Method and apparatus for objective video quality assessment based on continuous estimates of packet loss visibility

摘要

A method for assessing the quality of a transmitted video signal sequence at a receiver side includes: capturing the input video bit stream; extracting at least one feature or a set of features; determining the continuous probability of visibility for each packet loss event which occurred within a specific time interval; and employing the continuous probability of packet loss visibility as a weighting factor of the at least one feature or set of features extracted from the video bit stream to calculate an estimate of the overall quality, Q, of the transmitted video sequence.

主权项

1. A method for assessing the quality of a transmitted video signal sequence at a receiver side, the method comprising the steps of:
a) capturing the input video bit stream and supplying it to a video bit stream analyzer; b) extracting at least one feature or a set of features from the captured input video bit stream by the bit stream analyzer; c) supplying the at least one extracted feature or set of features to a packet loss visibility estimation module; d) determining, by the packet loss visibility estimation module employing the supplied extracted features of the video bit stream, a continuous probability of visibility for each packet loss event which occurred within a specific time interval; and e) employing the continuous probability of packet loss visibility, determined by the packet loss visibility estimation module, as a weighting factor of the at least one feature or set of features extracted from the video bit stream to calculate an estimate of the overall quality, Q, of the transmitted video sequence; wherein step (d) employs at least one bit stream feature selected from a group consisting of: frame type, average magnitude of motion vectors (AvgMv), average motion vector difference (AvgMvDiff), energy of residuals (ResEnergy), maximum number of partitions (MaxPartNr), number of non-decodable macroblocks (LostMbs), motion vector information (mv), and type of macroblocks (mb type); wherein step (e) combines a packet loss visibility estimate (V) with a determined magnitude of distortion (EstErr) and a computed total number of impaired pixels due to packet loss (ErrProp); wherein the packet loss visibility estimate (V) is based on one or more of the bit stream features; wherein the determined magnitude of distortion (EstErr) is based on one or more of the bit stream features; and wherein the computed total number of impaired pixels due to packet loss (ErrProp) is based on one or more of the bit stream features.