An efficienct rate-control algorithm for multi-view video coding

In this paper, we propose an efficient rate-control algorithm which considers characteristics of multi-view video coding (MVC). A rate control algorithm is one of the most important elements of video coding. There are many existing algorithms to control the bit rate but they are designed for single-view video coding. The rate control algorithm for MVC should be also conducted at view level. Conventional rate-control algorithms for single view videos do not use QP values of B frames in computing a GOP initial QP. However, we have to take into account QP values of B frames because the MVC has many B views which are composed of only B frames. In addition, other views also have many B frames because the MVC employ the hierarchical B for coding efficiency. In the proposed algorithm, initial QP of GOP should be computed with QP values of B frames. In our research, the proposed algorithm can allocate proper bitrates for B views which are composed of only B frames and QP values of B frames can affect the initial QP of GOP. The proposed method can control total bitrate of multiple views to be acquired and displayed at the same time. In our experimentation, we found that the proposed method can control bitrates for all the views according to target bitrates.