Multiple description coding based on phase scrambling with adjustable spread range

This paper describes a multiple description coding (MDC) of images, introducing a phase scrambling with the adjustable dispersion extent of sample value. Whereas a phase scrambling gains robustness to transmission errors, it loses the time-localized information. Consequently, when this phase scrambling process is combined with a wavelet-based coder for the MDC, its objective coding performance is largely dependent on the spread range of phase scrambling. In this paper, we propose a novel MDC using phase scrambling with the variable spread capability of the pixel value. For the control of the spread range, our design of the phase scrambling is based on the group delay response, instead of the phase response. Furthermore, we modify a quadtree-based wavelet coder according to the spread range for the proposed MDC with our phase scrambler. Simulation results show the usefulness of the proposed technique.