Reversible Data Hiding Based on Run-Level Coding in H.264/AVC Video Streams

This paper presents a reversible data hiding (RDH) method, which is designed by combining histogram modification (HM) with run-level coding in H.264/advanced video coding (AVC). In this scheme, the run-level is changed for embedding data into H.264/AVC video sequences. In order to guarantee the reversibility of the proposed scheme, the last nonzero quantized discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients in embeddable 4×4 blocks are shifted by the technology of histogram modification. The proposed scheme is realized after quantization and before entropy coding of H.264/AVC compression standard. Therefore, the embedded information can be correctly extracted at the decoding side. Peak-signal-noise-to-ratio (PSNR) and Structure similarity index (SSIM), embedding payload and bit-rate variation are exploited to measure the performance of the proposed scheme. Experimental results have shown that the proposed scheme leads to less SSIM variation and bit-rate increase.     

H.264/AVC baseline profile to MPEG‐4 visual simple profile transcoding to reduce the spatial resolution

In this study, we propose a heterogeneous transcoding method of converting an H.264/Advanced video coding (AVC) Baseline profile (BP) video bitstream into an MPEG‐4 Visual simple profile (VSP) video bitstream. The proposed method reduces the spatial resolution for mobile terminals, which support only low resolution video bitstreams. When the H.264/AVC BP video bitstream is transformed into the MPEG‐4 VSP video bitstream, the conversions between the H.264/AVC BP block types and the MPEG‐4 VSP block types are performed by analyzing the macroblocks (MBs) conversion probability and calculating the difference values of motion vector. The proposed transcoding method runs on average 5.5 times faster than the cascaded transcoding methods, for a degradation of the PSNR (peak‐signal‐to ratio) of less than 0.5 dB. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 16, 24–33, 2006     

A MV-Based Steganographic Algorithm for H.264/AVC without Distortion

H.264/AVC video is one of the most popular multimedia and has been widely used as the carriers of video steganography. In this paper, a novel motion vector (MV) based steganographic algorithm is proposed for the H.264/AVC compressed video without distortion. Four modules are introduced to eliminate the distortion caused by the modifications of motion vectors and guarantee the security of the algorithm. In the embedding block, the motion vector space encoding is used to embed a (2n+1)-ary notational number into an n-dimension vector composed of motion vectors generated from the selection block. Scrambling is adopted to disturb the order of steganographic carriers to improve the randomness of the carrier before the operation of embedding. The re-motion compensation (re-MC) block will re-construct the macroblock (MB) whose motion vectors have been modified by embedding block. System block plays the role of the generator for chaotic sequences and encryptor for secret data. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm can achieve high embedding capacity without stego video visual quality distortion, it also presents good undetectability for existing MV-based steganalysis feature. Performance comparisons with other existing algorithms are provided to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm.     

A Cauchy distribution-based ternary hypothesis testing for bipolar additive watermark detection in H.264/AVC video

Abstract

The statistical distribution of discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients is important for video watermarking since they are the main carriers for watermark embedding. For the statistical distribution of intra-coded DCT coefficients in the H.264/AVC video stream, non-parametric hypothesis test is utilised to verify that Cauchy distribution is better than generalised Gaussian distribution (GGD). Moreover, ternary hypothesis test is introduced into the detection of bipolar additive watermarks. By adjusting the watermark strength parameter, the detector performance can be guaranteed. Experimental results show that for those bipolar additive watermarks in the H.264/AVC stream, the proposed approach can achieve a detection accuracy of more than 80% on average.     

Optimal weighed Holoentropy for video compression: an advanced HEVC

ABSTRACT

In recent times, the applications of multimedia are rising in a greedy mode and hence the amount of video transactions is also increasing exponentially. This has shouted great demands on effective models on video encoding and also for reducing the transmission channel congestion. This research work introduces a managing technique termed weighted encoding for High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). HEVC, also termed as MPEG-H Part 2 and H.265 is a video compression standard that is widely utilized AVC (H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10). When compared to AVC, HEVC grants double the ratio of data compression at a similar level of quality of the video or considerably enhanced video quality at a similar bit rate. This work intends to optimize the weight that adopted in HEVC for encoding. For this, this paper proposes a new Iterative based propagation update in the water wave Optimization Algorithm (IPU-WWO), which is the improved form of Water wave Optimization (WWO). The performance of proposed IPU-WWO is compared over other conventional methods like Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Firefly (FF), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) with respect to Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR). By doing the encoding process, it minimizes the video size with perceptually better quality video or PSNR.     

基于能量守恒全零DCT系数块的预先判别算法

针对全零DCT系数块,为避免对其进行变换和量化操作以减少编码器的运算量,从DCT公式、量化和能量守恒出发,在分析现有判别法对全零DCT系数块的误判与漏判的基础上,提出了一种预先判断全零DCT系数块的新方法,可应用于基于块的视频编码器中.同时,结合H.264整数变换和量化的特点对该算法进行了改进和仿真实验.实验结果表明,新提出的算法在保持PSNR不变的情况下,较现有典型方案有高出达32%的检出率,因而可更大幅度地降低DCT变换量化模块的计算复杂度.     

Novel fast block motion estimation using diamond‐arc‐hexagon search patterns

Abstract

This work presents a novel block motion estimation (ME) approach, diamond‐arc‐hexagon search (DAHS), which uses diamond, arc, and hexagon search patterns to accomplish the fast searching process. According to the characteristic of the center‐based motion vector distribution for the real‐world video sequence, DAHS employs a small diamond pattern extended hexagon search to refine the central area search. Furthermore for estimation in large motion situations, the strategy of the large diamond‐to‐arc search can preserve good performance. Experimental results indicate that DAHS is suitable for both (quasi‐) stationary and large motion searches. DAHS outperforms the efficient three‐step (E3SS) and hexagon‐based search (HEXBS) in prediction quality, and improves the searching speed about 9% compared to E3SS. The proposed algorithm was tested using several sequences and delivered excellent performance in search speed and prediction of video quality. The DAHS can be applied to real‐time video processes, such as H.264/MPEG‐4 advanced video coding (AVC) and scalable video coding (SVC).     

Optimal Mode Decision Method for Interframe Prediction in H.264/AVC

Studies show that encoding technologies in H.264/AVC, including prediction and conversion, are essential technologies. However, these technologies are more complicated than the MPEG-4, which is a standard method and widely adopted worldwide. Therefore, the amount of calculation in H.264/AVC is significantly up-regulated compared to that of the MPEG-4. In the present study, it is intended to simplify the computational expenses in the international standard compression coding system H.264/AVC for moving images. Inter prediction refers to the most feasible compression technology, taking up to 60% of the entire encoding. In this regard, prediction error and motion vector information are proposed to simplify the computation of inter predictive coding technology. In the initial frame, motion compensation is performed in all target modes and then basic information is collected and analyzed. After the initial frame, motion compensation is performed only in the middle 8×8 modes, and the basic information amount shifts. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method and assess the motion image compression coding, four types of motion images, defined by the international telecommunication union (ITU), are employed. Based on the obtained results, it is concluded that the developed method is capable of simplifying the calculation, while it is slightly affected by the inferior image quality and the amount of information.     

Highly efficient CAVLC encoder for MPEG-4 AVC/H.264

In dealing with high-resolution video information, encoding (or decoding) with an efficient context-based adaptive variable length code (CAVLC) encoder is important. A highly efficient CAVLC encoder is proposed for video coding application of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264. The main concept is to use block-based pipelining to speed up encoding efficiency and reduce the pipeline storage elements by using the associated input buffer. We also use zero-block detection to speed up encoding efficiency and eliminate the same codeword from all the tables to save the hardware cost. Simulation results show that our design can meet the real-time processing for 1920 times 1088 resolution with lower operation frequency. We also accomplish the higher encoding throughput with a more complete CAVLC design than others. The proposed design has been implemented and synthesised with TSMC 0.18 mum standard cell library. The synthesis result indicates that the gate count is 12 125 with the clock constraint of 125 MHz.     

基于编码模式的H.264/AVC视频信息隐藏算法

本文提出一种基于编码模式的H.264/AVC信息隐藏方法,通过调制某些宏块的编码模式,分别在Ⅰ帧、P帧和B帧中嵌入隐秘信息.对帧内4x4预测模式的宏块,是通过调整宏块中某个4×4块的编码模式嵌入隐秘信息;对P帧和B帧其它类型的宏块,则是通过调整宏块的编码模式嵌入隐秘信息,模式调整后对宏块做了优化处理.在模式调制过程中引入率失真代价,取得了较好的率失真平衡,减小了隐秘信息嵌入后对视频质量和视频码流的影响.该算法可以实现隐秘信息的快速提取,满足视频实时处理的要求,实验仿真结果证明了该算法的有效性.     

Fast intra prediction mode decision for H.264/AVC video coding

Abstract

Intra coding is used for reducing the spatial redundancy in video coding. H.264 supports several macroblocks of predictions for intra coding such as luma block four 16×16 modes, nine 4×4 modes and chroma block four modes, which significantly improve intra coding efficiency, but increase the encoding complexity. In order to select the best mode, we need to calculate the cost of the various modes. In this paper, a fast intra prediction mode decision for H.264/AVC video coding is proposed. Based on Laplacian, this intra prediction mode decision detects edges and selects the best mode for the block. This mode decision can shorten the time to reduce the encoding time. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves an encoding time saving of 70% on average.     

Objective analysis and bit rate analysis of HEVC compressed 4D-fMRI images

Medical imaging and clinical diagnostics are complementary to one another since their analysis is typical and contains critical information. The growing volume of data has become one of the biggest challenges, as the acquisition of medical modalities is currently having high resolution from the improved and efficient machines (3 to 7 T or more). Moreover, image and video compression is a need with the consideration that there should not be any gap for losing the important information. Less bitrate requirement with high compression ratio without sacrificing important detail is a challenge these days. The current study, is dealing with the compression of 4D-functional medical resonance images (fMRI) with a codec, that is, high-efficient video coding (HEVC/H.265) and its objective analysis along with its predecessor that is advanced video coding (AVC/H.264) and with VP8 (WebM Project of Google) reported here. Further, the bit rate analysis that has been conducted, also accounts in conjunction with the bitrate investigation, which is an imperative perspective vital for the telemedicine field. The simulation results reported here represents the compression ratio (CR = 118.23:1) with HEVC/H.265 codec over the compression ratio (CR = 20.52:1) provided by AVC/H.264 and VP8 (CR = 78.29:1). There has been significant improvement observed in alignment of the peak signal-to-noise ratio (APSNR), structural similarity (SSIM), and mean squared error (MSE) metrics. Overall, the performance of the anticipated technique is satisfactory for the forthcoming telemedicine or clinical use.     

一种基于视觉感知的H.264码率控制算法

针对目前视频编码标准H.264的码率控制算法未考虑人眼视觉感知、易导致编码后视频图像质量波动的不足,提出了一种基于视觉感知的H.264码率控制算法.首先,设计了像素域的恰可察觉失真模型.在此基础上,根据各帧的恰可察觉失真的大小进行帧层比特分配.其次,建立了基于结构相似度的率失真模型,并采用此模型设计了基本单元层（basic unit,BU）的比特分配方案.最后结合二次速率-量化模型得到量化参数.实验结果表明,该算法与目前H.264中典型的码率控制算法相比,错误率降低了0.2％.     

自适应六边形-菱形运动估计算法及其在H.264中应用

运动估计是视频图像编码中运算量很大的部分,也是影响系统实时性能的瓶颈。为了减少图像编码的运算量,文章介绍和分析了用于视频编码标准H.264的基于六边形的搜索算法(HS),在此基础上根据H.264多模式的运动估计提出自适应六边形-菱形整像素算法,它体现了粗定位和准确定位的并行处理思想,仿真结果表明在获得与HS快速算法相当的图像质量和信噪比的情况下,可提高H.264视频编码的速度和效率。     

基于VBR视频的联合信源信道码率控制方法

VBR视频编码与传输相比于CBR具有更大的优势。VBR编码中,需要根据编解码缓冲区和网络的约束进行信源信道码率控制。本文将联合信源信道码率选择问题进行简化,针对最新的视频压缩标准H．264提出准确的码率模型,在此模型下进行VBR信源编码码率控制,并根据缓)中器状态进行信道传输速率选择来获得平滑的网络流量。实验结果表明,这种VBR码率控制方法比CBR可以获得更高和更平稳的视频质量,而且在场景切换时效果更明显。     

Efficient rate control scheme using modified inter-layer dependency for spatial scalability

Scalable video coding extension has been added to H.264AVC to support compression and encoding of multiple resolution video sequences, having different frame rates and fidelities in a single bit stream. The motion vectors and the residual data of the enhancement layers are derived from up-sampling the co-located macroblock (MB) of the base layer. The peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) across the enhancement layers is degraded as up-sampling introduces distortion of high-frequency components. In this paper, a spatial-resolution-ratio-based MB mode decision scheme is proposed for spatially enhanced layers. The scheme uses the motion estimated at the base layer, to encode the respective MBs in the enhancement layers. The spatial–temporal search schemes at the enhancement layers are used to derive motion vectors and residues that are encoded using a quantization parameter obtained using independent rate control (IRC) scheme. The IRC from the prior art is modified to achieve better rate control per layer by recursive updates for mean absolute difference values of each basic unit. Proposed modified inter-layer dependency shows improvement in the PSNR for enhancement layers while the updated IRC enforces better IRC for all the layers.     

A fast distance-based mode decision algorithm for 4×4 blocks in H.264/AVC intra prediction

H.264/AVC employs rate-distortion optimisation technique to achieve high coding efficiency, but it is computing-intensive. This letter presents a fast distance-based mode decision algorithm for 4×4 blocks in H.264/AVC intra prediction. Firstly, the distance between neighbouring blocks of the current block is defined. Then, the modes around up and left modes are selected as the candidate modes if the distance is small, otherwise early termination technique is used to further reduce the complexity, and either four or more modes are chosen based on the difference of rate-distortion optimisation cost. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithm can predict a 4×4 intra block by only about 3·52 modes and reduce the total encoding time by about 31·37% with negligible peak signal-to-noise ratio decrement and bit rate increment.     

Intra mode decision and frame layer Lagrange multiplier adjustment scheme for H.264 based on structural similarity

H.264 takes rate distortion optimisation (RDO) technique to perform intra and inter mode decision and achieves higher coding efficiency, but the objective distortion metric such as mean square error (MSE) is employed in traditional RDO framework, which cannot acquire optimal subjective quality. In this paper, structural similarity (SSIM)-based subjective distortion is applied to RDO-based intra mode decision in H.264 I frame video coding, and a linear SSIM distortion model is firstly proposed and SSIM-based rate distortion cost function for intra mode decision is defined. Furthermore, a content adaptive frame layer Lagrange multiplier adjustment scheme is proposed to balance the tradeoff between rate and SSIM distortion better. Experimental results show that, the proposed method encodes image structural information more effectively and thus acquires better perceptual quality and subjective RDO performance compared with objective distortion-based RDO method. Under the same perceptual quality, our scheme achieves about 8·03% I frame bit rate reduction on average for various sequences over MSE-based RDO employed in JM reference software.     

A HEVC Video Steganalysis Algorithm Based on PU Partition Modes

Steganalysis is a technique used for detecting the existence of secret information embedded into cover media such as images and videos. Currently, with the higher speed of the Internet, videos have become a kind of main methods for transferring information. The latest video coding standard High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) shows better coding performance compared with the H.264/AVC standard published in the previous time. Therefore, since the HEVC was published, HEVC videos have been widely used as carriers of hidden information.
In this paper, a steganalysis algorithm is proposed to detect the latest HEVC video steganography method which is based on the modification of Prediction Units (PU) partition modes. To detect the embedded data, All the PU partition modes are extracted from P pictures, and the probability of each PU partition mode in cover videos and stego videos is adopted as the classification feature. Furthermore, feature optimization is applied, that the 25-dimensional steganalysis feature has been reduced to the 3-dimensional feature. Then the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to identify stego videos. It is demonstrated in experimental results that the proposed steganalysis algorithm can effectively detect the stego videos, and much higher classification accuracy has been achieved compared with state-of-the-art work.     

An FPGA-friendly CABAC-encoding architecture with dataflow modelling programming

Video compression standards play an important role in video encoding, transmitting and decoding. To exploit the similarities or commonality among standards, a Reconfigurable Video Coding framework is developed in MPEG by employing a dataflow modelling method to modulate the basic configuration components of encoders or decoders. However, the entropy coding for bitstream generating and parsing during the configuration process is very complex, especially when employing the Context Adaptive Based Arithmetic Coding (CABAC). This paper proposes an optimized ‘Producer–Consumer’ architecture for CABAC by dataflow modelling. To achieve high-throughput and low-resource consumption, the buffer accessing speed and buffer size in the architecture is analysed and refined. The proposed CABAC is implemented by dataflow language Cal and is synthesized to FPGA. Results show that it can process 3.5 bins/cycle with a 10-byte buffer consumption at a 120?MHz working frequency. It is sufficient for real-time encoding of H.265/HEVC at level 6.2 main tier.