A hybrid constrained unequal error protection and data hiding scheme for packet video transmission

In this paper, a novel hybrid scheme with constrained Unequal Error Protection (UEP) and data hiding is proposed which maximizes the perceptual quality of the video at the end user to compensate for the effects of channel losses. The technique involves (1) implementing a forcing function which weighs the objective perceptual quality of the video frame based on a hidden mark signal to give optimum protection level in the packet, and (2) utilizes a data hiding mechanism to embed a second level wavelet approximation coefficients of the frame in itself. An optimum UEP in the transmitted packets is sought using a constrained optimization approach. Simulation results show that the proposed technique outperforms existing non-adaptive error concealment approaches in improving the perceptual quality, especially for higher loss probabilities.