Generation of efficient bitstreams for functional tests of video decoders

We propose a new method to generate bitstreams for efficient functional tests of video decoders. The proposed method employs a 3-way covering combinatorial method in finding efficient bitstreams for high-level syntax elements (SEs) while using a constrained-random method in generating bitstreams for low-level SEs. Furthermore, it fills up the coverage holes that are found after analyzing the SE coverage. The bitstreams generated with the proposed method are three times more efficient than those with the existing methods.