Constrained-random bitstream generation for H.264/AVC decoder conformance test

We propose a novel method of video test bitstream for the H.264/AVC decoder conformance test without using input image sequences. Although the bitstreams can be generated from encoding the natural or artificial image sequences by a reference video encoder, their function coverage is not high enough because strong spatial and temporal correlations exist in the pixels and video parameters. The proposed method employs the constrained-random techniques to produce highly randomized video parameters in its bitstream. According to the experimental results, it substantially improves the function coverage and reduces the test time compared to those of normative conformance test bitstreams. Moreover, we can also generate the arbitrary bitstreams for stress test with the extreme values in the allowable ranges of the decoder parameters.