Reverse-play algorithm for MPEG video streaming

Reverse playback involves playing back video frames in reverse order. However, it is not a straightforward task in MPEG digital video due to the use of predictive processing techniques in MPEG. In this paper, we propose a compressed-domain approach for the efficient implementation of an MPEG video streaming system to provide the reverse-play operation over a network. In the proposed video streaming server, a novel macroblock-based algorithm is used to adaptively select the necessary macroblocks, manipulate them in compressed-domain and send the processed macroblocks to the client machine. Besides, we propose a technique of mismatch error compensation such that there is only a negligibly small PSNR degradation during reverse playback of the proposed algorithm. Experimental results show that, as compared to the conventional system, the new streaming system reduces the required network bandwidth and the decoder complexity significantly in reverse playback.