Error-resilient multi-view video coding based on end-to-end rate-distortion optimization

Video transmission over packet-switched networks usually suffers from packet losses. The use of the prediction loop in video coding will cause these errors to propagate to subsequent frames, and thus significantly impacts on the received video quality. With the increasing number of cameras to capture the scene, robustly delivering multi-view video over error-prone channels becomes a rather challenging task. A rate-distortion optimization algorithm is proposed to improve error resilience for multi-view video transmission. A recursive model to estimate the end-to-end distortion is developed for multiview video coding, in which the distortion model explicitly takes into consideration the inherent error resilience property of the hierarchical bi-prediction structure. Based on the proposed distortion model, end-to-end rate-distortion optimization criterion is employed to perform coding mode switching. Extensive experimental results demonstrate significant performance gains can be achieved for multi-view video communication against transmission errors.