Method and apparatus for moving picture compression rate control using bit allocation with initial quantization step size estimation at picture level

摘要

A method and apparatus for rate control in moving picture compression. Bit allocation with initial quantization step size estimation is used at picture level. With the relationship between pre-analyzed activity of current picture to be encoded and actual complexity of previously encoded picture of the same type, a target bit budget can be allocated to the current picture in accordance with the present invention. Once the target bit budget has been determined, an initial value for an average quantization step size is estimated on the basis of the target bit budget, along with the relationship between pre-analyzed activity of current picture and actual complexity of previously coded picture. Such an initial value of the average quantization step size is useful to achieve higher picture quality at a given bit allocation.