精细分级视频码流传输和容错性能的研究

精细分级编码是解决网络异构性的有效方法之一。编码输出码流的容错性能是衡量编码技术性能的重要指标。该文实现了一个支持精细分级编码的H.264编解码器,并对精细分级码流在IP网上的传输性能进行了研究。提出了一种精细分级码流容错传输打包策略。实验结果表明,该方案具有良好的容错性能。     

Joint Source Coding and Network-Supported Distributed Error Control for Video Streaming in Wireless Multihop Networks

Real-time video communication over wireless multihop networks has gained significant interest in the last few years. In this paper, we focus our attentions on the problem of source coding and link adaptation for packetized video streaming in wireless multihop networks when network nodes are media-aware. We consider a system where source coding is employed at the video encoder by selecting the encoding mode of each individual macro-block, while error control is exercised through application-layer retransmissions at each media-aware network node. For this system model, the contribution of each communication link on the end-to-end video distortion is considered separately in order to achieve globally optimal source coding and ARQ error control. To reach the globally optimal solution, we formulate the problem of joint source and distributed error control (JSDEC) and devise a low-complexity solution algorithm based on dynamic programming. Extensive experiments have been carried out on the basis of H.264/AVC codec to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm over the existing joint source and channel coding (JSCC) algorithm in terms of PSNR perceived at the decoder under time-varying multihop wireless links.     

Error-Resilient Video Encoding and Transmission in Multirate Wireless LANs

In this paper, we present a cross-layer approach for video transmission in wireless LANs that employs joint source and application-layer channel coding, together with rate adaptation at the wireless physical layer (PHY). While the purpose of adopting PHY rate adaptation in modern wireless LANs like the IEEE 802.11a/b is to maximize the throughput, in this paper we exploit this feature to increase the robustness of wireless video. More specifically, we investigate the impact of adapting the PHY transmission rate, thus changing the throughput and packet loss channel characteristics, on the rate-distortion performance of a transmitted video sequence. To evaluate the video quality at the decoder, we develop a cross-layer modeling framework that considers jointly the effect of application-layer joint source-channel coding (JSCC), error concealment, and the PHY transmission rate. The resulting models are used by an optimization algorithm that calculates the optimal JSCC allocation for each video frame, and PHY transmission rate for each outgoing transport packet. The comprehensive simulation results obtained with the H.264/AVC codec demonstrate considerable increase in the PSNR of the decoded video when compared with a system that employs separately JSCC and PHY rate adaptation. Furthermore, our performance analysis indicates that the optimal PHY transmission rate calculated by the proposed algorithm, can be significantly different when compared with rate adaptation algorithms that target throughput improvement.     

用于IP网络的差错复原编解码器

随着因特网的飞速发展,基于IP网络的视频通信越来受到重视,但由于IP网络属于易于发生差错的信道,因此,基于IP网络的视频业务必须要到信道差错的影响,为了抗信道差错,差错复原技术已成为易发生差错信道下视频编码的重视组成部分,针对IP网络时常发生拥塞和带宽经常变动而造成的数据分组丢失,时延和抖动问题,提出了用于IP网络的差错复原技术综合应用解决方案,该方案通过综合运用多种差错原复技术,大大提高了压缩码流的抗差错能力和解码器和差错复原能力,同时应用该方案实现了具有差错复原性能的H．263、H．26L视频编码解器。利用Internet网络模型对编解码器的差错复原能力进行了实验,实验结果表明,该视频编解码器具有良好的差错复原性能,重图象的主客观质量得到了明显的改善。     

Error robust scalable audio streaming over wireless IP networks

Streaming high-fidelity audio over wireless Internet protocol (IP) networks is a challenging task because the networks present not only packet losses, but also residual bit errors. These losses and errors have severe adverse effect on the compressed audio bitstream. To solve this problem, this paper introduces error resilience in conjunction with error protection for scalable audio streaming over wireless networks. Specifically, error resilience is achieved by performing bitstream data partitioning and reversible variable length coding in the audio coder. Error protection is provided by layered product channel code to simultaneously handle packet losses and residual bit errors. Both the row and column codes of the product code provide unequal error protection for different layers of the audio bitstream by considering the characteristics of the scalable audio. Rate-distortion optimization is performed to determine the best source-channel coding tradeoff that minimizes the average expected end-to-end distortion. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach.     

一种基于信源信道联合的最优速率分配算法

针对视频数据在无线信道上可靠传输问题,提出了一种基于信源信道联合的最优速率分配算法。该算法在网络带宽一定的情况下,从信源、信道及差错弹性能力权衡考虑,引入了信源解码器的抗误码性能指标,根据不同的信道状态确定信源信道编码的最优速率分配方案,从而获得最大的可解码长度,并最终获取最佳重建视频质量。仿真结果表明,该方案与传统的联合信源信道速率分配算法相比可获得更高的性能增益,适合于视频数据在无线网络上传输。     

Two-Dimensional Channel Coding Scheme for MCTF-Based Scalable Video Coding

The motion-compensated temporal filtering (MCTF)-based scalable video coding (SVC) provides a full scalability including spatial, temporal and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) scalability with fine granularity, each of which may result in different visual effect. This paper addresses a novel approach of two-dimensional unequal error protection (2D UEP) for the scalable video with a combined temporal and quality (SNR) scalability over packet-erasure channel. The bit-stream is divided into scalable subbitstreams based on the structure of MCTF. Each subbitstream is further divided into several quality layers. Unequal quantities of bits are allocated to protect different layers to obtain acceptable quality video with smooth degradation under different transmission error conditions. Experimental results are presented to show the advantage of the proposed 2D UEP scheme over the traditional one-dimensional unequal error protection (1D UEP) scheme. Comparing the proposed method with the 1D UEP scheme on SNR layers, our method gives up to 0.81-dB improvement for some video sequences     

一种基于小波域规则三角形网格运动补偿的可扩展视频编码方法

可扩展视频编码是指已编码码流在解码端能够进行部分解码,且重构图像的质量与接收到的信息量成比例变化,同时空域分辨率和时域分辨率可以根据解码端的要求改变。为了提供小波编码视频码流的高度可扩展性,提出了一种基于小波域规则三角形网格运动补偿的可扩展视频编码方法。该方法首先对参考帧使用冗余离散小波变换(RDWT)进行分解,并在RDWT小波域使用网格运动模型进行运动补偿,以提高运动补偿效率;其次在编码阶段则采用基于子带扫描顺序的改进SPIHT技术来保障码流的可扩展特性。实验表明,该方法在获得较高编码效率的同时,还提供了码流的高度可扩展特性。     

一种实时无线网络自适应视频编码方案

MPEG-4中引入的精细可扩展性编码(FGS)具有网络适应力强、容错性能高、终端自适应等特点，但是与非可扩展性编码相比，编码效率与视频质量较低。文章在FGS的基础上，提出了一种自适应运动补偿精细可扩展性编码方案以及相应的控制算法。与传统的FGS相比，在同等网速率下，提高了视频质量近2db，并且提供了在容错能力、编码效率和终端解码能力三者之间的动态平衡。     

Content-based scalable H.263 video coding for road traffic monitoring

For sending video data through very low bit-rate mobile channels, video codec with high compression rate is the pre-requisite. Although the H.263 video codec is recommended as one of the candidates due to its simplicity and efficiency, it is generally believed that its compression efficiency can be further improved if the content-based scalable video coding technique can be applied. In this paper, we propose a modified H.263 encoder which supports real-time content-based scalable video coding. The proposed technique is applied to real-time video surveillance systems for road traffic monitoring. For the proposed approach, the moving objects, i.e. cars, are first extracted from the steady background. Their activities are then further classified as fast or slow by assessing the regularity of their motion. The information is then passed to a modified H.263 encoder to reduce the temporal and spatial redundancies in the video. As compared with the conventional H.263 encoder using for the same application, the proposed system has a 20% increase in compression rate with negligible visual distortion. The proposed system fully complies with the ITU H.263 standard hence the encoded bit stream is completely comprehensible to the conventional H.263 decoder.     

Scalable protection for MPEG-4 fine granularity scalability

The newly adopted MPEG-4 fine granularity scalability (FGS) video coding standard offers easy and flexible adaptation to varying network bandwidths and different application needs. Encryption for FGS should preserve such adaptation capabilities and enable intermediate stages to process encrypted data directly without decryption. In this paper, we propose two novel encryption algorithms for MPEG-4 FGS that meet these requirements. The first algorithm encrypts an FGS stream (containing both the base and the enhancement layers) into a single access layer and preserves the original fine granularity scalability and error resilience performance in an encrypted stream. The second algorithm encrypts an FGS stream into multiple quality layers divided according to either peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) or bit rates, with lower quality layers being accessible and reusable by a higher quality layer of the same type, but not vice versa. Both PSNR and bit-rate layers are supported simultaneously so a layer of either type can be selected on the fly without decryption. The base layer for the second algorithm may be unencrypted to allow free view of the content at low-quality or content-based search of a video database without decryption. Both algorithms are fast, error-resilient, and have negligible compression overhead. The same approach can be applied to other scalable multimedia formats.     

SPC: Fast and Efficient Scalable Predictive Coding of Animated Meshes

Animated meshes are often represented by a sequence of static meshes with constant connectivity. Due to their frame-based representation they usually occupy a vast amount of bandwidth or disk space. We present a fast and efficient scalable predictive coding (SPC) scheme for frame-based representations of animated meshes. SPC decomposes animated meshes in spatial and temporal layers which are efficiently encoded in one pass through the animation. Coding is performed in a streamable and scalable fashion. Dependencies between neighbouring spatial and temporal layers are predictively exploited using the already encoded spatio-temporal neighbourhood. Prediction is performed in the space of rotation-invariant coordinates compensating local rigid motion. SPC supports spatial and temporal scalability, and it enables efficient compression as well as fast encoding and decoding. Parts of SPC were adopted in the MPEG-4 FAMC standard. However, SPC significantly outperforms the streaming mode of FAMC with coding gains of over 33%, while in comparison to the scalable FAMC, SPC achieves coding gains of up to 15%. SPC has the additional advantage over FAMC of achieving real-time encoding and decoding rates while having only low memory requirements. Compared to some other non-scalable state-of-the-art approaches, SPC shows superior compression performance with gains of over 16% in bit-rate.     

基于JPEG2000和WIPCLDPC的联合信源信道编码

提出了一种联合信源信道编码(JSCC)方案。首先,构造了一种具有重量递增奇偶校验矩阵的非规则LDPC码(WIPC-LDPC),实现非规则LDPC(Irregular LDPC)码比特节点按列重递增的顺序排列。然后,针对JPEG2000码流分层结构的特点,把不同质量层的JPEG2000码流成功地映射到WIPC-LDPC不同度数的比特节点上,以达到对不同重要级别码流的不等错误保护(UEP),从而达到优化重建图像质量和视觉效果的目的。仿真结果表明,与采用随机构造校验矩阵的非规则LDPC码进行等错误保护(EEP),以及采用RCPC、RS码进行不等错误保护的JPEG2000码流相比,JSCC方案提高了重建图像的PSNR,改善了重建图像的主观视觉效果。     

In‐band scalable video coding with integrated wavelet‐based display driving

Abstract— The increasing demand for multimedia over networks and the heterogeneous nature of today's networks and playback devices impose the stringent need for scalable video coding. In this context, in‐band wavelet‐based video‐coding architectures offer full scalability in terms of quality, resolution, and frame‐rate and provide compression performance competitive with that of state‐of‐the‐art non‐scalable technology. Despite these advances, video streaming over wireless networks to handheld terminals is lagging in popularity due to the high power consumption of the existing portable devices. As a possible approach to alleviate this problem, the integration of wavelet‐based passive‐matrix‐display driving into the inverse discrete wavelet transform (IDWT) block of the in‐band video decoding architecture was investigated. In a nutshell, the IDWT no longer needs to be performed by the decoder, being synthesized instead by the display itself. This integration reduces the number of calculations required to generate the driving waveforms for passive‐matrix displays and inherently leads to reduced power consumption on portable terminals. Moreover, the wavelet transform and the considered video‐codec architecture are both resolution‐scalable. Hence, the resolution‐scalability feature of the video codec, enabling resolution‐scalable display driving, is another means to control the power consumption of the portable device.     

Embedded bandwidth scalable wideband codec using hybrid matching pursuit harmonic/CELP scheme

Recent advances in speech coding have made wideband coding feasible at the bit-rates sufficient for mobile communication. Here we propose a novel hybrid harmocic Code Excited Linear Prediction (CELP) scheme for highband coding of band-split scalable wideband codec, where the low-band (0–4?kHz) is critically subsampled and coded selectively using existing narrowband codecs such as 5.4 kbps and 6.3 kbps G.723.1, 8 kbps G.729, and 11.8 kbps G.729E. The high-band signal is divided into stationary mode (SM) and non-stationary mode (NSM) components based on its unique characteristics. In the SM portion, the high-band signal is compressed using a multi-stage coding that combines the sinusoidal model and CELP. The first stage coding applies the damping factor matching pursuit (MP) algorithm without either the Over-Lap-Add (OLA) or smoothly interpolative synthesis schemes and the second stage utilizes CELP with the circular codebook. In the NSM portion, the high-band signals are coded by CELP with both pulse and circular codebooks by applying the complexity-reduced algorithm. To ensure scalability in highband coding, two enhancement layers are used to increase the number of pulses and control the quantizing sinusoidal parameter numbers. This paper describes the new algorithm and discuses novel techniques for efficient bandwidth wideband speech coding and subjective quality performance. For efficient bit allocation and enhanced performance, the pitch of the high-band codec is estimated using the quantized pitch parameter in low-band codec. An informal listening test, rated the subjective speech quality as comparable to that obtainable with G.722.2 as the fullband wideband codec and G.722.2 as the highband codec, the recent standardized band-split wideband codec.     

H.264视频码流分级传输和抗误码性能的研究

网络异构性是面向网络传输的视频编码面临的最大挑战之一,而分层可扩展性编码则在一定程度上解决了这一问题。作为最新的视频编码标准,H.264/AVC很好地继承和发展了该项技术,本文在研究各种分层编码在H.264/AVC标准中的应用情况的基础上,结合差错非均匀保护(UEP-UnequalErrorProtection)技术提出了一种联合可扩展性编码及网络传输方案,实验结果表明该方案提供了更宽范围的可扩展性并具有良好的抗误码性能。     

Robust progressive image transmission over OFDM systems using space-time block code

A joint source-channel coding (JSCC) scheme for robust progressive image transmission over broadband wireless channels using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems with spatial diversity is proposed for the application environments where no feedback channel is available such as broadcasting services. Most of current research about JSCC focuses on either binary symmetric channels (BSC) or additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels. To deal with fading channels in most previous methods, the fading channel is modeled as two state Gilbert-Elliott channel model and the JSCC is normally aimed at the BER of bad channel status, which is not optimal when the channel is at good status. By using diversity techniques and OFDM, the frequency selective fading effects in broadband wireless channels can be significantly decreased and we show that subchannels in OFDM systems approach Gaussian noisy channels when the diversity gain gets large; as a result, the system performance can be improved in terms of throughput and channel coding efficiency. After analyzing the channel property of OFDM systems with spatial diversity, a practical JSCC scheme for OFDM systems is proposed. Simulation results are presented for transmit diversity with different numbers of antennas and different multipath delay and Doppler spread. It is observed from simulations that the performance can be improved more than 4 dB in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of the received image Lena and the performance is not very sensitive to different multipath spread and Doppler frequency.     

On the impact of the GOP size in a temporal H.264/AVC-to-SVC transcoder in baseline and main profile

Scalable video coding is a recent extension of the advanced video coding H.264/AVC standard developed jointly by ISO/IEC and ITU-T, which allows adapting the bitstream easily by dropping parts of it named layers. This adaptation makes it possible for a single bitstream to meet the requirements for reliable delivery of video to diverse clients over heterogeneous networks using temporal, spatial or quality scalability, combined or separately. Since the scalable video coding design requires scalability to be provided at the encoder side, existing content cannot benefit from it. Efficient techniques for converting contents without scalability to a scalable format are desirable. In this paper, an approach for temporal scalability transcoding from H.264/AVC to scalable video coding in baseline and main profile is presented and the impact of the GOP size is analyzed. Independently of the GOP size chosen, time savings of around 63 % for baseline profile and 60 % for main profile are achieved while maintaining the coding efficiency.     

联合H.264和多码率Turbo码的无线视频传输

提出了一种无线视频流联合信源信道编码传输的具体方案,结合H.264视频编码,对其进行合理数据分割后采用UEP技术,并联合信道设计了一个支持信道UEP的多码率Turbo编解码器,同时把Turbo编码与type-Ⅲ HARQ混合自动重传请求机制结合以达到更可靠的数据传输保证。通过仿真实验证明,这种设计方法可进一步优化系统在恶劣的无线信道下的链路吞吐量和取得更好的视频重建质量。