Unequal Error Protection for backward compatible 3-D video transmission over WiMAX

In this paper, an unequal error protection (UEP) scheme for the transmission of 3-D (three - dimensional) video over WiMAX communication channel is proposed. The colour plus depth map stereoscopic video is coded with backward compatibility using a scalable video coding (SVC) architecture, where users with conventional video decoders/receivers can receive the conventional 2-D (three-dimensional) video stream whereas users with SVC decoders/receivers and necessary 3-D video displays may render 3-D video. The proposed error protection scheme is based on the perceptual importance of the coded 3-D video components. The UEP method allocates more protection to the colour video packets than the depth map packets in order to receive good quality 2-D/3-D video. The protection levels are assigned through allocating differentiated transmission power for colour and depth map video packets during transmission. On the fly power allocation is based on the estimated distortion of the colour image sequence. The objective and perceptual quality evaluations show that the proposed UEP scheme improves the quality of 2-D video while achieving pleasing quality for 3-D viewers.