Error resilient transcoding of scalable video bitstreams

We propose in this paper a novel error resilient transcoding scheme that can be placed at the boundary between wired and wireless networks via heterogeneous network links. This error resilient transcoder shall seamlessly complement the standard Scalable Video Coding (SVC) bitstream to offer additional error resilient adaptation capability for receiving devices. The novel error resilient transcoding scheme consists of three different modules; each is designed to meet various levels of complexity need. The three modules are all based on the Loss-Aware Rate-Distortion Optimization (LA-RDO) mode decision algorithm we have previously developed for SVC. However, each individual module can be tailored to different complexity requirements depending on whether and how the LA-RDO mode decision is implemented. Another innovation of this approach is the design of a fast rate control algorithm in order to maintain consistent bitrates between input and output of the transcoder. This rate control algorithm only needs picture-level bit information for training target quantization parameters. Simulation results demonstrate that, comparing with standard SVC, the proposed approach is able to achieve up to 4 dB gain for the enhancement layer video and up to 1 dB gain for the base layer video.