Incremental Rate Control for H.264 Scalable Video Coding

The emerging H.264 Scalable Video Coding (H.264/SVC) requires the rate control algorithm to regulate the output bit rate of all the coarse-grain-scalability, temporal, spatial and combined enhancement layers. In this research, we propose an incremental rate control algorithm for H.264/SVC. First, a Rate-Complexity-Quantization (R-C-Q) model is extended in scalable video coding based on our previous work on H.264/AVC. Second, a complexity measure for Intra-frames is used to precisely determine QPs (Quantization Parameters) for Intra-frames. Finally, we adopt an incremental approach to compute QPs of inter-frames and a Proportional + Integral + Derivative (PID) buffer controller to provide robust buffer control for each layer. Our simulation results demonstrate that, our algorithm outperforms JVT-W043 rate control algorithm by providing more accurate output bit rate for each layer, maintaining stable buffer fullness, reducing frame skipping and quality fluctuation, finally, improving the overall coding quality.