Model-based real-time progressive transmission of images over noisy channels

Many unequal error protection algorithms used in image communication systems need the operational distortion-rate (D/R) curve of the source coder whose computation is time-consuming. We study the use of parametric models instead of the true D/R curves for wavelet-based embedded image and video coders. We propose a Weibull model and show its superiority to the previous models for real-time applications. For unequal error protection over binary symmetric and packet erasure channels, the Weibull model yielded performance similar to the one obtained with the true D/R curve while satisfying the real-time constraint.