Showing papers by "William A. Pearlman published in 2002"

A full-featured, error-resilient, scalable wavelet video codec based on the set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) algorithm

Abstract: Compressed video bitstreams require protection from channel errors in a wireless channel. The 3-D set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) coder has proved its efficiency and its real-time capability in the compression of video. A forward-error-correcting (FEC) channel (RCPC) code combined with a single automatic-repeat request (ARQ) proved to be an effective means for protecting the bitstream. There were two problems with this scheme: (1) the noiseless reverse channel ARQ may not be feasible in practice and (2) in the absence of channel coding and ARQ, the decoded sequence was hopelessly corrupted even for relatively clean channels. We eliminate the need for ARQ by making the 3-D SPIHT bitstream more robust and resistant to channel errors. We first break the wavelet transform into a number of spatio-temporal tree blocks which can be encoded and decoded independently by the 3-D SPIHT algorithm. This procedure brings the added benefit of parallelization of the compression and decompression algorithms, and enables implementation of region-based coding. We demonstrate the packetization of the bitstream and the reorganization of these packets to achieve scalability in bit rate and/or resolution in addition to robustness. Then we encode each packet with a channel code. Not only does this protect the integrity of the packets in most cases, but it also allows detection of packet-decoding failures, so that only the cleanly recovered packets are reconstructed. In extensive comparative tests, the reconstructed video is shown to be superior to that of MPEG-2, with the margin of superiority growing substantially as the channel becomes noisier. Furthermore, the parallelization makes possible real-time implementation in hardware and software.

N-dimensional data compression using set partitioning in hierarchical trees

Abstract: A data structure in a computer memory for use in encoding and decoding an N-dimensional subband decomposition of data points includes, after initialization, three lists: a list of insignificant sets of points (LIS); a list of significant points (LSP); and a list of insignificant points (LIP). The LIS is populated with sets, each of the sets being designated by a root node within the N-dimensional subband decomposition and having a corresponding tree structure of points within the N-dimensional subband decomposition, which tree structure of points is organized as descendants and offspring of the root node but not including the root node, the LIP is populated with points from within the highest designated subband of the N-dimensional subband decomposition, while the LSP is initially empty. The data structure permits encoding and decoding of any N-dimensional data set, i.e., any data set where N is a positive integer. Method and software for employing this data structure are also described.

Embedded Video Subband Coding with 3D SPIHT

Abstract: This chapter is devoted to the exposition of a complete video coding system, which is based on coding of three dimensional (wavelet) subbands with the SPIHT (set partitioning in hierarchical trees) coding algorithm. The SPIHT algorithm, which has proved so successful in still image coding, is also shown to be quite effective in video coding, while retaining its attributes of complete embeddedness and scalability by fidelity and resolution. Three-dimensional spatio-temporal orientation trees coupled with powerful SPIHT sorting and refinement renders 3D SPIHT video coder so efficient that it provides performance superior to that of MPEG-2 and comparable to that of H.263 with minimal system complexity. Extension to color-embedded video coding is accomplished without explicit bit-allocation, and can be used for any color plane representation. In addition to being rate scalable, the proposed video coder allows multiresolution scalability in encoding and decoding in both time and space from one bit-stream. These attributes of scalability, lacking in MPEG-2 and H.263, along with many desirable features, such as full embedded-ness for progressive transmission, precise rate control for constant bit-rate (CBR) traffic, and low-complexity for possible software-only video applications, makes the proposed video coder an attractive candidate for for multi-media applications. Moreover, the codec is fast and efficient from low to high rates, obviating the need for a different standard for each rate range.

Embedded video compression with error resilience and error concealment

Abstract: This paper presents an embedded video compression with error resilience and error concealment using three dimensional SPIHT (3-D SPIHT) algorithm. We use a new method for partitioning the wavelet coefficients into spatio-temporal (s-t) blocks to get higher error resilience and to support error concealment. Instead of grouping adjacent coefficients, we group coefficients in some fixed intervals in the lowest subband to get interleaved trees. All of the sub-blocks correspond to a group of full frames within the image sequence, because each group of interleaved trees has coefficients dispersed over the entire frame group. Then we separate the stream into fixed length packets and encode every one with a channel code. Experiments show that our proposed method brings higher error resilience in noisy channels since the decoded coefficients associated with early decoding error would be spread out to the whole area along with the sequence, and we can conceal the lost coefficients with the surrounding coefficients even if some of substreams are totally missing. In addition to that, our proposed method gives higher coding performance in noseless channels than the conventional grouping method of grouping contiguous trees.

Motion-compensated two-link chain coding for binary shape sequence

Abstract: In this paper, we present a motion compensated two-link chain coding technique to effectively encode 2-D binary shape sequences for object-based video coding. This technique consists of a contour motion estimation and compensation algorithm and a two-link chain coding algorithm. The object contour is defined on a 6-connected contour lattice for a smoother contour representation. The contour in the current frame is first predicted by global motion and local motion based on the decoded contour in the previous frame; then, it is segmented into motion success segments, which can be predicted by the global motion or the local motion, and motion failure segments, which can not be predicted by the global and local motion. For each motion failure segment, a two-link chain code, which uses one chain code to represent two consecutive contour links, followed by an arithmetic coder is proposed for efficient coding. Each motion success segment can be represented by the motion vector and its length. For contour motion estimation and compensation, besides the translational motion model, an affine global motion model is proposed and investigated for complex global motion. We test the performance of the proposed technique by several MPEG-4 shape test sequences. The experimental results show that our proposed scheme is better than the CAE technique which is applied in the MPEG-4 verification model.

Field tests of error-resilient 3D SPIHT vs. MPEG-2

Abstract: Error Resilient and Error Concealment 3-D SPIHT (ERC-SPIHT) is a joint source channel coder developed to improve the overall performance against channel bit errors without requiring automatic-repeat-request (ARQ). The objective of this research is to test and validate the properties of two competing video compression algorithms in a wireless environment. The property focused on is error resiliency to the noise inherent in wireless data communication. ERC-SPIHT and MPEG-2 with forward error correction (FEC) are currently undergoing tests over a satellite communication link. The initial test indicates that ERC-SPIHT gives excellent results in noisy channel conditions is shown to have superior performance over MPEG-2 with FEC when communicated over a military satellite channel.

Performance evaluation and optimization of embedded image sources over noisy channels

Abstract: We investigate and prove the relationships among several commonly used and new performance metrics for embedded image bit streams transmitted over noisy channels. The average of the first error-free run length (FEFRL) is proposed as a simpler performance metric. On binary symmetric channels (BSC), the average FEFRL is obtained in closed form, which greatly simplifies performance optimization. Simulation results justify the merit of the proposed technique.