Error resilient framework using one-pass explicit flexible macroblock ordering map generation and error concealment for H.264/AVC wireless video communication

Abstract

H.264/AVC is the newest standard for digital video compression developed jointly by ITU-T's Video Coding Experts Group and ISO/IEC's Moving Picture Experts Group. One feature of the new standard is the adoption of a robust error resilience tool at the encoder known as flexible macroblock ordering (FMO). In this paper, we present an algorithm to generate a one-pass FMO map based on spatial and temporal information at the encoder, and an error concealment method at the decoder for wireless video transmission. The error concealment method at the decoder is applied according to the residual information derived from the distortion information obtained at the encoder while the one-pass FMO map is being generated. Our simulation results performed under slow and fast fading channels confirm that the proposed technique can reduce the number of undecodable macroblocks up to 66.79% and 80.54%, respectively, when compared with no FMO. The peak signal-to-noise ratio improvements are up to 2.67 and 1.05 dB, respectively when compared to predefined FMO (Type 1).