Bitstream switching for progressive fine granularity scalable video coding

In this paper, we propose a bitstream switching scheme for progressive fine granularity scalable (PFGS) video coding that aims to improve the streaming performance of the scalable bitstreams. By switching among PFGS video bitstreams with different enhancement layer’s reference rates based on the same base layer, significant performance gain can be achieved, especially when the bandwidth fluctuates broadly. Furthermore, compared with other bitstream switching schemes, the proposed scheme shows its flexibilities and various advantages due to using the common base layer. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed scheme can significantly improve the streaming performance.