A study on rate control method for MP@HL encoder with parallel encoder architecture using picture partitioning

This paper proposes rate control methods for parallel encoder architecture using picture partitioning, which is often used for MPEG-2 VIDEO Main Profile @ High Level (MP@HL) encoders. Partitioning boundaries are sometimes visible in decoded pictures because of control discontinuity. An adaptive bitrate allocation scheme is proposed to reduce the discontinuity of picture quality around partitioning boundaries. Quantizer scale (Qscale) restriction in rate control is also proposed for further improvement. Computer simulation results show that both optimum bitrate allocation and discontinuity reduction around the partitioning boundaries are achieved with the proposed methods.