面向HEVC的恰可察觉编码失真模型

为进一步提高现有视频编码技术的压缩效率及解 码重建图像的主观视觉感知质量,在现有人眼恰可 察觉失真(JND,just noticeable distortion)模型的基础上, 提出了恰可察觉编码失真(JNCD,just noticeable coding dist ortion)模型。首先,通过主观实验,对恰可察觉梯 度幅值差异(JNGD,just noticeable gradient difference)进 行了研究,分析其变化规律并建立JNGD模型。使用全变 分(TV,total variation)方法将图像分解为结构图和纹理图后,分别求 取其梯度信息得到结构梯度图和纹理梯度图, 利用JNGD模型分别滤除结构梯度图和纹理梯度图中的人眼不可察觉的梯度幅值 ;其后,分析了人眼感知对于不同 梯度幅值的编码失真敏感性,设计了梯度幅值与JNCD值的主观实验,得到两者的关系模型; 最后,考虑人眼对图 像中的边缘、平坦和纹理3类区域失真感知程度的差异性,利用滤波后的结构梯度和纹理梯 度信息将图像划分为上 述3类区域,最终建立整幅图像的JNCD模型。为验证本文提出的JNCD模型的可靠性,在高效 视频编码(HEVC)标准测试平台上进行的模型验证结果表明,在本模 型指导下的编码其解码重建 图像获得了较好的主观视觉效果,可为人眼视觉感知冗余的分析及感知编码的改 进提供依据。     

Adaptive image coding with perceptual distortion control

This paper presents a discrete cosine transform (DCT)-based locally adaptive perceptual image coder, which discriminates between image components based on their perceptual relevance for achieving increased performance in terms of quality and bit rate. The new coder uses a locally adaptive perceptual quantization scheme based on a tractable perceptual distortion metric. Our strategy is to exploit human visual masking properties by deriving visual masking thresholds in a locally adaptive fashion. The derived masking thresholds are used in controlling the quantization stage by adapting the quantizer reconstruction levels in order to meet the desired target perceptual distortion. The proposed coding scheme is flexible in that it can be easily extended to work with any subband-based decomposition in addition to block-based transform methods. Compared to existing perceptual coding methods, the proposed perceptual coding method exhibits superior performance in terms of bit rate and distortion control. Coding results are presented to illustrate the performance of the presented coding scheme.     

Novel Rate Control Scheme for Low Delay Video Coding of HEVC

In this paper, a novel rate control scheme for low delay video coding of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is proposed. The proposed scheme is developed by considering a new temporal prediction structure of HEVC. In the proposed scheme, the relationship between bit rate and quantization step is exploited firstly to formulate an accurate quadratic rate‐quantization (R‐Q) model. Secondly, a method of determining the quantization parameters (QPs) for the first frames within a group of pictures is proposed. Thirdly, an accurate frame‐level bit allocation method is proposed for HEVC. Finally, based on the proposed R‐Q model and the target bit allocated for the frame, the QPs are predicted for coding tree units by using rate‐distortion (R‐D) optimization. We compare our scheme against that of three other state‐of‐the‐art rate control schemes. Experimental results show that the proposed rate control scheme can increase the Bjøntegaard delta peak signal‐to‐noise ratio by 0.65 dB and 0.09 dB on average compared with the JCTVC‐I0094 and JCTVC‐M0036 schemes, respectively, both of which have been implemented in an HEVC test model encoder; furthermore, the proposed scheme achieves a similar R‐D performance to Wang's scheme, as well as obtaining the smallest bit rate mismatch error of all the schemes.     

基于人类视觉系统的宏块级自适应频率加权算法

为提高视频编码主观质量,满足人类视觉特性,降低编码比特率,提出一种基于人类视觉系统的宏块级自适应频率加权算法。该算法利用人类视觉系统频率敏感性、视频图像内容特征和人眼对不同视频内容敏感度不同特性,定义了三种频率加权策略,并根据相邻宏块划分方式和预测模式为不同宏块选择不同的加权策略,实现了逐宏块更新量化矩阵。实验结果表明,本文算法在不引入更多计算复杂度的同时,较大程度提高了视频主观质量;与无频率加权算法相比,在相同主观质量下,降低约11%的编码比特数。      

Locally adaptive perceptual image coding

Most existing efforts in image and video compression have focused on developing methods to minimize not perceptual but rather mathematically tractable, easy to measure, distortion metrics. While nonperceptual distortion measures were found to be reasonably reliable for higher bit rates (high-quality applications), they do not correlate well with the perceived quality at lower bit rates and they fail to guarantee preservation of important perceptual qualities in the reconstructed images despite the potential for a good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This paper presents a perceptual-based image coder, which discriminates between image components based on their perceptual relevance for achieving increased performance in terms of quality and bit rate. The new coder is based on a locally adaptive perceptual quantization scheme for compressing the visual data. Our strategy is to exploit human visual masking properties by deriving visual masking thresholds in a locally adaptive fashion based on a subband decomposition. The derived masking thresholds are used in controlling the quantization stage by adapting the quantizer reconstruction levels to the local amount of masking present at the level of each subband transform coefficient. Compared to the existing non-locally adaptive perceptual quantization methods, the new locally adaptive algorithm exhibits superior performance and does not require additional side information. This is accomplished by estimating the amount of available masking from the already quantized data and linear prediction of the coefficient under consideration. By virtue of the local adaptation, the proposed quantization scheme is able to remove a large amount of perceptually redundant information. Since the algorithm does not require additional side information, it yields a low entropy representation of the image and is well suited for perceptually lossless image compression.     

基于纹理分解的变换域JND模型及图像编码方法

为了提高变换域JND模型的精度,在计算对比度掩盖因子时只对纹理分量滤波并判断区域类型的方法避免了JND低估的问题。将改进的JND模型用于图像编码,考虑到辅助信息对编码效率的影响,把经过调整后的JND模型结合到量化过程中,能去除更多的视觉冗余并保持兼容性。仿真结果表明,纹理分解的方法提高了JND阈值,改进的编码方法在相似的视觉质量下能节省更多的码率并且不需要增加额外的比特开销,该编码思路也适用于视频编码。     

考虑视频内容的H.265/HEVC帧层码率分配算法

为了保证一定视频质量下编码器输出的码率符合给定的目标码率,提出一种考虑视频内容特性的H.265/HEVC帧层码率分配算法。首先从率失真理论分析的角度推导出影响输出码率的主要因素,然后根据视频编码原理,预测出帧内容复杂度参数,从而建立一种更有效的帧层码率分配算法。实验结果表明,所提算法可以使帧层目标码率与编码码率保持更好的一致性,且重构视频质量平均提高了0.103 dB。     

基于小波零树的图像感知熵编码研究

本文以小波作为编码框架,通过对人工合成图像的主观实验,得出小波变换域中各不同频带的视觉误差阈值函数,进而提出了一个新的量化编码方案。该方案基于小波域非均匀零树结构量化和高频低能系数的视觉非均匀量化。对实际图像的感知熵和几乎透明的情形作了研究,与JPEG标准也作了比较。实验表明该方案较充分、自适应地考虑人眼视觉冗余,具有稳健、实际可行的特点。对自然图像,在十倍压缩比左右可有视觉无失真质量。     

Perceptual-based distributed video coding

In this paper, we propose a perceptual-based distributed video coding (DVC) technique. Unlike traditional video codecs, DVC applies video prediction process at the decoder side using previously received frames. The predicted video frames (i.e., side information) contain prediction errors. The encoder then transmits error-correcting parity bits to the decoder to reconstruct the video frames from side information. However, channel codes based on i.i.d. noise models are not always efficient in correcting video prediction errors. In addition, some of the prediction errors do not cause perceptible visual distortions. From perceptual coding point of view, there is no need to correct such errors. This paper proposes a scheme for the decoder to perform perceptual quality analysis on the predicted side information. The decoder only requests parity bits to correct visually sensitive errors. More importantly, with the proposed technique, key frames can be encoded at higher rates while still maintaining consistent visual quality across the video sequence. As a result, even the objective PSNR measure of the decoded video sequence will increase too. Experimental results show that the proposed technique improves the R-D performance of a transform domain DVC codec both subjectively and objectively. Comparisons with a well-known DVC codec show that the proposed perceptual-based DVC coding scheme is very promising for distributed video coding framework.     

SSIM-based Error Resilient Video Coding Over Packet-Switched Networks

The visual quality is a critical factor in prediction video coding over packet-switched networks. However, the traditional MSE-based error resilient video coding cannot correlate well with the perceptual characteristics of the human visual system (HVS). This paper proposes a structural similarity (SSIM) based error resilient video coding scheme to improve the visual quality of compressed videos over packet-switched networks. In the proposed scheme, a SSIM-based end-to-end distortion model is developed to estimate the perceptual distortion due to quantization, error concealment, and error propagation. Based on this model, an adaptive mode selection strategy is presented to enhance the communication robustness of compressed videos. Experiments show that the proposed scheme significantly improves the visual quality for H.264/AVC video coding over packet-switched networks.     

波形内插语音编码器中快渐变波形幅度的量化

在低速率参数语音编码算法中,如何用有限的比特数有效地量化幅度谱是一个关键问题。本文对波形内插语音编码模型中快渐变波形幅度的量化问题进行了深入研究和分析,提出了一种基于矢量变维和DCT的REW幅度感觉加权量化方案,该方法降低了编码比特数,减少了存储和计算复杂度,增强了编码语音的感性质量。主观听力测试结果表明该量化方案在每帧4比特时的WI语音编解码质量要优于用基于DCT的REW幅度矩阵量化方案在每帧10比特时的重建语音质量。     

MPEG－2视频编码的自适应量化器设计

本文在研究ＭＰＥＧ－２ＴＭ５建议的自适应量化策略的基础上，设计了一种新的自适应量化器。以块为基础分析宏块的局部视觉活动特性，并通过综合评价宏块中各块的视觉活动特性来最终决定自适应视觉量化因子。实验结果表明，本文所设计的自适应量化器能均匀分布图像编码主观失真，改善了图像质量，特别是减少了平坦区的块效应，降低了平坦区强边缘的失真。     

基于码流的G-PCC压缩点云无参考感知质量评估

为了实现对采用G-PCC编码的点云质量的实时监控,提出一种基于码流的无参考点云感知质量评估模型。首先根据主观实验的结果分析确定几何无损时点云的感知质量与纹理量化参数之间的关系,然后使用纹理量化参数和纹理比特率来预测纹理复杂度,结合空域掩盖效应建立几何无损时的点云质量评估模型。然后研究位置量化尺度对点云下采样质量的影响,发现纹理量化参数与位置量化尺度对点云质量的影响相互独立,并最终得到完整的点云质量评估模型。对该模型在WPC4点云数据库中进行测试,其SRCC为0.9447,PLCC为0.9465,RMSE为6.8252,表明该模型有良好的性能,与现有性能最好的GraphSIM客观指标相比,该模型指标的PLCC和SRCC分布分别提高了0.0223和0.0238,RMSE降低了1.1898。     

Fast inter-prediction mode decision algorithm for HEVC

The high efficiency video coding (HEVC) is superior to the previous video coding standards in compression performance, while the computational complexity is introduced simultaneously. The complexity increases mainly due to the novel flexible partitioning scheme that allows the inter-prediction mode partition split via exhaustive rate-distortion optimization (RDO). In this paper, a fast inter-prediction mode decision algorithm is proposed, which contains adaptive threshold determination based on quantization parameter and fast inter-prediction mode partition decision. The proposed algorithm utilizes the edge information of the partition to simplify the RDO and then accelerates coding time of inter-prediction mode decision structure for the original HEVC encoder. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve 39.5 % coding time reduction with just 1.97 % bitrate increase on average under random access condition and 35.2 % coding time reduction with just 1.89 % bitrate increase on average under low-delay B condition, compared to the original HEVC encoder.     

A New Bit Rate Control of MPEG with Predictive and Adaptive Perceptual Quantization

Bit rate control has been proved to be an important technique used to transmit the variable rate bit stream over a fixed rate channel in MPEG coding. In this paper, a hybrid algorithm is proposed to achieve the rate control and obtain a good picture quality. In the picture layer, the algorithm estimates numbers of bits required for different type of frames. In the macroblock layer, it utilizes the predictive and adaptive perceptual techniques in the regulation of the quantization scale to allocate the target bits. In the upper and left boundary of the picture, the macroblocks are quantized with the perceptual basis to adjust the quantization scale and in the other part of the picture a predictive method is used to update the quantization scale. By using the proposed scheme, the distortion of coding is uniformly distributed in the picture layer as well as in the macroblock layer and better bit rate control is achieved.     

基于马尔可夫模型和小波变换的立体残差图像编码

利用立体图像，三维视觉通信能给人提供一种现场真实感。为了产生一个3D系统，必须同时传送两个图像（左图像和右图像）。因此应当研究一种更有效的编码方案。本文首先研究了立体图像的统计特性和左右图像间的交叉相关性，并在分析了视差和残差图像的统计特性后，提出了一个基于小波变换的视差补偿残差（WDCD）的编码方案。仿真实验结果表明，在比特率为0.23bit/pel时，本文的方案重构的残差图像的信噪比（PSNR）和基于DCT的编码方案相比，要高0.58dB。     

An efficient motion vector coding scheme based on minimum bitrateprediction

Motion vector coding efficiency is becoming an important issue in low bitrate video coding because of its increasing relative bit portion. This work presents a new motion vector coding technique based on minimum bitrate prediction. In the proposed scheme, a predicted motion vector is chosen from the three causal neighboring motion vectors so that it can produce a minimum bitrate in motion vector difference coding. Then the prediction error, or motion vector difference (MVD), and the mode information (MODE) for determining the predicted motion vector at a decoder are coded and transmitted in order. Sending bits for the MVD ahead of bits for the MODE, the scheme can minimize the bit amount for the MODE by taking advantage of the fact that the minimum bitrate predictor is used for motion vector prediction. Adaptively combining this minimum bitrate prediction scheme with the conventional model-based prediction scheme, more efficient motion vector coding can be achieved. The proposed scheme improves the coding efficiency noticeably for various video sequences.     

Rate-distortion optimized rate-allocation for motion-compensated predictive video codecs using PixelRank

Inter-frame dependencies are usually ignored in video encoder coding parameter selection. This gives a non-optimal solution and degrades the compression performance. A mathematical model to estimate the importance of each pixel on the reconstructed video quality, called PixelRank, is developed in this paper. Theoretical analysis on the parameters used for PixelRank score calculation dealing with the video coding optimization problem is also given. The PixelRank algorithm tracks the importance of each pixel and distributes the PixelRank scores. With the PixelRank scores for all the pixels, MB-based quantization parameters are adjusted accordingly. Based on this technique, the rate can be allocated more accurately according to the importance of the pixels, thus achieving better overall rate-distortion performance. Compared to the non-optimized scheme in H.264/AVC, the proposed scheme can reduce 13.53% of the average bitrate and up to 25.17% of bitrate in the simulations.     

An efficient algorithm to eliminate temporal pumping artifact in video coding with hierarchical prediction structure

At low bit-rates, hierarchical prediction structure using quantization parameter cascading strategy will introduce a new temporal distortion, i.e., the temporal pumping artifact (TPA) presenting itself as a stumbling effect which seriously affect the subjective video reconstructive quality. This paper analyzes one important key factor which greatly influence the critical perceptual of the TPA and proposes a metric for just noticeable temporal pumping artifact (JNTPA) based on spatial–temporal masking effects in human visual system (HVS). Finally, an efficient TPA eliminating algorithm in video coding based on the JNTPA has been proposed. The subsequent experiments demonstrate that the estimated JNTPA values using the proposed metric are in line with the HVS perception and comparable with JVT-P104, the proposed TPA eliminating algorithm achieves a more smooth subjective video quality and improves the observe comfort of the human eye. At the same bit-rate, better subjective video quality can be observed using the eliminating algorithm.