Joint source-channel coding for scalable video using models of rate-distortion functions

A joint source-channel coding scheme for scalable video is developed in this paper. An SNR scalable video coder is used and Unequal Error Protection (UEP) is allowed for each scalable layer. Our problem is to allocate the available bit rate across scalable layers and, within each layer, between source and channel coding, while minimizing the end-to-end distortion of the received video sequence. The resulting optimization algorithm we propose utilizes universal rate-distortion characteristic plots. These plots show the contribution of each layer to the total distortion as a function of the source rate of the layer and the residual bit error rate (the error rate that remains after the use of channel coding). Models for these plots are proposed in order to reduce the computational complexity of the solution. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.