Distortion optimized multiple channel image transmission under delay constraints

When multiple channels are aggregated into a higher bandwidth logical channel, strategic product codes can be used to protect data against both channel losses and failures. Previous work in (W. Xu et al., Proc. ICME, vol.1, p.285-288, 2003) has considered a delay-optimal partitioning scheme given pre-determined error correction codes (ECCs). In order to achieve an improved distortion performance, image bit streams can be partitioned together with an appropriate selection of ECCs based on channel conditions. This paper addresses the problem of jointly partitioning image data over multiple channels and selecting product coding rates from a finite set to minimize the decoding distortion under delay constraints. Experimental results show that the image quality degrades very slightly when the delay constraint decreases over a wide range, with a gain up to 4.5 dB achieved over that using a sequential optimization method.