Rate control of foveated MPEG video

Abstract

Adaptive foveated coding provides user-adjustable video quality at very flexible bit rates by prioritizing image regions. While viewing the video, the user can adjust the relative image fidelity in the high priority fovea region compared to the low priority periphery. We present a bit rate adaption system that reacts to user input to tradeoff foveal spatial resolution against peripheral spatial resolution appropriately, while controlling the output video's bit rate. The rate adaptor relies on a mathematical model of the bit rates required to support the different foveal spatial resolution/peripheral spatial resolution combinations.