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Decoder-driven mode decision in a block-based distributed video codec

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Abstract

Distributed Video Coding (DVC) is a video coding paradigm in which the computational complexity is shifted from the encoder to the decoder. DVC is based on information theoretic results suggesting that, under ideal conditions, the same rate-distortion performance can be achieved as for traditional video codecs. In practice however, there is still a significant performance gap between the two coding architectures. One of the main reasons for this gap is the lack of multiple coding modes in current DVC solutions. In this paper, we propose a block-based distributed video codec that supports three coding modes: Wyner–Ziv, skip, and intra. The mode decision process is entirely decoder-driven. Skip blocks are selected based on the estimated accuracy of the side information. The choice between intra and Wyner–Ziv coding modes is made on a rate-distortion basis, by selecting the coding mode with the lowest rate while assuring equal distortion for both modes. Experimental results illustrate that the proposed block-based architecture has some advantages over classical bitplane-based approaches. Introducing skip and intra coded blocks yields average bitrate gains of up to 33.7% over our basic configuration supporting Wyner–Ziv mode only, and up to 29.7% over the reference bitplane-based DISCOVER codec.

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Notes

  1. Therefore, DVC is often referred to as Wyner–Ziv (WZ) coding, and the independently encoded/jointly decoded frames in a DVC codec are called WZ frames.

  2. Although online stopping criteria for the turbo decoder have been described in the literature [2, 14, 24, 28], in this case perfect error detection at the decoder is assumed.

  3. \(\textrm{precision} = \frac{\textrm {true positives}}{\textrm{true positives + false positives}}\); \(\textrm{recall} = \frac{\textrm{true positives}}{\textrm{true positives + false negatives}}\)

  4. By side information block, we refer to the blocks to which a bidirectional motion vector was assigned during the side information generation. In the proposed codec, side information blocks are 8 × 8 pixels.

  5. This is valid for a GOP size 4. More sets will be required for longer GOPs.

  6. Experiments showed that considering two frames yields good results. Adding more frames does not improve the performance.

  7. http://enpub.fulton.asu.edu/ivu/Software/DVC/BLASTDVC/BLAST.htm (accessed December 1, 2010).

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Acknowledgements

The research activities that have been described in this paper were funded by Ghent University, the Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology (IBBT), the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Flanders), the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (FWO-Flanders), and the European Union.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics and Information Systems (ELIS)—Multimedia Lab, Ghent University—IBBT, Gaston Crommenlaan 8 bus 201, 9050, Ghent, Belgium

    Stefaan Mys, Jürgen Slowack, Jozef Škorupa, Peter Lambert & Rik Van de Walle

  2. Electronics and Informatics Department (ETRO), Vrije Universiteit Brussel—IBBT, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Nikos Deligiannis & Adrian Munteanu

Authors
  1. Stefaan Mys
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  2. Jürgen Slowack
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  3. Jozef Škorupa
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  4. Nikos Deligiannis
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  5. Peter Lambert
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  6. Adrian Munteanu
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  7. Rik Van de Walle
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Correspondence to Jürgen Slowack.

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Mys, S., Slowack, J., Škorupa, J. et al. Decoder-driven mode decision in a block-based distributed video codec. Multimed Tools Appl 58, 239–266 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-010-0718-5

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