Using SP-Frames for Error Resilience in Optimized Video Streaming

SP-frame is a new picture type of H.264 that can identically reconstruct a picture using any one of several reference frames. In this paper, we discuss how this property can be exploited for controlling error propagation caused by packet losses. We first illustrate the benefits of the scheme through example. We then present results for optimized streaming where PSNR performance of a proposed usage of SP-frames is compared to that of P-frames only. Results show that using SP-frames can noticeably reduce distortion caused by burst packet losses compare to schemes based on P-frames only.