Adaptive Local Illumination Change Compensation Method for H.264/AVC-Based Multiview Video Coding

In multiview video, illumination changes can occur due to imperfect camera calibration and variations of the camera position and direction. These characteristics can cause performance degradation in multiview video coding (MVC) that uses inter-view prediction by referring to the pictures obtained from the neighboring views. In order to overcome this problem, an adaptive local illumination change compensation method is proposed. In the proposed method, we compensate for the illumination changes in the macroblock (MB) unit between the current picture and the reference picture under the assumption that the DC component in the MB is influenced by the local illumination changes. By using the proposed method, the compression ratio in the multiview video coding was increased, and a 0.1~0.6 dB peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) improvement was obtained compared with the case where the proposed method was not used.

I. Introduction

Multiview video coding (MVC), which is being standardized in the joint video team (JVT) of the ITU-T video coding experts group (VCEG) and ISO/IEC moving picture experts group (MPEG), is expected to become a new video coding standard for the realization of future video applications such as 3D-TV and free viewpoint video [1]. The MVC group in the JVT has chosen the H.264/AVC [2]-based MVC method that was proposed by [3] as the MVC reference model, since this method showed better coding efficiency than H.264/AVC simulcast coding and the other methods that were submitted in response to the call for proposals made by the MPEG [4].