Robust multipoint and multi-layered transmission of H.264/SVC with Raptor codes

摘要

The scalable extension of the H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) standard called Scalable Video Coding (SVC), or H.264/SVC, provides scalable video streams which are composed by a base layer and one or more enhancement layers. Enhancement layers may improve the temporal, the spatial or the signal-to-noise ratio resolutions of the content represented by the lower layers. One of the applications of this video coding standard is related to point-to-multipoint video distributions in both wired and wireless communication systems, where packet losses contribute to the degradation of the user’s Quality of Experience. Designed for the transmission of data over Binary Erasure Channels (BEC), Raptor codes are a Forward Error Correction (FEC) mechanism that is gaining popularity for Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) applications due to their small decoding complexity and reduced overhead. This paper evaluates the quality enhancements introduced by the integration of several H.264/SVC layers with a Raptor coding protection scheme. Our goal is to improve the distribution of video over loss prone networks in terms of rate-distortion performance by assessing several alternative packetization options and protection schemes.