Video Transcoding

The release of the latest video coding standard, known as Versatile Video Coding (VVC), has created the need to convert current High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) content to this new standard. However, the traditional cascade transcoding pipeline is not effective due to the exorbitant computational complexity of VVC. With this in mind, this paper proposes a fast HEVC-VVC transcoder that implements a probabilistic classifier based on Naïve-Bayes at the first partitioning level (128 × 128 pixels). This model uses features extracted from the 128 × 128 size blocks of the residual and reconstructed frames in the HEVC bitstream, and their correlation with the block partitioning structure. For the subsequent VVC coding depth levels, partitioning decisions are derived from the HEVC structure. The results achieve a 57.08% transcoding time reduction with a BD-rate penalty of 2.40%, compared with a traditional transcoding approach for the random access encoding configuration.     

一种基于组合神经网络的HEVC帧间预测方法

高效视频编码(HEVC)作为最新视频编码标准,有着非常高的压缩效率,但是由于各种新技术的提出,其编码复杂度也大大提高。复杂度对视频编码有着重要意义,低复杂度编码的研究非常必要。利用神经网络进行HEVC的分区预测为低复杂度编码提供了有效的解决方案。文中提出了一种基于卷积神经网络(CNN)和长短期记忆网络(LSTM)的组合网络架构来对帧间分区进行预测的方法,利用自建数据库对网络进行训练;文中设计了一种预搜索模块来建立训练数据库,仿真结果表明,神经网络的精度可达87%,利用该网络架构进行帧间预测可以实现52%~71%的复杂度节省。     

Low complexity inter coding scheme for Versatile Video Coding (VVC)

The latest coding standard Versatile Video Coding (VVC) developed by the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET) and Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) was finalized in 2020. By introducing several new coding techniques, VVC improves the compression efficiency by 50% compared with H.265/HEVC. However, the coding complexity increases dramatically, which obstructs it from real-time application. To tackle this issue, a fast inter coding algorithm utilizing coding information is proposed to speed up the coding process. First, by analyzing the coding areas of the neighboring CUs, we predict the coding area of the current CU to terminate unnecessary splitting modes. Then, the temporally optimal coding mode generated during the prediction process is further utilized to shrink the candidate modes to speed up the coding process. Finally, the distribution of neighboring prediction modes are exploited to measure the motion complexity of the current CU, based on which the unnecessary prediction modes can be skipped earlier. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can reduce the coding complexity by 40.08% on average with 0.07 dB BDPSNR decrease and 1.56% BDBR increase, which outperforms the state-of-the-art approach.     

Fast algorithm based on the sole- and multi-depth texture measurements for HEVC intra coding

In High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), intra coding plays an important role, but also involves huge computational complexity due to a flexible coding unit (CU) structure and a large number of prediction modes. This paper presents a fast algorithm based on the sole- and multi-depth texture measurements to reduce the complexity from CU size and prediction mode decisions. For the CU size decision, evaluation results in the CU coding with one and multiple depths are utilized to classify CUs into heterogeneous, homogeneous, depth-prominent and other ones. Fast CU size decisions are made for different kinds of CUs. For the prediction mode decision, the tendencies for different CU sizes are detected based on multiple depths. The number of searching modes is decreased adaptively for the CU size with fewer tendencies. Experimental results show the proposed algorithm by off-line training reduces 53.32% computational complexity, with 1.47% bit-rate increasing.     

Self-learning residual model for fast intra CU size decision in 3D-HEVC

As an extension of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, 3D-HEVC requires to encode multiple texture views and depth maps, which inherits the same quad-tree coding structure as HEVC. Due to the distinct properties of texture views and depth maps, existing fast intra prediction approaches were presented for the coding of texture views and depth maps, respectively. To further reduce the coding complexity of 3D-HEVC, a self-learning residual model-based fast coding unit (CU) size decision approach is proposed for the intra coding of both texture views and depth maps. Residual signal, which is defined as the difference between the original luminance pixel and the optimal prediction luminance pixel, is firstly extracted from each CU. Since residue signal is strongly correlated with the optimal CU partition, it is used as the feature of each CU. Then, a self-learning residual model is established by intra feature learning, which iteratively learns the features of the previously encoded coding tree unit (CTU) generated by itself. Finally, a binary classifier is developed with the self-learning residual model to early terminate CU size decision of both texture views and depth maps. Experimental results show the proposed fast intra CU size decision approach achieves 33.3% and 49.3% encoding time reduction on average for texture views and depth maps with negligible loss of overall video quality, respectively.     

基于多分支网络的深度图帧内编码单元快速划分算法

3维高效视频编码(3D-HEVC)标准是最新的3维(3D)视频编码标准,但由于其引入深度图编码技术导致编码复杂度大幅增加。其中,深度图帧内编码单元(CU)的四叉树划分占3D-HEVC编码复杂度的90%以上。对此,在3D-HEVC深度图帧内编码模式下,针对CU四叉树划分复杂度高的问题,该文提出一种基于深度学习的CU划分结构快速预测方案。首先,构建学习深度图CU划分结构信息的数据集;其次,搭建预测CU划分结构的多分支卷积神经网络(MB-CNN)模型,并利用构建的数据集训练MB-CNN模型;最后,将MB-CNN模型嵌入3D-HEVC的测试平台,通过直接预测深度图帧内编码模式下CU的划分结构来降低CU划分复杂度。与标准算法相比,编码复杂度平均降低了37.4%。实验结果表明,在不影响合成视点质量的前提下,该文所提算法有效地降低了3D-HEVC的编码复杂度。     

一种新的用于屏幕图像编码的HEVC帧内模式

由于传统编码方式对屏幕图像的编码效果不佳,该文根据屏幕图像包含大量非连续色调内容的特点,在HEVC(High Efficiency Video Coding)基础上,提出一种新的帧内编码模式称为帧内串匹配(Intra String Copy, ISC)。基本思想是在HEVC的编码单元(Coding Unit, CU)级别上,引入字典编码工具：编码时,在一定长度的字典窗口内,利用散列表,对当前CU内的像素,进行串搜索和匹配;解码时,根据像素串匹配的距离和匹配长度,在重建缓存内复制相应位置像素重建当前CU像素。实验结果表明,在编码复杂度增加很少的情况下,对于典型的屏幕图像测试序列,在全帧内(All Intra, AI),随机接入(Random Access, RA),低延迟(Low-delay B, LB)3种配置下,有损编码模式比HEVC分别节省码率15.1%, 12.0%, 8.3%,无损编码模式分别节省码率23.3%, 14.9%, 11.6%。     

An SAD‐Based Selective Bi‐prediction Method for Fast Motion Estimation in High Efficiency Video Coding

As the next‐generation video coding standard, High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) has adopted advanced coding tools despite the increase in computational complexity. In this paper, we propose a selective bi‐prediction method to reduce the encoding complexity of HEVC. The proposed method evaluates the statistical property of the sum of absolute differences in the motion estimation process and determines whether bi‐prediction is performed. A performance comparison of the complexity reduction is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed method compared to the HEVC test model version 4.0. On average, 50% of the bi‐prediction time can be reduced by the proposed method, while maintaining a negligible bit increment and a minimal loss of image quality.