Marco Grangetto

Multimedia Selective Encryption by Means of Randomized Arithmetic Coding

We propose a novel multimedia security framework based on a modification of the arithmetic coder, which is used by most international image and video coding standards as entropy coding stage. In particular, we introduce a randomized arithmetic coding paradigm, which achieves encryption by inserting some randomization in the arithmetic coding procedure; notably, and unlike previous works on encryption by arithmetic coding, this is done at no expense in terms of coding efficiency. The proposed technique can be applied to any multimedia coder employing arithmetic coding; in this paper we describe an implementation tailored to the JPEG 2000 standard. The proposed approach turns out to be robust towards attempts to estimating the image or discovering the key, and allows very flexible protection procedures at the code-block level, allowing to perform total and selective encryption, as well as conditional access

Redundant Slice Optimal Allocation for H.264 Multiple Description Coding

In this paper, a novel H.264 multiple description technique is proposed. The coding approach is based on the redundant slice representation option, defined in the H.264 standard. In presence of losses, the redundant representation can be used to replace missing portions of the compressed bit stream, thus yielding a certain degree of error resilience. This paper addresses the creation of two balanced descriptions based on the concept of redundant slices, while keeping full compatibility with the H.264 standard syntax and decoding behavior in case of single description reception. When two descriptions are available still a standard H.264 decoder can be used, given a simple preprocessing of the received compressed bit streams. An analytical setup is employed in order to optimally select the amount of redundancy to be inserted in each frame, taking into account both the transmission condition and the video decoder error propagation. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique favorably compares with other H.264 multiple description approaches.

Concealment of whole-frame losses for wireless low bit-rate video based on multiframe optical flow estimation

In low bit-rate packet-based video communications, video frames may have very small size, so that each frame fills the payload of a single network packet; thus, packet losses correspond to whole-frame losses, to which the existing error concealment algorithms are badly suited and generally not applicable. In this paper, we deal with the problem of concealment of whole frame-losses, and propose a novel technique which is capable of handling this very critical case. The proposed technique presents other two major innovations with respect to the state-of-the-art: i) it is based on optical flow estimation applied to error concealment and ii) it performs multiframe estimation, thus optimally exploiting the multiple reference frame buffer featured by the most modern video coders such as H.263+ and H.264. If data partitioning is employed, by e.g., sending headers, motion vectors, and coding modes in prioritized packets as can be done in the DiffServ network model, the algorithm is capable of exploiting the motion vectors to improve the error concealment results. The algorithm has been embedded in the H.264 test model software, and tested under both independent and correlated packet loss models with parameters typical of the wireless environment. Results show that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms other techniques by several dBs in peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), provides good visual quality, and has a rather low complexity, which makes it possible to perform real-time operation with reasonable computational resources.

Optimization and implementation of the integer wavelet transform for image coding

This paper deals with the design and implementation of an image transform coding algorithm based on the integer wavelet transform (IWT). First of all, criteria are proposed for the selection of optimal factorizations of the wavelet filter polyphase matrix to be employed within the lifting scheme. The obtained results lead to the IWT implementations with very satisfactory lossless and lossy compression performance. Then, the effects of finite precision representation of the lifting coefficients on the compression performance are analyzed, showing that, in most cases, a very small number of bits can be employed for the mantissa keeping the performance degradation very limited. Stemming from these results, a VLSI architecture is proposed for the IWT implementation, capable of achieving very high frame rates with moderate gate complexity.

Sliding-Window Raptor Codes for Efficient Scalable Wireless Video Broadcasting With Unequal Loss Protection

Digital fountain codes have emerged as a low-complexity alternative to Reed-Solomon codes for erasure correction. The applications of these codes are relevant especially in the field of wireless video, where low encoding and decoding complexity is crucial. In this paper, we introduce a new class of digital fountain codes based on a sliding-window approach applied to Raptor codes. These codes have several properties useful for video applications, and provide better performance than classical digital fountains. Then, we propose an application of sliding-window Raptor codes to wireless video broadcasting using scalable video coding. The rates of the base and enhancement layers, as well as the number of coded packets generated for each layer, are optimized so as to yield the best possible expected quality at the receiver side, and providing unequal loss protection to the different layers according to their importance. The proposed system has been validated in a UMTS broadcast scenario, showing that it improves the end-to-end quality, and is robust towards fluctuations in the packet loss rate.

Joint source/channel coding and MAP decoding of arithmetic codes

In this paper, a novel maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation approach is employed for error correction of arithmetic codes with a forbidden symbol. The system is founded on the principle of joint source channel coding, which allows one to unify the arithmetic decoding and error correction tasks into a single process, with superior performance compared to traditional separated techniques. The proposed system improves the performance in terms of error correction with respect to a separated source and channel coding approach based on convolutional codes, with the additional great advantage of allowing complete flexibility in adjusting the coding rate. The proposed MAP decoder is tested in the case of image transmission across the additive white Gaussian noise channel and compared against standard forward error correction techniques in terms of performance and complexity. Both hard and soft decoding are taken into account, and excellent results in terms of packet error rate and decoded image quality are obtained.

Multiple Description Image Coding Based on Lagrangian Rate Allocation

In this paper, a novel multiple description coding technique is proposed, based on optimal Lagrangian rate allocation. The method assumes the coded data consists of independently coded blocks. Initially, all the blocks are coded at two different rates. Then blocks are split into two subsets with similar rate distortion characteristics; two balanced descriptions are generated by combining code blocks belonging to the two subsets encoded at opposite rates. A theoretical analysis of the approach is carried out, and the optimal rate distortion conditions are worked out. The method is successfully applied to the JPEG 2000 standard and simulation results show a noticeable performance improvement with respect to state-of-the art algorithms. The proposed technique enables easy tuning of the required coding redundancy. Moreover, the generated streams are fully compatible with Part 1 of the standard

On the fly gaussian elimination for LT codes

We propose an improved algorithm for decoding LT codes using Gaussian elimination. Our algorithm performs useful processing at each coded packet arrival thus distributing the decoding work during all packets reception, obtaining a shorter actual decoding time. Furthermore, using a swap heuristic the decoding matrix is kept sparse, decreasing the cost of both triangularization and back-substitution steps.

Sliding-Window Digital Fountain Codes for Streaming of Multimedia Contents

Digital fountain codes are becoming increasingly important for multimedia communications over networks subject to packet erasures. These codes have significantly lower complexity than Reed-Solomon ones, exhibit high erasure correction performance, and are very well suited to generating multiple equally important descriptions of a source. In this paper we propose an innovative scheme for streaming multimedia contents by using digital fountain codes applied over sliding windows, along with a suitably modified belief-propagation decoder. The use of overlapped windows allows one to have a virtually extended block, which yields superior performance in terms of packet recovery. Simulation results using LT codes show that the proposed algorithm has better performance in terms of efficiency, reliability and memory with respect to fixed-window encoding.

Analysis of PPLive through active and passive measurements

The P2P-IPTV is an emerging class of Internet applications that is becoming very popular. The growing popularity of these rather bandwidth demanding multimedia streaming applications has the potential to flood the Internet with a huge amount of traffic.