Visually Optimized Multiple Description Image Coding

We consider the problem of constructing visually optimized balanced multiple descriptions of images, instead of being optimized with the conventional measure of mean squared error (MSE). The recently proposed modified multiple description scalar quantizer (MMDSQ) is used because its central and side quantizers all have convex and uniform cells. Since the majority of research results on the visual distortion caused by quantization noise assumes convex and uniform quantizer cells, they can be conveniently applied to the system based on MMDSQ. The technique provides substantially higher side reconstruction perceived quality when compared at the same central reconstruction quality, which is verified through perceptual tests