Video codec compresses the input video source to reduce storage and transmission bandwidth requirements while maintaining the quality. It is an essential technology for applications, to name a few such as digital television, DVD-Video, mobile TV, videoconferencing and internet video streaming. There are different video codecs used in the industry today and understanding their operation to target certain video applications is the key to optimization. The latest advanced video codec standards have become of great importance in multimedia industries which provide cost-effective encoding and decoding of video and contribute for high compression and efficiency. Currently, H.264 AVC, AVS, and DIRAC are used in the industry to compress video. H.264 codec standard developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) together with the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). Audio-video coding standard (AVS) is a working group of audio and video coding standard in China. VC-2, also known as Dirac Pro developed by BBC, is a royalty free technology that anyone can use and has been standardized through the SMPTE as VC-2. H.264 AVC, Dirac Pro, Dirac and AVS-P2 are dedicated to High Definition Video, while AVS-P7 is to mobile video. Out of many standards, this work performs a comparative analysis for the H.264 AVC, DIRAC PRO/SMPTE-VC-2 and AVS-P7 standards in low bitrate region and high bitrate region. Bitrate control and constant QP are the methods which are employed for analysis. Evaluation parameters like Compression Ratio, PSNR and SSIM are used for quality comparison. Depending on target application and available bitrate, order of performance is mentioned to show the preferred codec.

A novel residual prediction algorithm is proposed for high-bit-rate video coding in this work. We analysis the relationship between the residual data and different quantization parameters, according to the comparison results, we observe that the residual data is raised rapidly when the quality increases. Consequently, in order to reduce the bitrate, we propose a new residual prediction algorithm, it mainly reduce the residual data when the quantization parameter is finer. The proposed algorithm not only reduces the bitrate but also improves the video quality for high-bit-rate coding. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms H.264/AVC. Compared to H.264/AVC, the proposed method decreases about 9.66% bitrate in average. The experimental results demonstrated that the second-order-residual prediction algorithm is efficiency for high-bit-rate coding.

For the next generation of multimedia applications such as digital video broadcasting, multimedia message service and video conference, enormous amounts of video context will be transmitted and exchanged through the wireless channel. Due to the limited communication bandwidth, how to achieve more efficient, reliable, and robust video compression is a very important issue. H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Coding) is one of the latest video coding standards, which is anticipated to be adopted in many future application systems due to its excellent compression efficiency. In this thesis, the implementation issue of the H.264 decoding algorithm on the SOC (System-On-Chip) development platform is addressed. Several key modules of H.264 decoders including color space converter, inter-interpolation, transformation rescale modules are all realized by dedicated hardware architectures. A novel low-cost fast scalable deblocking filter based on single-port memory architecture is also proposed which can support fast real-time deblocking filtering process. The entire H.264 decoder system is prototyped on the Altera SOPC platform, and the decoding result is displayed directly on the monitor. All the hardware modules are hooked on the system Avalon bus, and interact with Altera NIOS-¢º processor. Through the hardware/software co-design approach, the decoding speed can be increase by a factor of 1.9.

H.264/AVC intra prediction method is an efficient tool to reduce spatial redundancies by using multidirectional spatial prediction modes. In this paper, a novel intra prediction method is designed to improve coding efficiency. Firstly, we propose a direction-distance oriented prediction which considers the distance between the predict value and the reference samples according to the direction of the prediction modes. Secondly, we apply the concept of image restoration by using the projections onto convex sets (POCS) to intra prediction which uses adaptively filtering based on the surrounding reconstructed pixel to predict blocks. The experimental results show that the average bit-rate reduction of 0.75% and PSNR gain improved of 0.119dB are achieved.

With the rapid growth of video services on smartphones such as video conferencing, video telephone and WebTV, implementation of video compression on mobile terminal becomes extremely important. However, the low computation capability of mobile devices becomes a bottleneck which calls for low complexity techniques for video coding. This work presents two set of algorithms for reducing the complexity of motion estimation. Binary motion estimation techniques using one-bit and two-bit transforms reduce the computational complexity of matching error criterion, however sometimes generate inaccurate motion vectors. The first set includes two neighborhood matching based algorithms which attempt to reduce computations to only a fraction of other methods. Simulation results demonstrate that full search local binary pattern (FS-LBP) algorithm reconstruct visually more accurate frames compared to full search algorithm (FSA). Its reduced complexity LBP (RC-LBP) version decreases computations significantly to only a fraction of the other methods while maintaining acceptable performance. The second set introduces edge detection approach for partial distortion elimination based on binary patterns. Spiral partial distortion elimination (SpiralPDE) has been proposed in literature which matches the pixel-to-pixel distortion in a predefined manner. Since, the contribution of all the pixels to the distortion function is different, therefore, it is important to analyze and extract these cardinal pixels. The proposed algorithms are called lossless fast full search partial distortion elimination ME based on local binary patterns (PLBP) and lossy edge-detection pixel decimation technique based on local binary patterns (ELBP). PLBP reduces the matching complexity by matching more contributable pixels early by identifying the most diverse pixels in a local neighborhood. ELBP captures the most representative pixels in a block in order of contribution to the distortion function by evaluating whether the individual pixels belong to the edge or background. Experimental results demonstrate substantial reduction in computational complexity of ELBP with only a marginal loss in prediction quality.

With the rapid growth of video services on smartphones such as video conferencing, video telephone and WebTV, implementation of video compression on mobile terminal becomes extremely important. However, the low computation capability of mobile devices becomes a bottleneck which calls for low complexity techniques for video coding. This work presents two set of algorithms for reducing the complexity of motion estimation. Binary motion estimation techniques using one-bit and two-bit transforms reduce the computational complexity of matching error criterion, however sometimes generate inaccurate motion vectors. The first set includes two neighborhood matching based algorithms which attempt to reduce computations to only a fraction of other methods. Simulation results demonstrate that full search local binary pattern (FS-LBP) algorithm reconstruct visually more accurate frames compared to full search algorithm (FSA). Its reduced complexity LBP (RC-LBP) version decreases computations significantly to only a fraction of the other methods while maintaining acceptable performance. The second set introduces edge detection approach for partial distortion elimination based on binary patterns. Spiral partial distortion elimination (SpiralPDE) has been proposed in literature which matches the pixel-to-pixel distortion in a predefined manner. Since, the contribution of all the pixels to the distortion function is different, therefore, it is important to analyze and extract these cardinal pixels. The proposed algorithms are called lossless fast full search partial distortion elimination ME based on local binary patterns (PLBP) and lossy edge-detection pixel decimation technique based on local binary patterns (ELBP). PLBP reduces the matching complexity by matching more contributable pixels early by identifying the most diverse pixels in a local neighborhood. ELBP captures the most representative pixels in a block in order of contribution to the distortion function by evaluating whether the individual pixels belong to the edge or background. Experimental results demonstrate substantial reduction in computational complexity of ELBP with only a marginal loss in prediction quality.

Multiterminal (MT) video coding is a practical application of the MT source coding theory. For MT source coding theory, two problems associated with achievable rate regions are well investigated into in this thesis: a new sufficient condition for BT sum-rate tightness, and the sum-rate loss for quadratic Gaussian MT source coding. Practical code design for ideal Gaussian sources with quadratic distortion measure is also achieved for cases more than two sources with minor rate loss compared to theoretical limits. However, when the theory is applied to practical applications, the performance of MT video coding has been unsatisfactory due to the difficulty to explore the correlation between different camera views. In this dissertation, we present an MT video coding scheme under the H.264/AVC framework. In this scheme, depth camera information can be optionally sent to the decoder separately as another source sequence. With the help of depth information at the decoder end, inter-view correlation can be largely improved and thus so is the compression performance. With the depth information, joint estimation from decoded frames and side information at the decoder also becomes available to improve the quality of reconstructed video frames. Experimental result shows that compared to separate encoding, up to 9.53% of the bit rate can be saved by the proposed MT scheme using decoder depth information, while up to 5.65% can be saved by the scheme without depth camera information. Comparisons to joint video coding schemes are also provided.

L’accident vasculaire cérébral (AVC) représente une des plus importantes causes d’handicap acquis de l’adulte. A l’heure actuelle, après les premières heures de l’AVC, aucun traitement efficace en dehors de la rééducation n’est disponible, renforçant l’importance de la recherche des traitements alternatifs. La thérapie de reperfusion à la phase aigüe est conditionnée par une détection et une prise en charge très précoce. Pour cette raison, seulement environ 10% des patients peuvent en bénéficier. L’application des nouvelles techniques d’imagerie cérébrale peut être de grande utilité dans la compréhension des mécanismes de l’ischémie aiguë et l’identification des candidats potentiels à la reperfusion. Dans le cadre de notre première étude dans un modèle expérimental d’ischémie cérébrale chez le rat (par occlusion de l’artère cérébrale moyenne oACM), nous avons caractérisé les altérations micro-vasculaires, hémodynamiques et la saturation locale en oxygène (StO2) à la phase aigüe de l’AVC (dans la première heure) par IRM multiparamétrique. Les résultats de cette étude ont montré le potentiel de la cartographie par IRM de la StO2 dans la détection du cœur ischémique sans l’inclusion d’aucune zone potentiellement récupérable.Au-delà de la phase aigüe, le réel besoin de disposer de thérapies avec une fenêtre thérapeutique plus étendue s’impose. La thérapie cellulaire présente un potentiel dans le traitement de l’AVC. La thérapie cellulaire semble promouvoir une réduction du handicap après un AVC par des mécanismes de neuroprotection et de régénération du tissu cérébral. Malgré ces résultats encourageants, l’importante mort cellulaire quand les cellules exogènes sont administrées dans la cavité de l’infarctus doit être améliorée. Nous avons évalué un biomatériau hydrogel in vivo et son potentiel à protéger les cellules greffées à long terme. Dans notre étude pilote chez le rat sain, nous avons démontré que l’hydrogel à base d’acide hyaluronique (HA) HyStemTM-HP (Sigma-Aldrich, France) pouvait rester dans le tissu cérébral pendant 28 jours sans être dégradé, ce qui représente une protection potentielle pour des cellules greffées.La greffe intracérébrale de HA combinée à des cellules souches mésenchymateuses humaines (CSMh) issues de la moelle osseuse), 7 jours après l’oACM, a favorisé la survie cellulaire et a augmenté les marqueurs angiogéniques. Les cellules RECA1+ (marqueur des cellules endothéliales vasculaires) ont été augmentées. Les cellules Collagen-IV+ (membrane basale des vaisseaux) étaient également augmentées par le traitement. L’angiogenèse est un processus clé dans la récupération post-AVC. Malgré ces effets pro-angiogéniques bénéfiques, aucun des traitements (CSMh+HA ou CSMh seules) n’a permis une récupération fonctionnelle 3 semaines après l’injection (évaluation par deux test sensori-moteurs: échelle d’évaluation neurologique (mNSS) et test du retrait d’adhésif). / As the leading cause of disability in adulthood, stroke remains an important subject of study because no effective treatments except by rehabilitation are currently available after the first hours. The acute phase therapy reperfusion is conditinated to a rapid detection and management. For this reason, just around 10% of patients benefit of this. The application of new brain imaging techniques can be relevant for the comprehension of acute stroke mechanism and for a more accurate identification of candidates for acute phase reperfusion therapies. In our first study in a rat model of ischemic stroke (by occlusion of middle cerebral artery, MCAo) we characterized the microvascular, hemodynamic and local saturation in oxygen (StO2) alterations in the acute phase (around one hour after stroke onset), using multiparametric MRI. We demonstrated the potential of StO2 MRI map for detecting the ischemic core without the inclusion of any reversible ischemic damage.Therapeutic approaches that can be applied beyond acute phase are urgently needed. Most evidences suggest that cell therapies have the potential to reduce post-stroke disability through neuroprotection and brain remodelling mechanism. Despite of beneficial effects were demonstrated, some issues need to be addressed, such as the important loss of grafted cells reported when cells are administrated into infarct cavity. We evaluated an innovating biomaterial hydrogel in vivo and their potential to promote long term protection of grafted cells. In a pilot study, we demonstrated that hyaluronic acid-based hydrogel (HA) HyStemTM-HP (Sigma-Aldrich, France) presented a long lasting (over 28 days) in healthy brain suggesting to be a good candidate for cell therapy.When co-administrated by intracerebral route combined with human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSC from bone marrow) seven days after MCAo, the HAhydrogel promoted an increase of hMSC survival and improved angiogenic process. In the immunohistological study, RECA1+ (vessel endothelial cells makers) were increased. Collagen-IV+ cells (vessel basal membrane) were also increased. Post stroke angiogenesis is a key process for brain recovery. No difference in lesion volume was detected among the ischemic groups by in vivo MRI. Despite the pro-angiogenic beneficial effect, neither hMSC+HA nor hMSC alone were able to improve functional results 3 weeks after intracerebral injection (assessed by modified neurological severity score (mNSS), and adhesive removal test).

When distributing multiple TV programs on a fixed bandwidth channel, the bit rate of each video stream is often constant. Since video sent at a constant quality is typically wildly varying, this is a very unoptimal solution. By instead sharing the total bit rate among all programs, the video quality can be increased by allocating bit rate where it is needed. This thesis explores the statistical multiplexing problem for a specific hardware platform with the limitations and advantages of that platform. A solution for statistical multiplexing is proposed and evaluated using the major codecs used for TV distribution today. The main advantage of the statistical multiplexer is a lot more even quality and a higher minimum quality achieved across all streams. While the solution will need a faster method for bit rate approximation for a more practical solution in terms of performance, the solution is shown to work as intended.

Novas arquiteturas de hardware desenvolvidas para blocos chave do padrão de codificação de vídeo ISO/IEC 14496-10 são discutidas, propostas, implementadas e validades nesta tese. Também chamado de H.264, AVC (Advanced Video Coder) ou MPEG-4 parte 10, o padrão é o estado da arte em codificação de vídeo, apresentando as mais altas taxas de compressão possíveis por um compressor de vídeo padronizado por organismos internacionais (ISO/IEC e ITU-T). O H.264 já passou por três revisões importantes: na primeira foram incluídos novos perfis, voltados para a extensão da fidelidade e aplicações profissionais, na segunda veio o suporte a escalabilidade (SVC – Scalable Video Coder). Uma terceira revisão suporta fontes de vídeo com múltiplas vistas (MVC – Multi-view Video Coder). Nesta tese são apresentadas arquiteturas para dois módulos do codificador H.264: o CABAC e o Filtro de Deblocagem (Deblocking Filter). O CABAC (Context-Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coder) possui desafios importantes devido às dependências de dados de natureza bit-a-bit. Uma revisão das alternativas arquiteturais e uma solução específica para a codificação CABAC é apresentada nesta tese. O filtro de deblocagem também apresenta diversos desafios importantes para seu desenvolvimento e foi alvo de uma proposta arquitetural apresentada neste trabalho. Finalmente a arquitetura de uma plataforma de validação genérica para validar módulos desenvolvidos para o codificador e decodificador H.264 também é apresentada. Os módulos escolhidos estão de acordo com os demais trabalhos realizados pelo grupo de pesquisa da UFRGS, que têm por objetivo desenvolver um decodificador e um codificador completos capazes de processar vídeo digital de alta definição no formato 1080p em tempo real. / New hardware architectures developed for key blocks of the ISO/IEC 14496-10 video coding standard are discussed, proposed, implemented, and validated in this thesis. The standard is also called H.264, AVC (Advanced Video Coder) or MPEG-4 part 10, and is the state-of-the-art in video coding, presenting the highest compression ratios achievable by an internationally standardized video coder (ISO/IEC and ITU-T). The H.264 has already been revised three times: the first included new profiles for fidelity extension and professional applications. The second brought the scalability support (SVC – Scalable Video Coder). The third revision supports video sources with multiple views (MVC – Multi-view Video Coder). The present work developed high performance architectures for CABAC (Context-Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coder), which were challenging because of the bitwise data dependencies. A through revision of the alternative architectures and a specific architectural solution for CABAC encoding are presented in this thesis. A dedicated hardware architecture for a HIGH profile Deblocking Filter is also presented, developed, validated and synthesized for two different targets: FPGA and ASIC. The validation methodology is presented and applied to three different modules of the H.264 encoder. The H.264 blocks dealt with in this thesis work complement those developed by other works in the UFRGS research group and contribute to the development of complete encoders for real-time processing of high definition digital video at 1080p.