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Актуальність роботи. Потокові медіа представляють абсолютно новий спосіб доставки інформації, освіти та повідомлень. Використовуючи Інтернет, витрати на розповсюдження можуть бути набагато нижчими, ніж традиційні засоби масової інформації. Аудиторія Інтернету досить велика і з кожним днем білшає, тому вміст повинен бути привабливим, щоб отримати гідні цифри перегляду, які дадуть віддачу від інвестицій у трансляцію. Мета і завдання дослідження. Метою роботи є аналіз сучасних систем протоколів та апаратного забезпечення, що дозволяють організації відеотрансляції засобами інформаційних мереж та забезпечувати при цьому візуальну якість, яку можна порівняти з системами цифрового телебачення. Для досягнення мети дослідження потрібно виконати наступні завдання: дослідити методи кодування для онлайн трансляцій, дослідити архітектуру мережі, провети практичне порівняння сучасних технологій організації відеотрансляції та платформ для проведення прямих відеотрансляцій, зробити рекомендації, що до актуальності застосування сучасних технологій та платформ. Об’єкт дослідження – технології передавання відеосигналу засобами інформаційних мереж. Предмет дослідження – вплив обраних параметрів для онлайн відеотрансляції та каналів передавання на якісні показники відеозображення. Методи дослідження – теоретичне дослідження існуючих технологій та платформ для передавання відео та аудіо у реальному часі, їх порівняння, аналіз запропонованих рішень для проведення прямих транасляцій, проведення вебінару у якості натурного експерименту. Новизна одержаних результатів. Запропоновано використовувати спеціальні технології, для підвищення надійності передавання відеоконтенту засобами інформаційних мереж, що дозволяє підвищити якість сприйняття аудіо та відео контенту на боці користувача та покращувати перспективи застосування Інтернет мовлення в освіті. Запропоновано використання окремих платформ та пакетів програм під час передавання відео у реальному часі щоб покращіти якість відеотрасляції за, Relevance of work. Streaming media is a completely new way of delivering information, education and messages. When using the Internet, distribution costs can be much lower than traditional media. The audience of the Internet is quite large and growing day by day, so the content must be attractive to get decent viewing figures, which will pay off from the investment in broadcasting. The purpose and objectives of the study. The aim of the work is to analyze modern systems of protocols and hardware that allow the organization of video broadcasting by means of information networks and provide visual quality that can be compared with digital television systems. To achieve the goal of the study, the following tasks should be performed: to investigate coding methods for online broadcasts, to investigate the network architecture, to make a practical comparison of modern technologies of video broadcasting and platforms for live video broadcasts, to make recommendations on the relevance of modern technologies and platforms. The object of research is the technology of video signal transmission by means of information networks. The subject of the research is the influence of the selected parameters for online video broadcasting and transmission channels on the quality indicators of the video image. Research methods - theoretical study of existing technologies and platforms for real-time video and audio transmission, their comparison, analysis of proposed solutions for live broadcasts, webinar as a field experiment. Scientific novelty of the obtained results. It is proposed to use special technologies to increase the reliability of video content transmission through information networks, which improves the quality of perception of audio and video content on the user's side and improve the prospects for the use of Internet broadcasting in education. It is proposed to use separate platforms and software packages during real-time video transmission to improve the quality of video b

Propuesta detallada, incluyendo la planificación temporal y los presupuestos para la actualización del estudio de radio y televisión que se utiliza en las clases prácticas de la Facultad de comunicación (Grado en Comunicación Audiovisual, Grado en Periodismo, Grado en Publicidad y Relaciones Públicas) de la Universidad Católica de Murcia (UCAM), siempre pensando en que los alumnos deben interactuar con medios que los acerquen al mundo laboral. Para ello se propondrá la implementación y puesta en marcha de un centro de producción multimedia en HD (HD, High Definition) . Dicha propuesta incluirá la planimetría (señales de audio, vídeo y referencia), las conexiones, las acometidas en estructuras, el equipamiento necesario y sus características técnicas, los sistemas informáticos y software necesario. El centro de producción multimedia en HD permitirá la creación y producción de programas de televisión, piezas audiovisuales para Internet, doblaje, spots, programas de radio, cuñas, grabaciones musicales, reportajes, documentales, trabajos fotográficos, postproducción de audio y vídeo, así como cualquier otra pieza de contenido audiovisual., Detailed proposal, including the time schedule and budget for updating the study of radio and television which is used in practical classes at the Faculty of Communication (Degree in Audiovisual Communication, Degree Journalism, Degree in Advertising and Public Relations) of the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), always thinking that students should interact with media that will use in their future profesional work. A implementation of a HD multimedia production center will be proposed. This proposal will include planimetry (audio, video and reference), connections, connections in structures, the necessary equipment and its technical characteristics, computer systems and software needed. The HD multimedia production center, will enable the creation and production of television programs, audiovisuals for the Internet, commercials, radio, programs, music recordings, documentaries, photographic works, audio and video post production, and any other piece of audiovisual content.

Propuesta detallada, incluyendo la planificación temporal y los presupuestos para la actualización del estudio de radio y televisión que se utiliza en las clases prácticas de la Facultad de comunicación (Grado en Comunicación Audiovisual, Grado en Periodismo, Grado en Publicidad y Relaciones Públicas) de la Universidad Católica de Murcia (UCAM), siempre pensando en que los alumnos deben interactuar con medios que los acerquen al mundo laboral. Para ello se propondrá la implementación y puesta en marcha de un centro de producción multimedia en HD (HD, High Definition) . Dicha propuesta incluirá la planimetría (señales de audio, vídeo y referencia), las conexiones, las acometidas en estructuras, el equipamiento necesario y sus características técnicas, los sistemas informáticos y software necesario. El centro de producción multimedia en HD permitirá la creación y producción de programas de televisión, piezas audiovisuales para Internet, doblaje, spots, programas de radio, cuñas, grabaciones musicales, reportajes, documentales, trabajos fotográficos, postproducción de audio y vídeo, así como cualquier otra pieza de contenido audiovisual., Detailed proposal, including the time schedule and budget for updating the study of radio and television which is used in practical classes at the Faculty of Communication (Degree in Audiovisual Communication, Degree Journalism, Degree in Advertising and Public Relations) of the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), always thinking that students should interact with media that will use in their future profesional work. A implementation of a HD multimedia production center will be proposed. This proposal will include planimetry (audio, video and reference), connections, connections in structures, the necessary equipment and its technical characteristics, computer systems and software needed. The HD multimedia production center, will enable the creation and production of television programs, audiovisuals for the Internet, commercials, radio, programs, music recordings, documentaries, photographic works, audio and video post production, and any other piece of audiovisual content.

Propuesta detallada, incluyendo la planificación temporal y los presupuestos para la actualización del estudio de radio y televisión que se utiliza en las clases prácticas de la Facultad de comunicación (Grado en Comunicación Audiovisual, Grado en Periodismo, Grado en Publicidad y Relaciones Públicas) de la Universidad Católica de Murcia (UCAM), siempre pensando en que los alumnos deben interactuar con medios que los acerquen al mundo laboral. Para ello se propondrá la implementación y puesta en marcha de un centro de producción multimedia en HD (HD, High Definition) . Dicha propuesta incluirá la planimetría (señales de audio, vídeo y referencia), las conexiones, las acometidas en estructuras, el equipamiento necesario y sus características técnicas, los sistemas informáticos y software necesario. El centro de producción multimedia en HD permitirá la creación y producción de programas de televisión, piezas audiovisuales para Internet, doblaje, spots, programas de radio, cuñas, grabaciones musicales, reportajes, documentales, trabajos fotográficos, postproducción de audio y vídeo, así como cualquier otra pieza de contenido audiovisual., Detailed proposal, including the time schedule and budget for updating the study of radio and television which is used in practical classes at the Faculty of Communication (Degree in Audiovisual Communication, Degree Journalism, Degree in Advertising and Public Relations) of the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), always thinking that students should interact with media that will use in their future profesional work. A implementation of a HD multimedia production center will be proposed. This proposal will include planimetry (audio, video and reference), connections, connections in structures, the necessary equipment and its technical characteristics, computer systems and software needed. The HD multimedia production center, will enable the creation and production of television programs, audiovisuals for the Internet, commercials, radio, programs, music recordings, documentaries, photographic works, audio and video post production, and any other piece of audiovisual content.

Perceptual video encryption by making use of multiple transforms alternatively (according to the random encryption key) has been demonstrated to be quite successful in H.264 video coding. An important reason is that both intra and inter frames in H.264 need go through a prediction (intra-prediction or motion-compensation) so that different transforms (from DCT) always work on some residual signals, leading to nearly the same coding efficiency (as DCT). This technique can be applied to all inter-frames in MPEG-4, but not to any intra-frame because the intra-predication is performed in the transform domain in MPEG-4. In this paper, we present a solution to this problem: mapping the intra-predicated transform coefficients back to the pixel domain. Based on the equivalent intra-prediction in the pixel domain, we can then apply our multiple transform based encryption scheme on each intra-frame. Experiment results show that encrypting each intra-frame in MPEG-4 provides a further quality-degradation on the encrypted video, thus making this multiple transform based scheme applicable in more applications.

Perceptual video encryption by making use of multiple transforms alternatively (according to the random encryption key) has been demonstrated to be quite successful in H.264 video coding. An important reason is that both intra and inter frames in H.264 need go through a prediction (intra-prediction or motion-compensation) so that different transforms (from DCT) always work on some residual signals, leading to nearly the same coding efficiency (as DCT). This technique can be applied to all inter-frames in MPEG-4, but not to any intra-frame because the intra-predication is performed in the transform domain in MPEG-4. In this paper, we present a solution to this problem: mapping the intra-predicated transform coefficients back to the pixel domain. Based on the equivalent intra-prediction in the pixel domain, we can then apply our multiple transform based encryption scheme on each intra-frame. Experiment results show that encrypting each intra-frame in MPEG-4 provides a further quality-degradation on the encrypted video, thus making this multiple transform based scheme applicable in more applications.

En els últims anys hem viscut un creixement exponencial d’Internet i la generalització de l’accés a la xarxa a través de terminals mòbils, que permeten a l’usuari rebre fluxos audiovisuals en streaming. En paral•lel, la millora de la tecnologia ha permès millorar els codificadors i aquestos han permès un millor aprofitament de l'ample de banda. Tot i així, davant d'un escenari en què hi ha diferents amples de banda, diferents resolucions de pantalla i característiques del terminal, l'streaming com el coneixíem fins ara (una sola qualitat independentment de les característiques del terminal, i una taxa constant o variable, però que no s’adapta a les condicions del canal) ha quedat obsolet. Fa un parell d'anys que s'està utilitzant el concepte de streaming adaptatiu, un concepte que implica ajustar el flux audiovisual a les necessitats de cada terminal i a les característiques del canal. Apple, Microsoft o Adobe son algunes de les empreses que han desenvolupat el seu streaming adaptatiu. Tanmateix, totes aquestes solucions són propietàries. Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) és un nou estàndard de la família MPEG que neix amb la intenció d'estandarditzar i unificar aquestes solucions. Aquest treball ha consistit en entendre i descriure l’estàndard DASH, fer proves amb el software disponible, i treure’n conclusions. Entre les eines disponibles hi ha segmentadors, reproductors i validadors, que hem configurat per comprovar el funcionament de DASH amb diversos escenaris de proves. Per emular el comportament hostil de la xarxa s’ha utilitzat l’emulador Dummynet. S'ha aconseguit crear streams DASH personalitzats amb els diversos segmentadors, reproduir correctament l'stream amb els reproductors DASH, i hem verificat que només alguns d'aquests són realment capaços d'adaptar-se a les condicions de la xarxa. S'ha observat també les mancances de l’estàndard, com ara el contingut live o la reproducció d'uns casos especials de perfils., English: We all have seen the exponential growth of the Internet and the generalization of mobile terminals for accessing the services provided by the network, such as audio and video streaming. Moreover, the technology improvements have allowed the improvement of coders, in the direction of a more efficient use of bandwidth. Therefore, the current scenario for streaming services over IP includes many screen resolutions and different terminal characteristics. This is an environment that current streaming protocols (capable of handling only one resolution, independently of the characteristics of the terminal, and a single rate, either variable or constant, but unable to adapt to the changes in the transmission channel) cannot cope with. Two years ago the concept of adaptive streaming was launched commercially. This concept includes the adaptation of the stream to both the terminal capabilities and the channel characteristics. Apple, Microsoft and Adobe have developed proprietary implementations of the concept, thus fragmenting the market. Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP is the new MPEG standard that tries to standardize and unify these solutions. This thesis has focused on understanding the DASH standard, set up testbed scenarios for testing the new DASH-compliant software, and extract conclusions regarding its functionality and performance, using currently available tools such as segmenters, players and validators. We have also used Dummynet for emulating the hostile behavior of the network transmission channel. We have been able to create personalized DASH streams with different segmenters, and receive and play them correctly with the players. Some of the players are able to adapt to network conditions, while others are not. We have also had difficulties with live content and some specific profiles.

Perceptual video encryption by making use of multiple transforms alternatively (according to the random encryption key) has been demonstrated to be quite successful in H.264 video coding. An important reason is that both intra and inter frames in H.264 need go through a prediction (intra-prediction or motion-compensation) so that different transforms (from DCT) always work on some residual signals, leading to nearly the same coding efficiency (as DCT). This technique can be applied to all inter-frames in MPEG-4, but not to any intra-frame because the intra-predication is performed in the transform domain in MPEG-4. In this paper, we present a solution to this problem: mapping the intra-predicated transform coefficients back to the pixel domain. Based on the equivalent intra-prediction in the pixel domain, we can then apply our multiple transform based encryption scheme on each intra-frame. Experiment results show that encrypting each intra-frame in MPEG-4 provides a further quality-degradation on the encrypted video, thus making this multiple transform based scheme applicable in more applications.

In the video encoding process, the motion estimation usually consumes a large part of the encoder computations. This paper presents motion estimation techniques, targeted mainly for MPEG-4 video encoding but also applicable for other video codecs e.g. H.264. A high quality adaptive algorithm with adjustable complexity, based on partially blind prediction for motion estimation, is proposed.The computational complexity of motion estimation is reduced with minor loss in the video quality. In the paper, the quality metrics PSNR, BD PSNR and PEVQ are used, and the possible trade off between complexity and visual quality is studied.

The high demand of the video decoding has pushed the developers to implement the decoders on parallel architectures. This thesis provides the deliberations about the implementation of an MPEG-4 decoder on a massively parallel processor array (MPPA), Ambric 2045, by converting the CAL actor language implementation of the decoder. This decoder is the Xilinx model of the MPEG-4 Simple Profile decoder and consists of four main blocks; parser, acdc, idct2d and motion. The parser block is developed in another thesis work [20] and the rest of the decoder, which consists of the other three blocks, is implemented in this thesis work. Afterwards, in order to complete the decoder, the parser block is combined with the other three blocks. Several methods are developed for conversion purposes. Additionally, a number of other methods are developed in order to overcome the constraints of the ambric architecture such as no division support. At the beginning, for debugging purposes, the decoder is implemented on a simulator which is designed for Ambric architecture. Finally the implementation is uploaded to the Ambric 2045 chip and tested with different input streams. The performance of the implementation is analyzed and satisfying results are achieved when compared to the standards which are in use in the market. These performance results can be considered as satisfying for any real-time application as well. Furthermore, the results are compared with the results of the CAL implementation, running on a single 2GHz i7 intel processor, in terms of speed and efficiency. The Ambric implementation runs 4,7 times faster than the CAL implementation when a small input stream (300 frames with resolution of 176x144) is used. However, when a large input stream (384 frames with resolution of 720x480) is used, the Ambric implementation shows a performance which is approximately 32 times better than the CAL implementation, in terms of decoding speed and throughput. The performance may increase fu

The high demand of the video decoding has pushed the developers to implement the decoders on parallel architectures. This thesis provides the deliberations about the implementation of an MPEG-4 decoder on a massively parallel processor array (MPPA), Ambric 2045, by converting the CAL actor language implementation of the decoder. This decoder is the Xilinx model of the MPEG-4 Simple Profile decoder and consists of four main blocks; parser, acdc, idct2d and motion. The parser block is developed in another thesis work [20] and the rest of the decoder, which consists of the other three blocks, is implemented in this thesis work. Afterwards, in order to complete the decoder, the parser block is combined with the other three blocks. Several methods are developed for conversion purposes. Additionally, a number of other methods are developed in order to overcome the constraints of the ambric architecture such as no division support. At the beginning, for debugging purposes, the decoder is implemented on a simulator which is designed for Ambric architecture. Finally the implementation is uploaded to the Ambric 2045 chip and tested with different input streams. The performance of the implementation is analyzed and satisfying results are achieved when compared to the standards which are in use in the market. These performance results can be considered as satisfying for any real-time application as well. Furthermore, the results are compared with the results of the CAL implementation, running on a single 2GHz i7 intel processor, in terms of speed and efficiency. The Ambric implementation runs 4,7 times faster than the CAL implementation when a small input stream (300 frames with resolution of 176x144) is used. However, when a large input stream (384 frames with resolution of 720x480) is used, the Ambric implementation shows a performance which is approximately 32 times better than the CAL implementation, in terms of decoding speed and throughput. The performance may increase fu

In the video encoding process, the motion estimation usually consumes a large part of the encoder computations. This paper presents motion estimation techniques, targeted mainly for MPEG-4 video encoding but also applicable for other video codecs e.g. H.264. A high quality adaptive algorithm with adjustable complexity, based on partially blind prediction for motion estimation, is proposed.The computational complexity of motion estimation is reduced with minor loss in the video quality. In the paper, the quality metrics PSNR, BD PSNR and PEVQ are used, and the possible trade off between complexity and visual quality is studied.

In the video encoding process, the motion estimation usually consumes a large part of the encoder computations. This paper presents motion estimation techniques, targeted mainly for MPEG-4 video encoding but also applicable for other video codecs e.g. H.264. A high quality adaptive algorithm with adjustable complexity, based on partially blind prediction for motion estimation, is proposed.The computational complexity of motion estimation is reduced with minor loss in the video quality. In the paper, the quality metrics PSNR, BD PSNR and PEVQ are used, and the possible trade off between complexity and visual quality is studied.

In the video encoding process, the motion estimation usually consumes a large part of the encoder computations. This paper presents motion estimation techniques, targeted mainly for MPEG-4 video encoding but also applicable for other video codecs e.g. H.264. A high quality adaptive algorithm with adjustable complexity, based on partially blind prediction for motion estimation, is proposed.The computational complexity of motion estimation is reduced with minor loss in the video quality. In the paper, the quality metrics PSNR, BD PSNR and PEVQ are used, and the possible trade off between complexity and visual quality is studied.

In the video encoding process, the motion estimation usually consumes a large part of the encoder computations. This paper presents motion estimation techniques, targeted mainly for MPEG-4 video encoding but also applicable for other video codecs e.g. H.264. A high quality adaptive algorithm with adjustable complexity, based on partially blind prediction for motion estimation, is proposed.The computational complexity of motion estimation is reduced with minor loss in the video quality. In the paper, the quality metrics PSNR, BD PSNR and PEVQ are used, and the possible trade off between complexity and visual quality is studied.

In the video encoding process, the motion estimation usually consumes a large part of the encoder computations. This paper presents motion estimation techniques, targeted mainly for MPEG-4 video encoding but also applicable for other video codecs e.g. H.264. A high quality adaptive algorithm with adjustable complexity, based on partially blind prediction for motion estimation, is proposed.The computational complexity of motion estimation is reduced with minor loss in the video quality. In the paper, the quality metrics PSNR, BD PSNR and PEVQ are used, and the possible trade off between complexity and visual quality is studied.

In any block-based transform coding of image/video signals, it is well-known that the mean square error (MSE) distortion measured in the pixel domain is exactly equal to the MSE distortion resulted from quantization in the transform domain if the involved transform matrix is unitary. However, such a property no longer exists if the pixel-domain distortion is measured only on a selected part of pixels within one image block. This provides us an opportunity of dynamically shaping the quantization errors so as to make the selected pixels (much) better than the unselected ones. In this paper, we first develop a reversed iterative algorithm to guide us to perform a highly constrained quantization so that the coding quality of the selected pixels in each image block is significantly higher than what can be achieved by using the normal quantization. Then, we apply this intelligent quantization in one practical scenariocoding of arbitrarily-shaped image blocks in MPEG-4, showing remarkable improvements in comparison with the original MPEG-4. © 2006 IEEE.

In any block-based transform coding of image/video signals, it is well-known that the mean square error (MSE) distortion measured in the pixel domain is exactly equal to the MSE distortion resulted from quantization in the transform domain if the involved transform matrix is unitary. However, such a property no longer exists if the pixel-domain distortion is measured only on a selected part of pixels within one image block. This provides us an opportunity of dynamically shaping the quantization errors so as to make the selected pixels (much) better than the unselected ones. In this paper, we first develop a reversed iterative algorithm to guide us to perform a highly constrained quantization so that the coding quality of the selected pixels in each image block is significantly higher than what can be achieved by using the normal quantization. Then, we apply this intelligent quantization in one practical scenariocoding of arbitrarily-shaped image blocks in MPEG-4, showing remarkable improvements in comparison with the original MPEG-4. © 2006 IEEE.

3D television using multiple views rendering is receiving increasing interest. In this technology a number of video sequences are transmitted simultaneously and provides a larger view of the scene or stereoscopic viewing experience. With two views stereoscopic rendition is possible. Nowadays 3D displays are available that are capable of displaying several views simultaneously and the user is able to see different views by moving his head. The thesis work aims at implementing a demonstration system with a number of simultaneous views. The system will include two cameras, computers at both the transmitting and receiving end and a multi-view display. Besides setting up the hardware, the main task is to implement software so that the transmission can be done over an IP-network. This thesis report includes an overview and experiences of similar published systems, the implementation of real time video, its compression, encoding, and transmission over the internet with the help of socket programming and finally the multi-view display in 3D format. This report also describes the design considerations more precisely regarding the video coding and network protocols.

Video Encoding in mobile equipments is a computationally demanding feature that requires a well designed and well developed algorithm. The optimal solution requires a trade off in the encoding process, e.g. motion estimation with tradeoff between low complexity versus high perceptual quality and efficiency. The present thesis works on reducing the complexity of motion estimation algorithms used for MPEG-4 video encoding taking SLIMPEG motion estimation algorithm as reference. The inherent properties of video like spatial and temporal correlation have been exploited to test new techniques of motion estimation. Four motion estimation algorithms have been proposed. The computational complexity and encoding quality have been evaluated. The resulting encoded video quality has been compared against the standard Full Search algorithm. At the same time, reduction in computational complexity of the improved algorithm is compared against SLIMPEG which is already about 99 % more efficient than Full Search in terms of computational complexity. The fourth proposed algorithm, Adaptive SAD Control, offers a mechanism of choosing trade off between computational complexity and encoding quality in a dynamic way.

3D television using multiple views rendering is receiving increasing interest. In this technology a number of video sequences are transmitted simultaneously and provides a larger view of the scene or stereoscopic viewing experience. With two views stereoscopic rendition is possible. Nowadays 3D displays are available that are capable of displaying several views simultaneously and the user is able to see different views by moving his head. The thesis work aims at implementing a demonstration system with a number of simultaneous views. The system will include two cameras, computers at both the transmitting and receiving end and a multi-view display. Besides setting up the hardware, the main task is to implement software so that the transmission can be done over an IP-network. This thesis report includes an overview and experiences of similar published systems, the implementation of real time video, its compression, encoding, and transmission over the internet with the help of socket programming and finally the multi-view display in 3D format. This report also describes the design considerations more precisely regarding the video coding and network protocols.

Video Encoding in mobile equipments is a computationally demanding feature that requires a well designed and well developed algorithm. The optimal solution requires a trade off in the encoding process, e.g. motion estimation with tradeoff between low complexity versus high perceptual quality and efficiency. The present thesis works on reducing the complexity of motion estimation algorithms used for MPEG-4 video encoding taking SLIMPEG motion estimation algorithm as reference. The inherent properties of video like spatial and temporal correlation have been exploited to test new techniques of motion estimation. Four motion estimation algorithms have been proposed. The computational complexity and encoding quality have been evaluated. The resulting encoded video quality has been compared against the standard Full Search algorithm. At the same time, reduction in computational complexity of the improved algorithm is compared against SLIMPEG which is already about 99 % more efficient than Full Search in terms of computational complexity. The fourth proposed algorithm, Adaptive SAD Control, offers a mechanism of choosing trade off between computational complexity and encoding quality in a dynamic way.

In any block-based transform coding of image/video signals, it is well-known that the mean square error (MSE) distortion measured in the pixel domain is exactly equal to the MSE distortion resulted from quantization in the transform domain if the involved transform matrix is unitary. However, such a property no longer exists if the pixel-domain distortion is measured only on a selected part of pixels within one image block. This provides us an opportunity of dynamically shaping the quantization errors so as to make the selected pixels (much) better than the unselected ones. In this paper, we first develop a reversed iterative algorithm to guide us to perform a highly constrained quantization so that the coding quality of the selected pixels in each image block is significantly higher than what can be achieved by using the normal quantization. Then, we apply this intelligent quantization in one practical scenariocoding of arbitrarily-shaped image blocks in MPEG-4, showing remarkable improvements in comparison with the original MPEG-4. © 2006 IEEE.

Video Encoding in mobile equipments is a computationally demanding feature that requires a well designed and well developed algorithm. The optimal solution requires a trade off in the encoding process, e.g. motion estimation with tradeoff between low complexity versus high perceptual quality and efficiency. The present thesis works on reducing the complexity of motion estimation algorithms used for MPEG-4 video encoding taking SLIMPEG motion estimation algorithm as reference. The inherent properties of video like spatial and temporal correlation have been exploited to test new techniques of motion estimation. Four motion estimation algorithms have been proposed. The computational complexity and encoding quality have been evaluated. The resulting encoded video quality has been compared against the standard Full Search algorithm. At the same time, reduction in computational complexity of the improved algorithm is compared against SLIMPEG which is already about 99 % more efficient than Full Search in terms of computational complexity. The fourth proposed algorithm, Adaptive SAD Control, offers a mechanism of choosing trade off between computational complexity and encoding quality in a dynamic way.

Video Encoding in mobile equipments is a computationally demanding feature that requires a well designed and well developed algorithm. The optimal solution requires a trade off in the encoding process, e.g. motion estimation with tradeoff between low complexity versus high perceptual quality and efficiency. The present thesis works on reducing the complexity of motion estimation algorithms used for MPEG-4 video encoding taking SLIMPEG motion estimation algorithm as reference. The inherent properties of video like spatial and temporal correlation have been exploited to test new techniques of motion estimation. Four motion estimation algorithms have been proposed. The computational complexity and encoding quality have been evaluated. The resulting encoded video quality has been compared against the standard Full Search algorithm. At the same time, reduction in computational complexity of the improved algorithm is compared against SLIMPEG which is already about 99 % more efficient than Full Search in terms of computational complexity. The fourth proposed algorithm, Adaptive SAD Control, offers a mechanism of choosing trade off between computational complexity and encoding quality in a dynamic way.

Video Encoding in mobile equipments is a computationally demanding feature that requires a well designed and well developed algorithm. The optimal solution requires a trade off in the encoding process, e.g. motion estimation with tradeoff between low complexity versus high perceptual quality and efficiency. The present thesis works on reducing the complexity of motion estimation algorithms used for MPEG-4 video encoding taking SLIMPEG motion estimation algorithm as reference. The inherent properties of video like spatial and temporal correlation have been exploited to test new techniques of motion estimation. Four motion estimation algorithms have been proposed. The computational complexity and encoding quality have been evaluated. The resulting encoded video quality has been compared against the standard Full Search algorithm. At the same time, reduction in computational complexity of the improved algorithm is compared against SLIMPEG which is already about 99 % more efficient than Full Search in terms of computational complexity. The fourth proposed algorithm, Adaptive SAD Control, offers a mechanism of choosing trade off between computational complexity and encoding quality in a dynamic way.

Video Encoding in mobile equipments is a computationally demanding feature that requires a well designed and well developed algorithm. The optimal solution requires a trade off in the encoding process, e.g. motion estimation with tradeoff between low complexity versus high perceptual quality and efficiency. The present thesis works on reducing the complexity of motion estimation algorithms used for MPEG-4 video encoding taking SLIMPEG motion estimation algorithm as reference. The inherent properties of video like spatial and temporal correlation have been exploited to test new techniques of motion estimation. Four motion estimation algorithms have been proposed. The computational complexity and encoding quality have been evaluated. The resulting encoded video quality has been compared against the standard Full Search algorithm. At the same time, reduction in computational complexity of the improved algorithm is compared against SLIMPEG which is already about 99 % more efficient than Full Search in terms of computational complexity. The fourth proposed algorithm, Adaptive SAD Control, offers a mechanism of choosing trade off between computational complexity and encoding quality in a dynamic way.

To provide universal multimedia experience, multimedia streaming services need to transparently handle the variation and heterogeneity in operating environment. From the standpoint of streaming application, video adaptation techniques are intended to cope with the environmental variations by utilizing manipulations of the video content itself. Scalable video coding (SVC) schemes, like that suggested by the standards H.264 and its SVC extension, is highly attractive for designing a self-adaptive video streaming system. When SVC is employed in streaming system, the produced video stream can be then easily truncated or tailored to form several sub-streams which can be decoded separately to obtain a range of preferable picture size, quality and frame rate. However, questions about how to perform the adaptation using SVC and how much adaptation SVC enables are still remaining research issues. We still lack a thorough understanding of how to automate the scaling procedure in order to achieve an optimal video Quality-of-Experience for end users. Video QoE, depends highly on human perception. In this thesis, we introduce several video QoE studies around the usability of H.264 SVC. Several factors that contribute significantly to the overall QoEs have been identified and evaluated in these studies. As an example of application usage related factor, playback smoothness and application response time are critical performance measures which can benefit from temporal scalability. Targeting on applications that requires frequent interactivity, we propose a transcoding scheme that fully utilizes the benefits of Switching P and Switching I frames specified in H.264 to enhance video stream's temporal scalability. Focusing on visual quality related factors, a series of carefully designed subjective quality assessment tests have been performed on mobile devices to investigate the effects of multi-dimensional scalability on human quality perception. Our study reveals that QoE degrades, Ardendo småföretagsdoktorand

To provide universal multimedia experience, multimedia streaming services need to transparently handle the variation and heterogeneity in operating environment. From the standpoint of streaming application, video adaptation techniques are intended to cope with the environmental variations by utilizing manipulations of the video content itself. Scalable video coding (SVC) schemes, like that suggested by the standards H.264 and its SVC extension, is highly attractive for designing a self-adaptive video streaming system. When SVC is employed in streaming system, the produced video stream can be then easily truncated or tailored to form several sub-streams which can be decoded separately to obtain a range of preferable picture size, quality and frame rate. However, questions about how to perform the adaptation using SVC and how much adaptation SVC enables are still remaining research issues. We still lack a thorough understanding of how to automate the scaling procedure in order to achieve an optimal video Quality-of-Experience for end users. Video QoE, depends highly on human perception. In this thesis, we introduce several video QoE studies around the usability of H.264 SVC. Several factors that contribute significantly to the overall QoEs have been identified and evaluated in these studies. As an example of application usage related factor, playback smoothness and application response time are critical performance measures which can benefit from temporal scalability. Targeting on applications that requires frequent interactivity, we propose a transcoding scheme that fully utilizes the benefits of Switching P and Switching I frames specified in H.264 to enhance video stream's temporal scalability. Focusing on visual quality related factors, a series of carefully designed subjective quality assessment tests have been performed on mobile devices to investigate the effects of multi-dimensional scalability on human quality perception. Our study reveals that QoE degrades, Ardendo småföretagsdoktorand

El seguimiento preciso de la boca de una persona, cuando está hablando, es un desafío importante en varias aplicaciones, como la identificación de la cara o la interacción con el computador. La complejidad de forma, textura y color de la boca, y los cambios de iluminación y fondos de los posibles escenarios hacen que este sea aún un problema abierto. En este artículo se propone un algoritmo para el seguimiento del contorno externo de la boca, sin utilizar marcadores o alguna clase de maquillaje para resaltar los labios, basado en apariencia y en restricciones morfológicas definidas en el estándar MPEG-4. El algoritmo es robusto ante la presencia de barba, tono de piel y calidad de la imagen.

To provide universal multimedia experience, multimedia streaming services need to transparently handle the variation and heterogeneity in operating environment. From the standpoint of streaming application, video adaptation techniques are intended to cope with the environmental variations by utilizing manipulations of the video content itself. Scalable video coding (SVC) schemes, like that suggested by the standards H.264 and its SVC extension, is highly attractive for designing a self-adaptive video streaming system. When SVC is employed in streaming system, the produced video stream can be then easily truncated or tailored to form several sub-streams which can be decoded separately to obtain a range of preferable picture size, quality and frame rate. However, questions about how to perform the adaptation using SVC and how much adaptation SVC enables are still remaining research issues. We still lack a thorough understanding of how to automate the scaling procedure in order to achieve an optimal video Quality-of-Experience for end users. Video QoE, depends highly on human perception. In this thesis, we introduce several video QoE studies around the usability of H.264 SVC. Several factors that contribute significantly to the overall QoEs have been identified and evaluated in these studies. As an example of application usage related factor, playback smoothness and application response time are critical performance measures which can benefit from temporal scalability. Targeting on applications that requires frequent interactivity, we propose a transcoding scheme that fully utilizes the benefits of Switching P and Switching I frames specified in H.264 to enhance video stream's temporal scalability. Focusing on visual quality related factors, a series of carefully designed subjective quality assessment tests have been performed on mobile devices to investigate the effects of multi-dimensional scalability on human quality perception. Our study reveals that QoE degrades, Ardendo småföretagsdoktorand

El seguimiento preciso de la boca de una persona, cuando está hablando, es un desafío importante en varias aplicaciones, como la identificación de la cara o la interacción con el computador. La complejidad de forma, textura y color de la boca, y los cambios de iluminación y fondos de los posibles escenarios hacen que este sea aún un problema abierto. En este artículo se propone un algoritmo para el seguimiento del contorno externo de la boca, sin utilizar marcadores o alguna clase de maquillaje para resaltar los labios, basado en apariencia y en restricciones morfológicas definidas en el estándar MPEG-4. El algoritmo es robusto ante la presencia de barba, tono de piel y calidad de la imagen.

To provide universal multimedia experience, multimedia streaming services need to transparently handle the variation and heterogeneity in operating environment. From the standpoint of streaming application, video adaptation techniques are intended to cope with the environmental variations by utilizing manipulations of the video content itself. Scalable video coding (SVC) schemes, like that suggested by the standards H.264 and its SVC extension, is highly attractive for designing a self-adaptive video streaming system. When SVC is employed in streaming system, the produced video stream can be then easily truncated or tailored to form several sub-streams which can be decoded separately to obtain a range of preferable picture size, quality and frame rate. However, questions about how to perform the adaptation using SVC and how much adaptation SVC enables are still remaining research issues. We still lack a thorough understanding of how to automate the scaling procedure in order to achieve an optimal video Quality-of-Experience for end users. Video QoE, depends highly on human perception. In this thesis, we introduce several video QoE studies around the usability of H.264 SVC. Several factors that contribute significantly to the overall QoEs have been identified and evaluated in these studies. As an example of application usage related factor, playback smoothness and application response time are critical performance measures which can benefit from temporal scalability. Targeting on applications that requires frequent interactivity, we propose a transcoding scheme that fully utilizes the benefits of Switching P and Switching I frames specified in H.264 to enhance video stream's temporal scalability. Focusing on visual quality related factors, a series of carefully designed subjective quality assessment tests have been performed on mobile devices to investigate the effects of multi-dimensional scalability on human quality perception. Our study reveals that QoE degrades, Ardendo småföretagsdoktorand

To provide universal multimedia experience, multimedia streaming services need to transparently handle the variation and heterogeneity in operating environment. From the standpoint of streaming application, video adaptation techniques are intended to cope with the environmental variations by utilizing manipulations of the video content itself. Scalable video coding (SVC) schemes, like that suggested by the standards H.264 and its SVC extension, is highly attractive for designing a self-adaptive video streaming system. When SVC is employed in streaming system, the produced video stream can be then easily truncated or tailored to form several sub-streams which can be decoded separately to obtain a range of preferable picture size, quality and frame rate. However, questions about how to perform the adaptation using SVC and how much adaptation SVC enables are still remaining research issues. We still lack a thorough understanding of how to automate the scaling procedure in order to achieve an optimal video Quality-of-Experience for end users. Video QoE, depends highly on human perception. In this thesis, we introduce several video QoE studies around the usability of H.264 SVC. Several factors that contribute significantly to the overall QoEs have been identified and evaluated in these studies. As an example of application usage related factor, playback smoothness and application response time are critical performance measures which can benefit from temporal scalability. Targeting on applications that requires frequent interactivity, we propose a transcoding scheme that fully utilizes the benefits of Switching P and Switching I frames specified in H.264 to enhance video stream's temporal scalability. Focusing on visual quality related factors, a series of carefully designed subjective quality assessment tests have been performed on mobile devices to investigate the effects of multi-dimensional scalability on human quality perception. Our study reveals that QoE degrades, Ardendo småföretagsdoktorand

To provide universal multimedia experience, multimedia streaming services need to transparently handle the variation and heterogeneity in operating environment. From the standpoint of streaming application, video adaptation techniques are intended to cope with the environmental variations by utilizing manipulations of the video content itself. Scalable video coding (SVC) schemes, like that suggested by the standards H.264 and its SVC extension, is highly attractive for designing a self-adaptive video streaming system. When SVC is employed in streaming system, the produced video stream can be then easily truncated or tailored to form several sub-streams which can be decoded separately to obtain a range of preferable picture size, quality and frame rate. However, questions about how to perform the adaptation using SVC and how much adaptation SVC enables are still remaining research issues. We still lack a thorough understanding of how to automate the scaling procedure in order to achieve an optimal video Quality-of-Experience for end users. Video QoE, depends highly on human perception. In this thesis, we introduce several video QoE studies around the usability of H.264 SVC. Several factors that contribute significantly to the overall QoEs have been identified and evaluated in these studies. As an example of application usage related factor, playback smoothness and application response time are critical performance measures which can benefit from temporal scalability. Targeting on applications that requires frequent interactivity, we propose a transcoding scheme that fully utilizes the benefits of Switching P and Switching I frames specified in H.264 to enhance video stream's temporal scalability. Focusing on visual quality related factors, a series of carefully designed subjective quality assessment tests have been performed on mobile devices to investigate the effects of multi-dimensional scalability on human quality perception. Our study reveals that QoE degrades, Ardendo småföretagsdoktorand

To provide universal multimedia experience, multimedia streaming services need to transparently handle the variation and heterogeneity in operating environment. From the standpoint of streaming application, video adaptation techniques are intended to cope with the environmental variations by utilizing manipulations of the video content itself. Scalable video coding (SVC) schemes, like that suggested by the standards H.264 and its SVC extension, is highly attractive for designing a self-adaptive video streaming system. When SVC is employed in streaming system, the produced video stream can be then easily truncated or tailored to form several sub-streams which can be decoded separately to obtain a range of preferable picture size, quality and frame rate. However, questions about how to perform the adaptation using SVC and how much adaptation SVC enables are still remaining research issues. We still lack a thorough understanding of how to automate the scaling procedure in order to achieve an optimal video Quality-of-Experience for end users. Video QoE, depends highly on human perception. In this thesis, we introduce several video QoE studies around the usability of H.264 SVC. Several factors that contribute significantly to the overall QoEs have been identified and evaluated in these studies. As an example of application usage related factor, playback smoothness and application response time are critical performance measures which can benefit from temporal scalability. Targeting on applications that requires frequent interactivity, we propose a transcoding scheme that fully utilizes the benefits of Switching P and Switching I frames specified in H.264 to enhance video stream's temporal scalability. Focusing on visual quality related factors, a series of carefully designed subjective quality assessment tests have been performed on mobile devices to investigate the effects of multi-dimensional scalability on human quality perception. Our study reveals that QoE degrades, Ardendo småföretagsdoktorand

This thesis aims at building a system capable of automatically extracting and parameterizing the position of a face and its features in images acquired from a low-end monocular camera. Such a challenging task is justified by the importance and variety of its possible applications, ranging from face and expression recognition to animation of virtual characters using video depicting real actors. The implementation includes the construction of Active Appearance Models of the human face from training images. The existing face model Candide-3 is used as a starting point, making the translation of the tracking parameters to standard MPEG-4 Facial Animation Parameters easy. The Inverse Compositional Algorithm is employed to adapt the models to new images, working on a subspace where the appearance is "projected out" and thus focusing only on shape. The algorithm is tested on a generic model, aiming at tracking different people’s faces, and on a specific model, considering one person only. In the former case, the need for improvements in the robustness of the system is highlighted. By contrast, the latter case gives good results regarding both quality and speed, with real time performance being a feasible goal for future developments.

The following paper introduces a low bitrate video coding method on the basis of 3D motion compensated wavelet transform and SPIHT algorithm. In contrast to the conventional algorithms applying motion compensation and differential coding, here wavelet transform is used to exploit the opportunities of time redundancy. For coefficient collection, the 3D version of SPIHT algorithm was selected from the various procedures developed for wavelet transform. Motion vectors are compressed, too (also by wavelet transform), therefore the time and spatial redundancy of coding is exploited here as well. These procedures result in effective video compressing and can easily be aligned to the MPEG4 standard.

This thesis aims at building a system capable of automatically extracting and parameterizing the position of a face and its features in images acquired from a low-end monocular camera. Such a challenging task is justified by the importance and variety of its possible applications, ranging from face and expression recognition to animation of virtual characters using video depicting real actors. The implementation includes the construction of Active Appearance Models of the human face from training images. The existing face model Candide-3 is used as a starting point, making the translation of the tracking parameters to standard MPEG-4 Facial Animation Parameters easy. The Inverse Compositional Algorithm is employed to adapt the models to new images, working on a subspace where the appearance is "projected out" and thus focusing only on shape. The algorithm is tested on a generic model, aiming at tracking different people’s faces, and on a specific model, considering one person only. In the former case, the need for improvements in the robustness of the system is highlighted. By contrast, the latter case gives good results regarding both quality and speed, with real time performance being a feasible goal for future developments.

The following paper introduces a low bitrate video coding method on the basis of 3D motion compensated wavelet transform and SPIHT algorithm. In contrast to the conventional algorithms applying motion compensation and differential coding, here wavelet transform is used to exploit the opportunities of time redundancy. For coefficient collection, the 3D version of SPIHT algorithm was selected from the various procedures developed for wavelet transform. Motion vectors are compressed, too (also by wavelet transform), therefore the time and spatial redundancy of coding is exploited here as well. These procedures result in effective video compressing and can easily be aligned to the MPEG4 standard.

The following paper introduces a low bitrate video coding method on the basis of 3D motion compensated wavelet transform and SPIHT algorithm. In contrast to the conventional algorithms applying motion compensation and differential coding, here wavelet transform is used to exploit the opportunities of time redundancy. For coefficient collection, the 3D version of SPIHT algorithm was selected from the various procedures developed for wavelet transform. Motion vectors are compressed, too (also by wavelet transform), therefore the time and spatial redundancy of coding is exploited here as well. These procedures result in effective video compressing and can easily be aligned to the MPEG4 standard.

The following paper introduces a low bitrate video coding method on the basis of 3D motion compensated wavelet transform and SPIHT algorithm. In contrast to the conventional algorithms applying motion compensation and differential coding, here wavelet transform is used to exploit the opportunities of time redundancy. For coefficient collection, the 3D version of SPIHT algorithm was selected from the various procedures developed for wavelet transform. Motion vectors are compressed, too (also by wavelet transform), therefore the time and spatial redundancy of coding is exploited here as well. These procedures result in effective video compressing and can easily be aligned to the MPEG4 standard.

The following paper introduces a low bitrate video coding method on the basis of 3D motion compensated wavelet transform and SPIHT algorithm. In contrast to the conventional algorithms applying motion compensation and differential coding, here wavelet transform is used to exploit the opportunities of time redundancy. For coefficient collection, the 3D version of SPIHT algorithm was selected from the various procedures developed for wavelet transform. Motion vectors are compressed, too (also by wavelet transform), therefore the time and spatial redundancy of coding is exploited here as well. These procedures result in effective video compressing and can easily be aligned to the MPEG4 standard.

A new efficient compression scheme for bilevel images containing locally straight edges is presented. This paper is especially focused on lossless (intra) coding of binary shapes for image and video objects, but other images with similar characteristics such as line drawings, layers of digital maps, or segmentation maps are also encoded efficiently. The algorithm is not targeted at document images with text, which can be coded efficiently with dictionary-based techniques as in JBIG2. The scheme is based on a local analysis of the digital straightness of the causal part of the object boundary, which is used in the context definition for arithmetic encoding. Tested on individual images of standard TV resolution binary shapes and the binary layers of a digital map, the proposed algorithm outperforms PWC, JBIG, JBIG2, and MPEG-4 CAE. On the binary shapes, the code lengths are reduced by 21%, 27 %, 28 %, and 41 %, respectively. On the map layers, the reductions are 31 %, 34 %, 32 %, and 64 %, respectively. The algorithm is also more efficient on the test material than the state-of-the-art generic bilevel image coder free tree.

A new efficient compression scheme for bilevel images containing locally straight edges is presented. This paper is especially focused on lossless (intra) coding of binary shapes for image and video objects, but other images with similar characteristics such as line drawings, layers of digital maps, or segmentation maps are also encoded efficiently. The algorithm is not targeted at document images with text, which can be coded efficiently with dictionary-based techniques as in JBIG2. The scheme is based on a local analysis of the digital straightness of the causal part of the object boundary, which is used in the context definition for arithmetic encoding. Tested on individual images of standard TV resolution binary shapes and the binary layers of a digital map, the proposed algorithm outperforms PWC, JBIG, JBIG2, and MPEG-4 CAE. On the binary shapes, the code lengths are reduced by 21%, 27 %, 28 %, and 41 %, respectively. On the map layers, the reductions are 31 %, 34 %, 32 %, and 64 %, respectively. The algorithm is also more efficient on the test material than the state-of-the-art generic bilevel image coder free tree.

Due to the huge size of raw digital video data, compression must be applied to video for transmission and storage. There are many popular international standards for video compression including ISO MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, ITU-T H.261, H.263, H.263+, etc. These are already commonly used in video distribution such as in VCD, DVD, DVB, HDTV, video conferencing, video editing, video streaming over internet, etc. One common feature among these standards is that motion estimation is used to reduce temporal redundancy inherent in video sequences. It is well known that the exhaustive full search typically performed is very slow. It is highly desirable to develop fast motion estimation algorithms without significantly affecting the visual quality. This invention, the Advance Diamond Zonal Search(ADZS), is a fast motion estimation algorithm that can achieve an average speedup factor of 140, 450 and 900 compared with FS for search area sizes of +-16, +-32 and +-48 respectively with essentially the same video quality, both subjectively and in terms of PSNR. It relates generally to digital video compression, and more particularly to a video compression system using block-matching motion estimation and having both device and method aspects. It further relates to computer program products, such as a recording medium, carrying program instructions readable by a computing device to cause the computing device to carry out a method according to the invention.

This article discusses the state of the art in metadata for audio-visual media in large semantic networks, such as the Semantic Web. Our discussion is predominantly motivated by the two most widely known approaches towards machine-processable and semantic-based content description, namely the Semantic Web activity of the W3C and ISO's efforts in the direction of complex media content modeling, in particular the Multimedia Content Description Interface (MPEG-7). We explain that the conceptual ideas and technologies discussed in both approaches are essential for the next step in multimedia development. Unfortunately, there are still many practical obstacles that block their widespread use for providing multimedia metadata on the Web. Based on a scenario to explain our vision of a media-aware Semantic Web, we derive in Part I a number of problems regarding the semantic content description of media units. We then discuss the multimedia production chain, in particular emphasizing the role of progressive metadata production. As a result we distill a set of media-based metadata production requirements and show how current media production environments fail to address these. We then introduce those parts of the W3C and ISO standardization works that are relevant to our discussion. In Part II of this article, we analyze their abilities to define structures for describing media semantics, discuss syntactic and semantic problems, ontological problems for media semantics, and the problems of applying the theoretical concepts to real world problems. Part II concludes with implications of the findings for future action with respect to the actions the community should take.

This article discusses the state of the art in metadata for audio-visual media in large semantic networks, such as the Semantic Web. Our discussion is predominantly motivated by the two most widely known approaches towards machine-processable and semantic-based content description, namely the Semantic Web activity of the W3C and ISO's efforts in the direction of complex media content modeling, in particular the Multimedia Content Description Interface (MPEG-7). We explain that the conceptual ideas and technologies discussed in both approaches are essential for the next step in multimedia development. Unfortunately, there are still many practical obstacles that block their widespread use for providing multimedia metadata on the Web. Based on a scenario to explain our vision of a media-aware Semantic Web, we derive in Part I a number of problems regarding the semantic content description of media units. We then discuss the multimedia production chain, in particular emphasizing the role of progressive metadata production. As a result we distill a set of media-based metadata production requirements and show how current media production environments fail to address these. We then introduce those parts of the W3C and ISO standardization works that are relevant to our discussion. In Part II of this article, we analyze their abilities to define structures for describing media semantics, discuss syntactic and semantic problems, ontological problems for media semantics, and the problems of applying the theoretical concepts to real world problems. Part II concludes with implications of the findings for future action with respect to the actions the community should take.

Due to the huge size of raw digital video data, compression must be applied to video for transmission and storage. There are many popular international standards for video compression including ISO MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, ITU-T H.261, H.263, H.263+, etc. These are already commonly used in video distribution such as in VCD, DVD, DVB, HDTV, video conferencing, video editing, video streaming over internet, etc. One common feature among these standards is that motion estimation is used to reduce temporal redundancy inherent in video sequences. It is well known that the exhaustive full search typically performed is very slow. It is highly desirable to develop fast motion estimation algorithms without significantly affecting the visual quality. This invention, the Advance Diamond Zonal Search(ADZS), is a fast motion estimation algorithm that can achieve an average speedup factor of 140, 450 and 900 compared with FS for search area sizes of +-16, +-32 and +-48 respectively with essentially the same video quality, both subjectively and in terms of PSNR. It relates generally to digital video compression, and more particularly to a video compression system using block-matching motion estimation and having both device and method aspects. It further relates to computer program products, such as a recording medium, carrying program instructions readable by a computing device to cause the computing device to carry out a method according to the invention.