Academic literature on the topic 'SVC - Scalable Video Coding'

Video streaming on the Internet is increasingly using Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH), in which the video is converted into various quality levels and divided into two-second segments. A client can then adjust its video quality over time by choosing to download the appropriate quality level for a given segment using standard HTTP. Scalable Video Coding (SVC) is a promising enhancement to the DASH protocol. With SVC, segments are divided into subset bitstream blocks. At playback, blocks received for a given segment are combined to additively increase the current quality. Unlike traditional DASH, which downloads segments serially, this encoding creates a large space of possible ways to download a video; for example, if given a variable download rate, when should the client try to maximize the current segment's video quality, and when should it instead play it safe and ensure a minimum level of quality for future segments? In this work, we examine the impact of SVC on the client's quality selection policy, with the goal of maximizing a performance metric quantifying user satisfaction. We use acombination of analysis, dynamic programming, and simulation to show that, in many cases, a client should use a diagonal quality selection policy, balancing both of the aforementioned concerns, and that the slope of the best policy flattens out as the variation in download rateincreases.

Fourth Generation (4G) cellular technology Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) offers high data rate capabilities to mobile users; and, operators are trying to deliver a true mobile broadband experience over LTE networks. Mobile TV and Video on Demand (VoD) are expected to be the main revenue generators in the near future [36] and efficient video streaming over wireless is the key to enabling this. 3GPP recommends the use of H.264 baseline profiles for all video based services in Third Generation (3G) Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) networks. However, LTE networks need to support mobile devices with different display resolution requirements like small resolution mobile phones and high resolution laptops. Scalable Video Coding (SVC) is required to achieve this goal. Feasibility study of SVC for LTE is one of the main agenda of 3GPP Release10. SVC enhances H.264 with a set of new profiles and encoding tools that may be used to produce scalable bit streams. Efficient adaptation methods for SVC video transmission over LTE networks are proposed in this thesis. Advantages of SVC over H.264 are analyzed using real time use cases of mobile video streaming. Further, we study the cross layer adaptation and scheduling schemes for delivering SVC video streams most efficiently to the users in LTE networks in unicast and multicast transmissions. We propose SVC based video streaming scheme for unicast and multicast transmissions in the downlink direction, with dynamic adaptations and a scheduling scheme based on channel quality information from users. Simulation results indicate improved video quality for more number of users in the coverage area and efficient spectrum usage with the proposed methods.

<p>A method for constructing a highly scalable bit stream for video coding is presented in detail and implemented in a demo application with a GUI in the Windows Vista operating system.</p><p>The video codec uses the Discrete Wavelet Transform in both spatial and temporal directions together with a zerotree quantizer to achieve a highly scalable bit stream in the senses of quality, spatial resolution and frame rate.</p><br><p>I detta arbete presenteras en metod för att skapa en mycket skalbar videoström. Metoden implementeras sedan i sin helhet i programspråken C och C++ med ett grafiskt användargränssnitt på operativsystemet Windows Vista.</p><p>I metoden används den diskreta wavelettransformen i såväl de spatiella dimensionerna som tidsdimensionen tillsammans med en nollträdskvantiserare för att åstakomma en skalbar videoström i avseendena bildkvalitet, skärmupplösning och antal bildrutor per sekund.</p>

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC/H.265) est la dernière norme de compression vidéo, finalisée en Janvier 20 13. Son extension scalable, SHVC, a été publiée en Octobre 2014 et supporte la scalabilité spatiale, en gamut de couleur (CGS) et même en norme de compression (AVC vers HEVC). SHVC peut être utilisée pour l'introduction de nouveaux services, notamment grâce à la rétrocompatibilité qu'elle apporte par la couche de base (BL) et qui est complétée par une couche d'amélioration (BL+EL) qui apporte les nouveaux services. De plus, SHVC apporte des gains en débit significatifs par rapport à l'encodage dit simulcast (l'encodage HEVC séparés). SHVC est considérée par DVB pour accompagner l'introduction de services UHD et est déjà incluse dans la norme ATSC-3.0. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif de la thèse est la conception de stratégies de régulation de débit pour les codeurs HEVC/SHVC lors de l'introduction de nouveaux services UHD. Premièrement, nous avons étudié l'approche p-domaine qui modélise linéairement le nombre coefficient non-nuls dans les résidus transformés et quantifiés avec le débit, et qui permet de réaliser des régulations de débit peu complexes. Après validation du modèle, nous avons conçu un premier algorithme de contrôle de débit au niveau bloc en utilisant cette approche. Pour chaque bloc et son débit cible associé, notre méthode estime de façon précise le paramètre de quantification (QP) optimal à partir des blocs voisins, en limitant l'erreur de débit sous les 4%. Puis, nous avons proposé un modèle d'estimation déterministe du p-domaine qui évite l'utilisation de tables de correspondance et atteignant une précision d'estimation supérieure à90%. Deuxièmement, nous avons investigué l'impact du ratio de débit entre les couches d'un codeur SHVC sur ses performances de compression, pour la scalabilité spatiale, CGS et SOR vers HDR. En se basant sur les résultats de cette étude, nous avons élaborés un algorithme de régulation de débit adaptatif. La première approche proposée optimise les gains de codage en choisissant dynamiquement le ratio de débit optimal dans un intervalle prédéterminé et fixe lors de l'encodage. Cette première méthode a montré un gain de codage significatif de 4.25% par rapport à une approche à ratio fixe. Cette méthode a été ensuite améliorée en lui ajoutant des contraintes de qualité et de débit sur chaque couche, au lieu de considérer un in tervalle fixe. Ce second algorithme a été testé sur le cas de diffusion de programme HD/UHD ct de déploiement de se1vices UHDI-P1 vers UHD 1-P2 (cas d'usage DVB), où elle permet des gains de 7.51% ct 8.30% respectivement. Enfin, le multiplexage statistique de programmes scalable a été introduit et brièvement investigué. Nous avons proposé une première approche qui ajuste conjointement le débit global attribué à chaque programme ainsi que le ratio de débit, de façon à optimiser les performances de codage. De plus, la méthode proposée lisse les variations et l'homogénéité de la qualité parmi les programmes. Cette méthode a été appliquée à une base de données contenant des flux pré-encodés. La méthode permet dans ce cas une réduction du surcoût de la scalabilité de 11.01% à 7.65% comparé à l'encodage a débit et ratio fixe, tout en apportant une excellente précision et une variation de qualité limitée<br>High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC/H.265) is the latest video coding standard, finalized in Janua1y 2013 as the successor of Advanced Video Coding (AVC/H.264). Its scalable extension, called SHVC was released in October 2014 and enables spatial, bitdepth, color-gamut (CGS) and even standard scalability. SHVC is a good candidate for introducing new services thanks to backward compatibility features with legacy HEVC receivers through the base-layer (BL) stream and next generation ones through the BL+EL (enhancement layer). In addition, SHVC saves substantial bitrate with respect to simulcast coding (independent coding of layers) and is also considered by DVB for UHD introduction and included in ATSC-3 .0. In this context, the work of this thesis aims at designing efficient rate-control strategies for HEVC and its scalable extension SHVC in the context of new UHD formats introduction. First, we have investigated the p-domain approach which consists in linking the number of non-zero transfonned and quantized residual coefficients with the bitrate, in a linear way, to achieve straightforward rate-control. After validating it in the context of HEVC and SHVC codings, we have developed an innovative Coding Tree Unit (CTU)-level rate-control algorithm using the p-domain. For each CTU and its associated targeted bit rate, our method accurately estimates the most appropriate quantization parameter (QP) based on neighborhood indicators, with a bit rate error below 4%. Then, we have proposed a deterministic way of estimating the p-domain model which avoids the implementation of look-up tables. The proposed method enables accurate model estimation over 90%. Second, we have explored the impact of the bitrate ratio between layers on the SHVC performance for the spatial, CGS and SDR-to-HDR scalability. Based on statistical observations, we have built an adaptive rate control algorithms (ARC). We have first proposed an ARC scheme which optimizes coding performance by selecting the optimal ratio into a fixed ratio inte1val, under a global bitrate instruction (BL+EL). This method is adaptive and considers the content and the type of scalability. This first approach enables a coding gain of 4.25% compared to fixed-ratio encoding. Then, this method has been enhanced with quality and bandwidth constraints in each layer instead of considering a fixed interval. This second method has been tested on hybrid delivery of HD/UHD services and backward compatible SHVC encoding of UHDI -PI /UHDI -P2 services (DVB use-case) where it enables significant coding gains of 7.51% and 8.30%, respectively. Finally, the statistical multiplexing of SHVC programs has been investigated. We have proposed a first approach which adjusts both the global bit rate to allocate in each program and the ratio between BL and EL to optimize the coding performance. In addition, the proposed method smooths the quality variations and enforces the quality homogeneity between programs. This method has been applied to a database containing pre-encoded bitstreams and enables an overhead reduction from 11.01% to 7.65% compared to constant bitrate encoding, while maintaining a good accuracy and an acceptable quality variations among programs

Les réseaux opportunistes sont des réseaux mobiles qui se forment spontanément et de manière dynamique grâce à un ensemble d'utilisateurs itinérants dont le nombre et le déplacement ne sont pas prévisibles. En conséquence, la topologie et la densité de tels réseaux évoluent sans cesse. La diffusion de bout-en-bout d'informations, dans ce contexte, est incertaine du fait de la forte instabilité des liens réseaux point à point entre les utilisateurs. Les travaux qui en ont envisagé l'usage visent pour la plupart des applications impliquant l'envoi de message de petite taille. Cependant, la transmission de données volumineuses telles que les vidéos représente une alternative très pertinente aux réseaux d'infrastructure, en cas d'absence de réseau, de coût important ou pour éviter la censure d'un contenu. La diffusion des informations de grande taille en général et de vidéos en particulier dans des réseaux oppnets constitue un challenge important. En effet, permettre, dans un contexte réseau très incertain et instable, au destinataire d’une vidéo de prendre connaissance au plus vite du contenu de celle-ci, avec la meilleure qualité de lecture possible et en encombrant le moins possible le réseau reste un problème encore très largement ouvert. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons un nouveau mécanisme de diffusion de vidéos dans un réseau opportuniste de faible densité, visant à améliorer le temps d'acheminement de la vidéo tout en réduisant le délai de lecture à destination. La solution proposée se base sur le choix d'encoder la vidéo en utilisant l'encodage SVC, grâce auquel la vidéo se décline en un ensemble de couches interdépendantes (layers), chacune améliorant la précédente soit en terme de résolution, soit en terme de densité, soit en terme de perception visuelle. Notre solution se décline en trois contributions. La première consiste à proposer une adaptation du mécanisme de diffusion Spray-and-Wait, avec comme unités de diffusion, les couches produites par SVC. Les couches sont ainsi diffusées avec un niveau de redondance propre à chacune, adapté à leur degré d'importance dans la diffusion de la vidéo. Notre seconde contribution consiste à améliorer le mécanisme précédent en prenant en compte une granularité plus fine et adaptative en fonction de l'évolution de la topologie du réseau. Cette amélioration a la particularité de ne pas engendrer de coût de partitionnement, les couches vidéos dans l'encodage SVC étant naturellement déclinées en petites unités (NALU) à base desquelles l'unité de transfert sera calculée. Enfin, la troisième contribution de cette thèse consiste à proposer un mécanisme hybride de complétion des couches vidéos arrivées incomplètes à destination. Cette méthode se caractérise par le fait d'être initiée par le destinataire. Elle combine un protocole de demande des parties manquantes aux usagers proches dans le réseau et des techniques de complétion de vidéo à base d’opérations sur les frames constituant la vidéo<br>Opportunistic networks are human-centric mobile ad-hoc networks, in which neither the topology nor the participating nodes are known in advance. Routing is dynamically planned following the store-carry-and-forward paradigm, which takes advantage of people mobility. This widens the range of communication and supports indirect end-to-end data delivery. But due to individuals’ mobility, OppNets are characterized by frequent communication disruptions and uncertain data delivery. Hence, these networks are mostly used for exchanging small messages like disaster alarms or traffic notifications. Other scenarios that require the exchange of larger data are still challenging due to the characteristics of this kind of networks. However, there are still multimedia sharing scenarios where a user might need switching to an ad-hoc alternative. Examples are the cases of 1) absence of infrastructural networks in far rural areas, 2) high costs due limited data volumes or 3) undesirable censorship by third parties while exchanging sensitive content. Consequently, we target in this thesis a video dissemination scheme in OppNets. For the video delivery problem in the sparse opportunistic networks, we propose a solution that encloses three contributions. The first one is given by granulating the videos at the source node into smaller parts, and associating them with unequal redundancy degrees. This is technically based on using the Scalable Video Coding (SVC), which encodes a video into several layers of unequal importance for viewing the content at different quality levels. Layers are routed using the Spray-and-Wait routing protocol, with different redundancy factors for the different layers depending on their importance degree. In this context as well, a video viewing QoE metric is proposed, which takes the values of the perceived video quality, delivery delay and network overhead into consideration, and on a scalable basis. Second, we take advantage of the small units of the Network Abstraction Layer (NAL), which compose SVC layers. NAL units are packetized together under specific size constraints to optimize granularity. Packets sizes are tuned in an adaptive way, with regard to the dynamic network conditions. Each node is enabled to record a history of environmental information regarding the contacts and forwarding opportunities, and use this history to predict future opportunities and optimize the sizes accordingly. Lastly, the receiver node is pushed into action by reacting to missing data parts in a composite backward loss concealment mechanism. So, the receiver asks first for the missing data from other nodes in the network in the form of request-response. Then, since the transmission is concerned with video content, video frame loss error concealment techniques are also exploited at the receiver side. Consequently, we propose to combine the two techniques in the loss concealment mechanism, which is enabled then to react to missing data parts

Visando atuação flexível em redes heterogêneas, modernos sistemas multimídia podem adotar o conceito da codificação escalável, onde o fluxo de vídeo é composto por múltiplas camadas, cada qual complementando e aprimorando gradualmente as características de exibição, de forma adaptativa às capacidades de cada receptor. Atualmente, a especificação H.264/SVC representa o estado da arte da área, por sua eficiência de codificação aprimorada, porém demanda recursos computacionais extremamente elevados. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho apresenta uma arquitetura de projeto colaborativo de hardware e software, que explora as características dos diversos algoritmos internos do codificador H.264/SVC, buscando um adequado balanceamento entre as duas tecnologias (hardware e software) para a implementação prática de um codificador escalável de até 16 camadas em formato de 1920x1080 pixels. A partir de um modelo do código de referência H.264/SVC, refinado para reduzir tempos de codificação, foram definidas estratégias de particionamento de módulos e integração entre entidades de software e hardware, avaliando-se questões como dependência de dados e potencial de paralelismo dos algoritmos, assim como restrições práticas das interfaces de comunicação e acessos à memória. Em hardware foram implementados módulos de transformadas, quantização, filtro anti-blocagem e predição entre camadas, permanecendo em software funções de gerência do sistema, entropia, controle de taxa e interface com usuário. A solução completa obtida, integrando módulos em hardware, sintetizados em uma placa de desenvolvimento, com o software de referência refinado, comprova a validade da proposta, pelos significativos ganhos de desempenho registrados, mostrando-se como uma solução adequada para aplicações que exijam codificação escalável tempo real.<br>In order to support heterogeneous networks and distinct devices simultaneously, modern multimedia systems can adopt the scalability concept, when the video stream is composed by multiple layers, each one being responsible for gradually enhance the video exhibition quality, according to specific receiver capabilities. Currently the H.264/SVC specification can be considered the state-of-art in this area, by improving the coding efficiency, but, in the other hand, impacting in extremely high computational demands. Based on that, this work presents a hardware/software co-design architecture, which explores the characteristics of H.264/SVC internal algorithms, aiming the right balancing between both technologies (hardware and software) in order to generate a practical scalable encoder implementation, able to process up to 16 layers in 1920x1080 pixels format. Based in an H.264/SVC reference code model, which was refined in order to reduce global encoding time, the approaches for module partitioning and data integration between hardware and software were defined. The proposed methodology took into account characteristics like data dependency and inherent possibility of parallelism, as well practical restrictions like influence of communication interfaces and memory accesses. Particularly, the modules of transforms, quantization, deblocking and inter-layer prediction were implemented in hardware, while the functions of system management, entropy, rate control and user interface were kept in software. The whole solution, which was obtained integrating hardware modules, synthesized in a development board, with the refined H.264/SVC reference code, validates the proposal, by the significant performance gains registered, indicating it as an adequate solution for applications which require real-time video scalable coding.

Os constantes avanços nas áreas de transmissão e processamento de dados ao longo dos últimos anos permitiram a criação de diversas aplicações e serviços baseados em dados multimídia, como streaming de vídeo, videoconferências, aulas remotas e IPTV. Além disso, avanços nas demais áreas da computação e engenharias, possibilitaram a construção de uma enorme diversidade de dispositivos de acesso a esses serviços, desde computadores pessoais até celulares, para citar os mais utilizados atualmente. Muitas dessas aplicações e dispositivos estão amplamente difundidos hoje em dia, e, ao mesmo tempo em que a tecnologia avança, os usuários tornam-se mais exigentes, buscando sempre melhor qualidade nos serviços que utilizam. Devido à grande variedade de redes e dispositivos atuais, uma dificuldade existente é possibilitar o acesso universal a uma transmissão. Uma alternativa criada é utilizar transmissão de vídeo escalável com IP multicast e controlada por mecanismos para adaptabilidade e controle de congestionamento. O produto final dessas transmissões mulimídia são os próprios dados multimídia (vídeo e áudio, principalmente) que o usuário está recebendo, portanto a qualidade destes dados é fundamental para um bom desempenho do sistema e satisfação dos usuários. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo de avaliações subjetivas de qualidade aplicadas em sequências de vídeo codificadas através da extensão escalável do padrão H.264 (SVC). Foi executado um conjunto de testes para avaliar, principalmente, os efeitos da instabilidade da transmissão (variação do número de camadas de vídeo recebidas) e a influência dos três métodos de escalabilidade (espacial, temporal e de qualidade) na qualidade dos vídeos. As definições foram baseadas em um sistema de transmissão em camadas com utilização de protocolos para adaptabilidade e controle de congestionamento. Para execução das avaliações subjetivas foi feito o uso da metodologia ACR-HRR e recomendações das normas ITU-R Rec. BT.500 e ITU-T Rec. P.910. Os resultados mostram que, diferente do esperado, a instabilidade não provoca grandes alterações na qualidade subjetiva dos vídeos e que o método de escalabilidade temporal tende a apresentar qualidade bastante inferior aos outros métodos. As principais contribuições deste trabalho estão nos resultados obtidos nas avaliações, além da metodologia utilizada durante o desenvolvimento do trabalho (definição do plano de avaliação, uso das ferramentas como o JSVM, seleção do material de teste, execução das avaliações, entre outros), das aplicações desenvolvidas, da definição de alguns trabalhos futuros e de possíveis objetivos para avaliações de qualidade.<br>The constant advances in multimedia processing and transmission over the past years have enabled the creation of several applications and services based on multimedia data, such as video streaming, teleconference, remote classes and IPTV. Futhermore, a big variety of devices, that goes from personal computers to mobile phones, are now capable of receiving these transmissions and displaying the multimedia data. Most of these applications are widely adopted nowadays and, at the same time the technology advances, the user are becoming more demanding about the quality of the services they use. Given the diversity of devices and networks available today, one of the big challenges of these multimedia systems is to be able to adapt the transmission to the receivers' characteristics and conditions. A suitable solution to provide this adaptation is the integration of scalable video coding with layered transmission. As the final product in these multimedia systems are the multimedia data that is presented to the user, the quality of these data will define the performace of the system and the users' satisfaction. This paper presents a study of subjective quality of scalable video sequences, coded using the scalable extension of the H.264 standard (SVC). A group of experiments was performed to measure, primarily, the efeects that the transmission instability (variations in the number of video layers received) has in the video quality and the relationship between the three scalability methods (spatial, temporal and quality) in terms of subjective quality. The decisions taken to model the tests were based on layered transmission systems that use protocols for adaptability and congestion control. To run the subjective assessments we used the ACR-HRR methodology and recommendations given by ITU-R Rec. BT.500 and ITU-T Rec. P.910. The results show that the instability modelled does not causes significant alterations on the overall video subjective quality if compared to a stable video and that the temporal scalability usually produces videos with worse quality than the spatial and quality methods, the latter being the one with the better quality. The main contributions presented in this work are the results obtained in the subjective assessments. Moreover, are also considered as contributions the methodology used throughout the entire work (including the test plan definition, the use of tools as JSVM, the test material selection and the steps taken during the assessment), some applications that were developed, the definition of future works and the specification of some problems that can also be solved with subjective quality evaluations.

La sécurité des données images et vidéos est importante pour beaucoup d’applications qui exigent du temps réel et un haut niveau de sécurité. Dans la première partie de ce travail, quatre cryptosystèmes basés chaos flexibles, efficaces et très robustes contre la cryptanalyse sont conçus et réalisés. Les deux premiers s’appuient sur le réseau SPN. La substitution est réalisée par une carte Skew tent (FSTM) modifiée pour surmonter différents problèmes : point fixe, restriction de la taille de la clé et limitation de la cartographie entre les textes d’origines et chiffrés. Le troisième cryptosystème est de structure nouvelle et également efficace. Il est basé sur une couche de diffusion binaire de pixels, suivi par une couche de permutation des bits. La permutation est réalisée par une nouvelle formulation efficace de la carte 2-D Cat. Le quatrième cryptosystème, est plus rapide que les autres avec un niveau de sécurité très élevé. Sa conception s’appuie sur une cryptanalyse partielle, que nous avons réalisée, de l’algorithme de Zhang. Dans la deuxième partie, deux crypto-compression basés chaos sélectifs et rapides sont utilisés pour sécuriser le flux HEVC et SHVC. Dans le premier crypto-compression, un nouvel algorithme pour définir les bits chiffrables dans le flux binaire du HEVC et du SHVC est proposé. La solution proposée chiffre un ensemble de paramètres SHVC sensibles au niveau du codeur entropique (CABAC), tout en préservant l’ensemble des fonctionnalités SHVC. Basé sur le concept de tuile, le deuxième crypto-compression proposé permet une protection de la vidéo au niveau d’une Région d’Intérêt (ROI) définie dans le standard HEVC<br>The security of image and video data is important for many applications which require in real-time a high security level. In the first part of this work, four chaos-based cryptosystems, flexible, efficient, and more robust against cryptanalysis, are designed and realized. The first two cryptosystems are based on the substitution-permutation network. The substitution is achieved by a proposed modified Finite Skew Tent Map (FSTM) to overcome various problems: fixed point, key space restriction, and limitation of mapping between plaintext and ciphertext. The third cryptosystem is a new and efficient structure. It is based on a binary diffusion layer of pixels, followed by a bit-permutation layer. The permutation is achieved by an efficient proposed formulation of the 2-D cat map. The fourth cryptosystem is faster than the others, having a very high security level. The confusion and the diffusion are performed in a single scan. Its design is based on a partial cryptanalysis that we performed on the Zhang algorithm. In the second part, two fast and secure selective chaos-based crypto-compressions are designed and realized to secure the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and its scalable version. In the first crypto-compression, a new algorithm is proposed to define the encryptable bits in the bit stream of the HEVC and the SHVC systems. The proposed solution encrypts a set of sensitive SHVC parameters at the entropy encoder (CABAC), while preserving all SHVC functionalities. Based on the tile concept, the second proposed crypto-compression provides protection of the ROI defined in the standard HEVC

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009.<br>Committee Chair: Yucel Altunbasak; Committee Member: Chuanyi Ji; Committee Member: Ghassan AlRegib; Committee Member: Ozlem Ergun; Committee Member: Russell M. Mersereau.