Abstract
In this paper, we present a video coding scheme which applies the technique of visual saliency computation to adjust image fidelity before compression. To extract visually salient features, we construct a spatio-temporal saliency map by analyzing the video using a combined bottom-up and top-down visual saliency model. We then use an extended bilateral filter, in which the local intensity and spatial scales are adjusted according to visual saliency, to adaptively alter the image fidelity. Our implementation is based on the H.264 video encoder JM12.0. Besides evaluating our scheme with the H.264 reference software, we also compare it to a more traditional foreground-background segmentation-based method and a foveation-based approach which employs Gaussian blurring. Our results show that the proposed algorithm can improve the compression ratio significantly while effectively preserving perceptual visual quality.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.References
Tao B, Dickinson B W, Peterson H A. Adaptive model-driven bit allocation for MPEG video coding. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 2000, 10(1): 147–157.
Tang C W, Chen C H, Yu Y H, Tsai C J. Visual sensitivity guided bit allocation for video coding. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, 2006, 8(1): 11–18.
Chen M J, Chi M C, Hsu C T, Chen J W. ROI video coding based on H.263+ with robust skin color detection technique. IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electron, 2003, 49(3): 724–730.
Chai D, Ngan K N. Foreground/background video coding scheme. In Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Circuits Syst, Hong Kong, China, Jun. 9–12, 1997, pp.1448–1451.
Lee S, Pattichis M S, Bovik A C. Foveated video compression with optimal rate control. IEEE Transactions on Image Process, 2001, 10(7): 977–992.
Wang D, Speranza F, Vincent A, Martin T, Blanchfield P. Towards optimal rate control: A study of the impact of spatial resolution, frame rate and quantization on subjective video quality and bit rate. In Proc. SPIE 2003, Lugano, Switzerland, Jul. 8–11, 2003, pp.198–209.
Itti L, Koch C, Niebur E. A model of saliency-based visual attention for rapid scene analysis. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Anal. and Machine Intell., 1998, 20(11): 1254–1259.
Itti L. Automatic foveation for video compression using a neurobiological model of visual attention. IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, 2004, 13(10): 1304–1318.
Cavallaro A, Steiger O, Ebrahimi T. Semantic video analysis for adaptive content delivery and automatic description. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 2005, 15(10): 1200–1209.
Tomasi C, Manduchi R. Bilateral filtering for gray and color images. In Proc. ICCV, Bombay, India, Jan. 4–7, 1998, pp.839–846.
Eisemann E, Durand F. Flash photography enhancement via intrinsic relighting. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2004, 23(3): 673–678.
Huang H, Zang Y, Rosin P L, Qi C. Edge-aware level set diffusion and bilateral filtering reconstruction for image magnification. Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 2009, 4(24): 734–744.
Bennett E P, McMillan L. Video enhancement using per-pixel virtual exposures. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2005, 24(3): 845–852.
Winnemöller H, Olsen S C, Gooch B. Real-time video abstraction. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2006, 25(3): 1221–1226.
Xiao J J, Cheng H, Sawhney H, Rao C, Isnardi M. Bilateral filtering-based optical flow estimation with occlusion detection. In Proc. ECCV, Graz, Austria, May 7–13, 2006, pp.211–224.
Paris S, Durand F. A fast approximation of the bilateral filter using a signal processing approach. In Proc. ECCV, Graz, Austria, May 7–13, 2006, pp.568–580.
Pham T Q, Van Vliet L J. Separable bilateral filtering for fast video preprocessing. In Proc. IEEE ICME, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Jul. 6–9, 2005, pp.454–457.
William J. The Principles of Psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.
Cerf M, Harel J, Einhäuser W, Koch C. Predicting human gaze using low-level saliency combined with face detection. In Proc. NIPS, Vancouver, Canada, Dec. 3–7, 2007, pp.241–248.
Sebe N, Lew M S. Comparing salient point detectors. Pattern Recognition Letters, 2003, 24(1): 89–96.
Robert J P, Iyer A, Itti L, Koch C. Components of bottom-up gaze allocation in natural scenes. Journal of Vision, 2005, 5(8): 692–692.
Tsapatsoulis N, Pattichis C, Rapantzikos K. Biologically inspired region of interest selection for low bit-rate video coding. In Proc. ICIP, San Antonio, USA, Sept. 16–19, 2007, pp.305–308.
Chen W F, Liu C H, Lander K, Fu X L. Comparison of human face matching behavior and computational image similarity measure. Science in China Series F: Information Sciences, 2009, 52(2): 316–321.
Lee K W. Guiding attention by cooperative cues. Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 2008, 5(23): 874–884.
Viola P, Jones M. Rapid object detection using a boosted cascade of simple features. In Proc. CVPR, Hawaii, USA, Dec. 11–13, 2001, pp.511–518.
Paris S. Edge-preserving smoothing and mean-shift segmentation of video streams. In Proc. ECCV, Marseille, France, Oct. 12–18, 2008, pp.460–473.
Zhu S H, Liu Y C. Two-dimensional entropy model for video shot partitioning. Science in China Series F: Information Sciences, 2009, 52(2): 183–194.
Gargi U, Kasturi R, Strayer S H. Performance characterization of video-shot-change detection methods. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 2000, 10(1): 1–13.
H.264/AVC reference software [online]. http://iphome.hhi.de/suehring/html.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This work was supported partially by the National High-Tech Research and Development 863 Program of China under Grant No. 2009AA01Z330, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 61033012 and 60970100.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lu, SP., Zhang, SH. Saliency-Based Fidelity Adaptation Preprocessing for Video Coding. J. Comput. Sci. Technol. 26, 195–202 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11390-011-9426-5
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11390-011-9426-5