An improved rate control algorithm for SVC with optimised MAD prediction

An improved rate control algorithm for the Scalable Video Coding (SVC) extension of H.264/AVC is described. The rate control scheme applied to the Base Layer (BL) of SVC adopts the linear Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) prediction and quadratic Rate Distortion (RD) models inherited from H.264/AVC. A MAD prediction error always exists and cannot be avoided. However, some encoding results of the base layer can be used to inform the coding of the enhancement layers (ELs), thus benefitting from the bottom-up coding structure of SVC. This property forms the basis for the proposed rate control approach. Simulation results show that accurate rate control is achieved and, compared to the default rate control algorithm of SVC, namely the JVT-G012 rate control scheme, the average PSNR is increased by 0.27dB or the average bit rate is reduced by 4.81%.