High ratio wavelet video compression through real-time rate-distortion estimation.
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Date
2003
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Abstract
The success of the wavelet transform in the compression of still images has prompted an
expanding effort to exercise this transform in the compression of video. Most existing video
compression methods incorporate techniques from still image compression, such techniques
being abundant, well defined and successful. This dissertation commences with a thorough
review and comparison of wavelet still image compression techniques. Thereafter an
examination of wavelet video compression techniques is presented. Currently, the most
effective video compression system is the DCT based framework, thus a comparison between
these and the wavelet techniques is also given.
Based on this review, this dissertation then presents a new, low-complexity, wavelet video
compression scheme. Noting from a complexity study that the generation of temporally
decorrelated, residual frames represents a significant computational burden, this scheme uses
the simplest such technique; difference frames. In the case of local motion, these difference
frames exhibit strong spatial clustering of significant coefficients. A simple spatial syntax is
created by splitting the difference frame into tiles. Advantage of the spatial clustering may then
be taken by adaptive bit allocation between the tiles. This is the central idea of the method.
In order to minimize the total distortion of the frame, the scheme uses the new p-domain rate-distortion
estimation scheme with global numerical optimization to predict the optimal
distribution of bits between tiles. Thereafter each tile is independently wavelet transformed and
compressed using the SPIHT technique.
Throughout the design process computational efficiency was the design imperative, thus leading
to a real-time, software only, video compression scheme. The scheme is finally compared to
both the current video compression standards and the leading wavelet schemes from the
literature in terms of computational complexity visual quality. It is found that for local motion
scenes the proposed algorithm executes approximately an order of magnitude faster than these
methods, and presents output of similar quality. This algorithm is found to be suitable for
implementation in mobile and embedded devices due to its moderate memory and
computational requirements.
Description
Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.
Keywords
Electronic distortion., Image compression., Theses--Electronic engineering.