Enhancing coded video quality with perceptual foveation driven bit allocation strategy

Abstract

Contrast sensitivity plays an important role in visual perception when viewing external stimuli, e.g., video, and it has been taken into account in development of advanced video coding algorithms. This paper proposes a perceptual foveation model based on accurate prediction of video fixations and modeling of contrast sensitivity function (CSF). Consequently, an adaptive bit allocation strategy in H.264/AVC video compression is proposed by considering visible frequency threshold of the human visual system (HVS). A subjective video quality assessment together with objective quality metrics have been performed and demonstrated that the proposed perceptual foveation driven bit allocation strategy can significantly improve the perceived quality of coded video compared with standard coding scheme and another visual attention guided coding approach.