An error-resilient video codec based on perceptual 3-D SPIHT algorithm

Video transmission over unreliable networks such as Internet or wireless networks suffers from various kinds of adverse conditions such as bandwidth fluctuation, burst-error contamination, packet loss, and excessive packet delay due to network congestion. By taking advantage of multiple logical channels provided by digital networks, a multiple description video coding scheme is proposed to accommodate varying network environments and to meet quality of service requirements. The embedding bit-stream is obtained by exploiting the 3-D SPIHT algorithm. The coding efficiency of the proposed codec is optimized by removing spatio-temporal redundancy from video signals and constructing a more compact hierarchical zero-tree for 3-D SPIHT algorithm. The error resilience in spatio-temporal domain is utilized to conceal the distortion due to packet lost or erroneous transmission. Through the just-noticeable distortion (JND) profiles estimating, the spatio-temporal redundancy inherent in YCbCr components of video signal is evaluated and the threshold of significance signal can be evaluated. The simulation results show that the visual quality can be maintained in transmitting video sequences at low bit rate (200 kbps) over the channel of high data loss rate (50%).