Adaptive multiple description video streaming over multiple channels with active probing

Abstract

Low latency video applications need to incorporate a high level of error resiliency and of error concealment to provide acceptable quality. We investigate how to combine the benefits of multiple stream coding and multiple path transmission for this purpose. We present a transmission strategy for multiple description coded video which maintains the inherent error resiliency of the encoding in the case of transmission over bursty channels. Through the analysis of feedback and through rate-distortion optimized channel probing, this strategy determines which channels should be used to take advantage of path diversity. At the encoder, a restart scheme stops error propagation by selecting references in error-free streams. Experiments demonstrate significant gains over other schemes such as video redundancy coding.