Sliding-window packetization for forward error correction based multiple description transcoding

Forward error correction based multiple description (MD-FEC) transcoding, which performs unequal loss protection (ULP) for an embedded bitstream, allows robust video transmission over packet erasure channels. However, most of the existing works focus on rate-distortion optimization of individual encoding unit, e.g., a group of pictures (GOP), and do not examine the problem of rate allocation among different units. Such a transcoding strategy would lead to noticeable video quality variations when the video signal is highly nonstationary, and/or when large transmission rate fluctuations occur. In this paper, a novel window-based packetization scheme is proposed for reducing such quality variation through GOP interleaving. Performance evaluations are conducted by using a 3D-SPIHT embedded video encoder.