Adaptive rate control scheme for very low bit rate video coding

In video coding systems, an effective rate control method is one of the most important issues for a good video quality. This paper presents an adaptive rate control scheme based on buffer fullness, quantization, and buffer utilization for very low bit rate communication lines, such as 16 kbit/s, 32 kbit/s, and so on. The strategy is implemented by the H.263, which is a video coding algorithm for narrow band telecommunication channels up to 64 kbit/s recommended by the ITU-T SG15, to show the effectiveness. The simulation result shows that the suggested rate control scheme has better SNR performance and buffer utilization of the source coder than those of linear and non-linear buffer control strategies.