Embedded multiple description coding for progressive image transmission over unreliable channels

A multiple description scalar quantization (MDSQ) based coding system can be regarded as a source coder (quantizer) followed by a channel coder, i.e. the combination of index and codeword assignment. The redundancy, or the correlation between the descriptions, is controlled by the number of diagonals covered by the index assignment. We consider here the usage of multiple description uniform scalar quantization (that we call MDUSQ) for robust and progressive transmission of images over unreliable channels. The progressive feature is an important factor for rate control in non-stationary (varying bandwidth) communication environments. In this context, the paper describes an embedded index assignment strategy that provides improved rate-distortion performances in progressive transmission scenarios, against index assignments defined so far for MDSQ. The MDUSQ together with the embedded index assignment algorithm are incorporated into the JPEG2000 verification model. The approach is compared against a progressive multiple description scheme based on a polyphase transform (PT) decomposition of the signal.