Inter-layer FEC decoded multi-layer video streaming

Layered video coding creates multiple layers of unequal importance, where the enhancement layers will be affected when the base layer is corrupted. In this treatise, a novel inter-layer FEC scheme is investigated, where the information of the base layer¹ is incorporated into the systematic bits of the enhancement layers with the aid of an exclusive-OR operation. When the base layer can be recovered independently, the soft information of the enhancement layers can be deduced by flipping the sign of the check information received. In this case, the protection strength of the enhancement layer is unaffected and no extra protection bits are required. Otherwise, the inter-layer FEC decoding philosophy related to the base layer and the enhancement layer will be activated to assist in decoding the base layer, where the protection of the enhancement layer is additionally exploited to protect the base layer. Data partitioning based experiments show that our proposed scheme outperforms the traditional unequal error protection FEC aided transmission system by about 1.8 dB of channel SNR or 7.7 dB of PSNR at an acceptable complexity.