Robust scalable pre-compressed video coding based on MPEG4-FGS over the Internet

Streaming video is becoming increasingly popular among Internet multimedia applications. A robust coding scheme for DCT-based scalable video streaming over the Internet is proposed in this paper. Compared with conventional MPEG4-PGS (fine granular scalable) and progressive FGS(PFGS), the proposed method generates the base layer including some sub-base layers by DCT coefficient reordering and VLC reshuffling, which enables the video stream of to adapt itself to long-term bandwidth time-varying of channel. Furthermore, a novel end-to-end transmission architecture for scalable video streaming over the Internet is also presented, in which an adaptive unequal packet loss protection (AUPLP) strategy is proposed to determine the currently available network bandwidth and adjust the sending rates according to different situations, such as network congestion or unreliable transmission. Experimental results show that the proposed progressive scalable scheme can improve the average coding efficiency up to 1.2 dB compared with MPEG4-FGS and PFGS in lower bandwidth, and the AUPLP strategy can improve the transmitting performances not only of the proposed scheme, but also of MPEG4-FGS, PFGS system.