Nor Azhar Mohd Arif

Reduced resolution depth coding for stereoscopic 3D video

In this paper, Reduced Resolution Depth Compression (RRDC) is proposed for Scalable Video Coding (SVC) to improve the 3D video rate distortion performance. RRDC is applied by using Down-Sampling and Up-Sampling (DSUS) of the depth data of the stereoscopic 3D video. The depth data is down-sampled before SVC encoding and up-sampled after SVC decoding operation. The proposed DSUS method reduces the overall bit rates and consequently: 1) improves SVC rate distortion for 3D video, particularly at lower bit rates in error free channels; and 2) improves 3D SVC performance for 3D transmission in error prone channels. The objective quality evaluation of the stereoscopic 3D video yields higher PSNR values at low bit rates for SVCDSUS compared to the original SVC (SVC-Org), which makes it advantageous in terms of reduced storage and bandwidth requirements. Moreover, the subjective quality evaluation of the stereoscopic 3D video further confirmed that the perceived stereoscopic 3D video quality of the SVC-DSUS is very similar to the stereoscopic 3D video of the SVC-Org by up to 98.2%.

3D videophone for virtual reality telecommunication

This paper proposes a new virtual reality telecommunication system (VRTS) terminal known as 3D videophone to realize satisfactory face-to-face communication. The 3D effects that can be felt through the system, which are mainly based on the protruding images on the screen are highlighted and evaluated. The preliminary evaluation is to verify that 3D moving images are closer to natural images compared to the conventional technique for image representation in face-to-face communication. The results show that 3D moving images are at least slightly better than the conventional technique. Finally, the design issues for the proposed system towards the future prototype development are discussed.

Multiview plus depth video using High Efficiency Video Coding method

The main problem associated with 3D video delivery is huge data transmission rate especially when the data to be submitted are large video files such as multiview plus depth videos. This paper describes a new method of compression for multiview videos with depth data by using the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) technology. We propose a new compression method by applying the Reduced Resolution Depth Coding (RRDC) method to the depth videos. RRDC is applied by Down-Sampling and Up-Sampling (DSUS) the depth data of the multiview videos. The depth data is down-sampled before HEVC encoding and up-sampled after HEVC decoding operation. The proposed depth compression method used with HEVC showed a 20% savings at low bit rate when tested with 2 views plus depth video sequence.

An error resilience method for depth in stereoscopic 3D video

Error resilience stereoscopic 3D video can ensure robust 3D video communication especially in high error rate wireless channel. In this paper, an error resilience method is proposed for the depth data of the stereoscopic 3D video using data partitioning. Although data partitioning method is available for 2D video, its extension to depth information has not been investigated in the context of stereoscopic 3D video. Simulation results show that the depth data is less sensitive to error and should be partitioned towards the end of the data partitions block. The partitioned depth data is then applied to an error resilience method namely multiple description coding (MDC) to code the 2D video and the depth information. Simulation results show improved performance using the proposed depth partitioning on MDC compared to the original MDC in an error prone environment.

Evaluation of Further Reduced Resolution Depth Coding for stereoscopic 3D video

This paper presents the results and analysis of the objective and subjective quality evaluations of Further Reduced Resolution Depth Coding (FRRDC) method for stereoscopic 3D video. FRRDC is developed based on the Scalable Video Coding (SVC) reference software and the result are objectively evaluated using rate distortion curve and subjectively evaluated using LCD and auto-stereoscopic video displays. FRRDC uses the Down-Sampling and Up-Sampling (DSUS) method of the depth data of the stereoscopic 3D video. The emergence of numerous auto-stereoscopic displays in the market confirms the growth of 3DTV services. It is essential that the coding method of stereoscopic 3D videos produces high quality 3D videos on both stereoscopic displays and emerging auto-stereoscopic 3D video displays to ensure the interoperability and compatibility among all the different display devices. In this paper, the stereoscopic 3D videos are compressed using the H.264/SVC codec with Reduced Resolution Depth Coding (RRDC) and compared with H.264/SVC-FRRDC. The experimental results indicate good 3D depth perception of FRRDC on both stereoscopic and auto-stereoscopic display devices with lesser bit rates compared to H.264/SVC-RRDC.

Multiple description coding with side information for stereoscopic 3D

Stereoscopic video as the simplest form of 3D video is already being used in consumer devices such as 3DTV and 3D mobile phone. When the 3D video from the 3D mobile phone is compressed and transmitted over error prone channels, error propagation due to packet loss leads to poor 3D visual quality. The objective of the paper is to provide error resilience 3D video using the well known multiple description coding (MDC) technique. Specifically, the MDC is modified for 2D plus depth stereoscopic video with the addition of spatially reduced resolution of the side information. The proposed method reduces the depth bit rates and consequently: 1) improves their rate distortion, particularly at higher bit rates in error free channels; and 2) improves their performance in ideal MDC channel.

Subjective Evaluations of an Experimental Gesturephone

This paper presents the findings of our subjective evaluations on the integration of gestures in telecommunication. The experimental setup for tracking and imitating the human arm gesture are described. Our research investigates the possibility of transferring this often overlooked communication medium in our daily communication, for its application in telecommunication using robotics. Based on the subjective evaluation, a maximum allowable delay for an imperceptible gesture reconstruction in the lateral setup is suggested

ATM network impairment valuation of an experimental 3D videophone for virtual reality telecommunication system

ATM network impairments in terms of CER, CLR, CMR, CDV and CTD are applied to an experimental 3D videophone for audio and 3D video signals quality evaluation study. The effects of the impairments on both signals are evaluated by comparison between unimpaired and impaired sequences. A subjective assessment method together with the IT-R five-grade impairment scale is adopted in performing the evaluation. The results show ATM network impairments effects on both signals can maintain scale 4 of the IT-R five-grade scale. Therefore, good quality of audio and 3D video signals transmission can be confirmed for IT-T ATM performance objectives.

Virtual reality telecommunication system

We propose three reference models for virtual reality telecommunication system that are robotic, electronics and hybrid. The hybrid reference model is mainly discussed which is composed of three dimensional videophone with robotic arm.