Hybrid Video Compression Using Selective Keyframe Identification and Patch-Based Super-Resolution

This paper details a novel video compression pipeline using selective key frame identification to encode video and patch-based super-resolution to decode for playback. Selective key frame identification uses shot boundary detection and frame differencing methods to identify representative frames which are subsequently kept in high resolution within the compressed container. All other non-key frames are downscaled for compression purposes. Patch-based super-resolution finds similar patches between an up scaled non-key frame and the associated, high-resolution key frame to regain lost detail via a super-resolution process. The algorithm was integrated into the H.264 video compression pipeline tested on web cam, cartoon and live-action video for both streaming and storage purposes. Experimental results show that the proposed hybrid video compression pipeline successfully achieved higher compression ratios than standard H.264, while achieving superior video quality than low resolution H.264 at similar compression ratios.