Convex optimization for frame-level rate allocation in MV-HEVC

Optimal rate allocation is among the most challenging tasks to perform in the context of multi-view video coding, because of the dependency between frames induced by motion compensation and depth image-based rendering. In this paper, using a recursive rate-distortion model that explicitly takes into account these dependencies, we approach the frame-level rate allocation as a convex optimization problem. Within this framework, we provide an efficient algorithm for exactly solving the above problem with recent convex optimization tools. Experiments on standard sequences demonstrate the interest of considering the proposed rate allocation method and confirm that our approach ensures a better performance (in ratedistortion sense) than the standard MV-HEVC rate control.