High throughput image compression and decompression on GPUs

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit der Entwicklung eines GPU-freundlichen, intra-only, Wavelet-basierten Videokompressionsverfahrens mit hohem Durchsatz, das für visuell verlustfreie Anwendungen optimiert ist. Ausgehend von der Beobachtung, dass der JPEG 2000 Entropie-Kodierer ein Flaschenhals ist, werden verschiedene algorithmische Änderungen vorgeschlagen und bewertet. Zunächst wird der JPEG 2000 Selective Arithmetic Coding Mode auf der GPU realisiert, wobei sich die Erhöhung des Durchsatzes hierdurch als begrenzt zeigt. Stattdessen werden zwei nicht standard-kompatible Änderungen vorgeschlagen, die (1) jede Bitebebene in nur einem einzelnen Pass verarbeiten (Single-Pass-Modus) und (2) einen echten Rohcodierungsmodus einführen, der sample-weise parallelisierbar ist und keine aufwendige Kontextmodellierung erfordert. Als nächstes wird ein alternativer Entropiekodierer aus der Literatur, der Bitplane Coder with Parallel Coefficient Processing (BPC-PaCo), evaluiert. Er gibt Signaladaptivität zu Gunsten von höherer Parallelität auf und daher wird hier untersucht und gezeigt, dass ein aus verschiedensten Testsequenzen gemitteltes statisches Wahrscheinlichkeitsmodell eine kompetitive Kompressionseffizienz erreicht. Es wird zudem eine Kombination von BPC-PaCo mit dem Single-Pass-Modus vorgeschlagen, der den Speedup gegenüber dem JPEG 2000 Entropiekodierer von 2,15x (BPC-PaCo mit zwei Pässen) auf 2,6x (BPC-PaCo mit Single-Pass-Modus) erhöht auf Kosten eines um 0,3 dB auf 1,0 dB erhöhten Spitzen-Signal-Rausch-Verhältnis (PSNR). Weiter wird ein paralleler Algorithmus zur Post-Compression Ratenkontrolle vorgestellt sowie eine parallele Codestream-Erstellung auf der GPU. Es wird weiterhin ein theoretisches Laufzeitmodell formuliert, das es durch Benchmarking von einer GPU ermöglicht die Laufzeit einer Routine auf einer anderen GPU vorherzusagen. Schließlich wird der erste JPEG XS GPU Decoder vorgestellt und evaluiert. JPEG XS wurde als Low Complexity Codec konzipiert und forderte erstmals explizit GPU-Freundlichkeit bereits im Call for Proposals. Ab Bitraten über 1 bpp ist der Decoder etwa 2x schneller im Vergleich zu JPEG 2000 und 1,5x schneller als der schnellste hier vorgestellte Entropiekodierer (BPC-PaCo mit Single-Pass-Modus). Mit einer GeForce GTX 1080 wird ein Decoder Durchsatz von rund 200 fps für eine UHD-4:4:4-Sequenz erreicht.This work investigates possibilities to create a high throughput, GPU-friendly, intra-only, Wavelet-based video compression algorithm optimized for visually lossless applications. Addressing the key observation that JPEG 2000’s entropy coder is a bottleneck and might be overly complex for a high bit rate scenario, various algorithmic alterations are proposed. First, JPEG 2000’s Selective Arithmetic Coding mode is realized on the GPU, but the gains in terms of an increased throughput are shown to be limited. Instead, two independent alterations not compliant to the standard are proposed, that (1) give up the concept of intra-bit plane truncation points and (2) introduce a true raw-coding mode that is fully parallelizable and does not require any context modeling. Next, an alternative block coder from the literature, the Bitplane Coder with Parallel Coefficient Processing (BPC-PaCo), is evaluated. Since it trades signal adaptiveness for increased parallelism, it is shown here how a stationary probability model averaged from a set of test sequences yields competitive compression efficiency. A combination of BPC-PaCo with the single-pass mode is proposed and shown to increase the speedup with respect to the original JPEG 2000 entropy coder from 2.15x (BPC-PaCo with two passes) to 2.6x (proposed BPC-PaCo with single-pass mode) at the marginal cost of increasing the PSNR penalty by 0.3 dB to at most 1 dB. Furthermore, a parallel algorithm is presented that determines the optimal code block bit stream truncation points (given an available bit rate budget) and builds the entire code stream on the GPU, reducing the amount of data that has to be transferred back into host memory to a minimum. A theoretical runtime model is formulated that allows, based on benchmarking results on one GPU, to predict the runtime of a kernel on another GPU. Lastly, the first ever JPEG XS GPU-decoder realization is presented. JPEG XS was designed to be a low complexity codec and for the first time explicitly demanded GPU-friendliness already in the call for proposals. Starting at bit rates above 1 bpp, the decoder is around 2x faster compared to the original JPEG 2000 and 1.5x faster compared to JPEG 2000 with the fastest evaluated entropy coder (BPC-PaCo with single-pass mode). With a GeForce GTX 1080, a decoding throughput of around 200 fps is achieved for a UHD 4:4:4 sequence

On the Effectiveness of Video Recolouring as an Uplink-model Video Coding Technique

For decades, conventional video compression formats have advanced via incremental improvements with each subsequent standard achieving better rate-distortion (RD) efficiency at the cost of increased encoder complexity compared to its predecessors. Design efforts have been driven by common multi-media use cases such as video-on-demand, teleconferencing, and video streaming, where the most important requirements are low bandwidth and low video playback latency. Meeting these requirements involves the use of computa- tionally expensive block-matching algorithms which produce excellent compression rates and quick decoding times. However, emerging use cases such as Wireless Video Sensor Networks, remote surveillance, and mobile video present new technical challenges in video compression. In these scenarios, the video capture and encoding devices are often power-constrained and have limited computational resources available, while the decoder devices have abundant resources and access to a dedicated power source. To address these use cases, codecs must be power-aware and offer a reasonable trade-off between video quality, bitrate, and encoder complexity. Balancing these constraints requires a complete rethinking of video compression technology. The uplink video-coding model represents a new paradigm to address these low-power use cases, providing the ability to redistribute computational complexity by offloading the motion estimation and compensation steps from encoder to decoder. Distributed Video Coding (DVC) follows this uplink model of video codec design, and maintains high quality video reconstruction through innovative channel coding techniques. The field of DVC is still early in its development, with many open problems waiting to be solved, and no defined video compression or distribution standards. Due to the experimental nature of the field, most DVC codec to date have focused on encoding and decoding the Luma plane only, which produce grayscale reconstructed videos. In this thesis, a technique called “video recolouring” is examined as an alternative to DVC. Video recolour- ing exploits the temporal redundancies between colour planes, reducing video bitrate by removing Chroma information from specific frames and then recolouring them at the decoder. A novel video recolouring algorithm called Motion-Compensated Recolouring (MCR) is proposed, which uses block motion estimation and bi-directional weighted motion-compensation to reconstruct Chroma planes at the decoder. MCR is used to enhance a conventional base-layer codec, and shown to reduce bitrate by up to 16% with only a slight decrease in objective quality. MCR also outperforms other video recolouring algorithms in terms of objective video quality, demonstrating up to 2 dB PSNR improvement in some cases

Scalable light field representation and coding

This Thesis aims to advance the state-of-the-art in light field representation and coding. In this context, proposals to improve functionalities like light field random access and scalability are also presented. As the light field representation constrains the coding approach to be used, several light field coding techniques to exploit the inherent characteristics of the most popular types of light field representations are proposed and studied, which are normally based on micro-images or sub-aperture-images. To encode micro-images, two solutions are proposed, aiming to exploit the redundancy between neighboring micro-images using a high order prediction model, where the model parameters are either explicitly transmitted or inferred at the decoder, respectively. In both cases, the proposed solutions are able to outperform low order prediction solutions. To encode sub-aperture-images, an HEVC-based solution that exploits their inherent intra and inter redundancies is proposed. In this case, the light field image is encoded as a pseudo video sequence, where the scanning order is signaled, allowing the encoder and decoder to optimize the reference picture lists to improve coding efficiency. A novel hybrid light field representation coding approach is also proposed, by exploiting the combined use of both micro-image and sub-aperture-image representation types, instead of using each representation individually. In order to aid the fast deployment of the light field technology, this Thesis also proposes scalable coding and representation approaches that enable adequate compatibility with legacy displays (e.g., 2D, stereoscopic or multiview) and with future light field displays, while maintaining high coding efficiency. Additionally, viewpoint random access, allowing to improve the light field navigation and to reduce the decoding delay, is also enabled with a flexible trade-off between coding efficiency and viewpoint random access.Esta Tese tem como objetivo avançar o estado da arte em representação e codificação de campos de luz. Neste contexto, são também apresentadas propostas para melhorar funcionalidades como o acesso aleatório ao campo de luz e a escalabilidade. Como a representação do campo de luz limita a abordagem de codificação a ser utilizada, são propostas e estudadas várias técnicas de codificação de campos de luz para explorar as características inerentes aos seus tipos mais populares de representação, que são normalmente baseadas em micro-imagens ou imagens de sub-abertura. Para codificar as micro-imagens, são propostas duas soluções, visando explorar a redundância entre micro-imagens vizinhas utilizando um modelo de predição de alta ordem, onde os parâmetros do modelo são explicitamente transmitidos ou inferidos no decodificador, respetivamente. Em ambos os casos, as soluções propostas são capazes de superar as soluções de predição de baixa ordem. Para codificar imagens de sub-abertura, é proposta uma solução baseada em HEVC que explora a inerente redundância intra e inter deste tipo de imagens. Neste caso, a imagem do campo de luz é codificada como uma pseudo-sequência de vídeo, onde a ordem de varrimento é sinalizada, permitindo ao codificador e decodificador otimizar as listas de imagens de referência para melhorar a eficiência da codificação. Também é proposta uma nova abordagem de codificação baseada na representação híbrida do campo de luz, explorando o uso combinado dos tipos de representação de micro-imagem e sub-imagem, em vez de usar cada representação individualmente. A fim de facilitar a rápida implantação da tecnologia de campo de luz, esta Tese também propõe abordagens escaláveis de codificação e representação que permitem uma compatibilidade adequada com monitores tradicionais (e.g., 2D, estereoscópicos ou multivista) e com futuros monitores de campo de luz, mantendo ao mesmo tempo uma alta eficiência de codificação. Além disso, o acesso aleatório de pontos de vista, permitindo melhorar a navegação no campo de luz e reduzir o atraso na descodificação, também é permitido com um equilíbrio flexível entre eficiência de codificação e acesso aleatório de pontos de vista

A family of stereoscopic image compression algorithms using wavelet transforms

With the standardization of JPEG-2000, wavelet-based image and video compression technologies are gradually replacing the popular DCT-based methods. In parallel to this, recent developments in autostereoscopic display technology is now threatening to revolutionize the way in which consumers are used to enjoying the traditional 2-D display based electronic media such as television, computer and movies. However, due to the two-fold bandwidth/storage space requirement of stereoscopic imaging, an essential requirement of a stereo imaging system is efficient data compression. In this thesis, seven wavelet-based stereo image compression algorithms are proposed, to take advantage of the higher data compaction capability and better flexibility of wavelets. [Continues.

A family of stereoscopic image compression algorithms using wavelet transforms

With the standardization of JPEG-2000, wavelet-based image and video compression technologies are gradually replacing the popular DCT-based methods. In parallel to this, recent developments in autostereoscopic display technology is now threatening to revolutionize the way in which consumers are used to enjoying the traditional 2D display based electronic media such as television, computer and movies. However, due to the two-fold bandwidth/storage space requirement of stereoscopic imaging, an essential requirement of a stereo imaging system is efficient data compression. In this thesis, seven wavelet-based stereo image compression algorithms are proposed, to take advantage of the higher data compaction capability and better flexibility of wavelets. In the proposed CODEC I, block-based disparity estimation/compensation (DE/DC) is performed in pixel domain. However, this results in an inefficiency when DWT is applied on the whole predictive error image that results from the DE process. This is because of the existence of artificial block boundaries between error blocks in the predictive error image. To overcome this problem, in the remaining proposed CODECs, DE/DC is performed in the wavelet domain. Due to the multiresolution nature of the wavelet domain, two methods of disparity estimation and compensation have been proposed. The first method is performing DEJDC in each subband of the lowest/coarsest resolution level and then propagating the disparity vectors obtained to the corresponding subbands of higher/finer resolution. Note that DE is not performed in every subband due to the high overhead bits that could be required for the coding of disparity vectors of all subbands. This method is being used in CODEC II. In the second method, DEJDC is performed m the wavelet-block domain. This enables disparity estimation to be performed m all subbands simultaneously without increasing the overhead bits required for the coding disparity vectors. This method is used by CODEC III. However, performing disparity estimation/compensation in all subbands would result in a significant improvement of CODEC III. To further improve the performance of CODEC ill, pioneering wavelet-block search technique is implemented in CODEC IV. The pioneering wavelet-block search technique enables the right/predicted image to be reconstructed at the decoder end without the need of transmitting the disparity vectors. In proposed CODEC V, pioneering block search is performed in all subbands of DWT decomposition which results in an improvement of its performance. Further, the CODEC IV and V are able to perform at very low bit rates(< 0.15 bpp). In CODEC VI and CODEC VII, Overlapped Block Disparity Compensation (OBDC) is used with & without the need of coding disparity vector. Our experiment results showed that no significant coding gains could be obtained for these CODECs over CODEC IV & V. All proposed CODECs m this thesis are wavelet-based stereo image coding algorithms that maximise the flexibility and benefits offered by wavelet transform technology when applied to stereo imaging. In addition the use of a baseline-JPEG coding architecture would enable the easy adaptation of the proposed algorithms within systems originally built for DCT-based coding. This is an important feature that would be useful during an era where DCT-based technology is only slowly being phased out to give way for DWT based compression technology. In addition, this thesis proposed a stereo image coding algorithm that uses JPEG-2000 technology as the basic compression engine. The proposed CODEC, named RASTER is a rate scalable stereo image CODEC that has a unique ability to preserve the image quality at binocular depth boundaries, which is an important requirement in the design of stereo image CODEC. The experimental results have shown that the proposed CODEC is able to achieve PSNR gains of up to 3.7 dB as compared to directly transmitting the right frame using JPEG-2000

GPU-oriented architecture for an end-to-end image/video codec based on JPEG2000

Modern image and video compression standards employ computationally intensive algorithms that provide advanced features to the coding system. Current standards often need to be implemented in hardware or using expensive solutions to meet the real-time requirements of some environments. Contrarily to this trend, this paper proposes an end-to-end codec architecture running on inexpensive Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) that is based on, though not compatible with, the JPEG2000 international standard for image and video compression. When executed in a commodity Nvidia GPU, it achieves real time processing of 12K video. The proposed S/W architecture utilizes four CUDA kernels that minimize memory transfers, use registers instead of shared memory, and employ a double-buffer strategy to optimize the streaming of data. The analysis of throughput indicates that the proposed codec yields results at least 10× superior on average to those achieved with JPEG2000 implementations devised for CPUs, and approximately 4× superior to those achieved with hardwired solutions of the HEVC/H.265 video compression standard