Perceptual Signal Coding for More Efficient Usage of Bit Codes

Abstract

As the performance of electronic display systems continues to increase, the limitations of current signal coding methods become increasingly apparent. With bit-depth limitations set by industry standard interfaces, a more efficient coding system is desired to allow image quality to increase without requiring expansion of legacy infrastructure bandwidth. A good approach to this problem is to let the human visual system determine the quantization curve used to encode video signals. In this way, optimal efficiency is maintained across the luminance range of interest, and the visibility of quantization artifacts is kept to a uniformly small level.