Patent Publication Number: US-7711199-B2

Title: Method for estimating quantization factor of compressed digital image

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates generally to digital image processing, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for systemically measuring the image quality by estimating quantization parameter of the compressed digital image. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Block artifacts are due to the information loss of high frequency energy, and appear as sharp discontinuities over the entire image especially on a relatively flat background. The information loss of an original image is due to the quantization process when the image is compressed, and the quantization noise is proportional to quantization size. If the quantization size (scale or parameter) is known, the presented artifacts including block and ringing effects can be effectively reduced or removed. Unfortunately, a decoded image of the compressed input does not provide the information to the consumer products particularly in Television. Conventional systems typically use the quantization parameter obtained directly from a decoder, and apply it to estimate some measures according to their applications. However, the compression information such as quantization of a decoded image is not available in the decoded image. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   An object of the present invention to provide the quality measure of a given image for image/video applications to determine if the image needs to be enhanced or not. 
   In one embodiment the present invention provides a method and system for systemically measuring the image quality by estimating quantization parameter of the compressed digital image. This allows estimating the image quantization parameter effectively in the pixel domain. 
   Generally, block artifact are caused by image compression transforms, especially in flat image region. As such, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, first the suspicious regions of the image for the block artifacts are detected by calculating a variance for each location in the image. Next, noise power is computed by using the detected regions. Then, the estimated noise power is compared with the statistical model to calculate the quantization parameter that is used in the encoder side when the input image is compressed. Finally, a quantization parameter is used as a quality measure of the input image. 
   Accordingly, the present invention provides a method to estimate the quantization parameter effectively in the pixel domain. 
   These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become understood with reference to the following description, appended claims and accompanying figures. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  shows a functional block diagram of an embodiment of an image processing system implementing an image processing, according to the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  shows a functional block diagram of an embodiment of quantization parameter estimation, according to the present invention. 
       FIG. 3  shows a functional block diagram of an embodiment of flat region detection, according to the present invention. 
       FIG. 4  shows a flowchart of example steps implemented in the strong edge detector of  FIG. 3 . 
       FIG. 5  shows a flowchart of example steps implemented in the noise power calculator of  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 6  shows the relationship between quantization decision and reconstruction levels. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   To better understand the present invention, in the following initially a theoretical background to picture quality indicating based on MPEG bitstream parameters, in particular quantization parameters, is provided. 
   It is assumed that the noise being estimated is due to discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficient quantization in the MPEG coding process. Block artifacts are due to the information loss of high frequency energy, and appear as sharp discontinuities over the entire image especially on a relatively flat background. The information loss of an original image is due to the quantization process when the image is compressed, and the quantization noise is proportional to quantization size. If the quantization size (scale or parameter) is known, the presented artifacts including block and ringing effects can be effectively reduced or removed. Unfortunately, a decoded image of the compressed input does not provide the information to the consumer products particularly in Television. 
   As such, in one embodiment the present invention provides a method to estimate the quantization parameter effectively in the pixel domain. The quantization noise power is estimated in the pixel domain. The first point to establish is that, for a transform-based compression scheme such as MPEG, this is equivalent to estimating the noise power in the transformed coefficient domain. Because the transform is orthogonal, Parseval&#39;s theorem can be invoked to show that the noise power in one domain is directly proportional to the noise power in the other domain, provided factors such as the quantization weighting matrices are taken into account correctly. 
   In one example implementation of the method of the present invention, first the suspicious regions of the image for the block artifacts are detected by calculating a variance for each location in the image. Next, noise power is computed by using the detected regions. Then, the estimated noise power is compared with the statistical model to calculate the quantization parameter that is used in the encoder side when the input image is compressed. Finally, a quantization parameter is used as a quality measure of the input image. 
   As such, a method of systemically measuring the image quality according to the present invention estimates quantization level (scale) for a decoded digital image in the pixel domain without any prior knowledge of the original compressed image. The present invention utilizes the Parseval&#39;s theory which states that the noise power in one domain is directly proportional to the noise power in the other domain. 
   Color video signals usually comprise three color channels, these being one luminance (Y) channel and two chrominance (U, V) channels. Generally, quantization parameter estimation is only required to be performed on the luminance channel. Conventional systems typically utilize eight bits to represent the Y value due to bandwidth efficiency and memory design considerations. Therefore, conventional image processing systems assign each pixel a Y value somewhere in the range of 0 to 255, with 0 representing the darkest luminance and 255 representing the brightest luminance. 
   Applying the method of the present invention on the chrominance channels (U, V) have little or no noticeable effect on estimating a quantization parameter.  FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of an example image processing system  10  which implements an embodiment of the method of the present invention. The decoded luminance data is read in from a buffer in an input image processor  100  to an image enhancer  102 . The enhancer  102  improves the input data based on output of a parameter estimator  106  which estimates a quantization parameter, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The filtered luminance data from the enhancer  102  is provided to an output processing module  104  for combining with the decoded data from the two chrominance channels before being displayed. 
     FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an embodiment of the quantization parameter estimator  106 , comprising a flat region detector  200 , a noise power calculator  202 , and a parameter estimator  204 . In particular, the flat region detector  200  first finds strong edges or texture regions in the image and then excludes those regions to generate relatively homogeneous regions. An example implementation of this process is shown in  FIG. 3 . The block artifacts caused by image compression are more significant in the homogeneous areas. A strong edge detector  300  processes the input signal Y IN  according to the following steps 1-4 as shown in the flowchart of  FIG. 4 :
         1. The input signal Y IN  is low-pass filtered with using a n×m window at each pixel location (x, y) to generate a filtered signal Y L  according to relation (1):       
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
                     Y 
                     L 
                   
                   ⁡ 
                   
                     ( 
                     
                       x 
                       , 
                       y 
                     
                     ) 
                   
                 
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                         = 
                         0 
                       
                       
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                         - 
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                         ∑ 
                         
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                           = 
                           0 
                         
                         
                           m 
                           - 
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                       ⁢ 
                       
                         
                           
                             Y 
                             IN 
                           
                           ⁡ 
                           
                             ( 
                             
                               
                                 x 
                                 + 
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                                 + 
                                 j 
                               
                             
                             ) 
                           
                         
                         . 
                       
                     
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 ( 
                 1 
                 ) 
               
             
           
         
       
     
       
       
         
           2. Next, commonly used four directional sobel operators are performed on the low-pass-filtered image Y L (x, y) to find image edges Y H  according to relation (2): 
         
       
     
  
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
                     Y 
                     H 
                   
                   ⁡ 
                   
                     ( 
                     
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                       y 
                     
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                         k 
                         = 
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                       4 
                     
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                           = 
                           
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                       ⁢ 
                       
                         
                           ∑ 
                           
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                             = 
                             
                               - 
                               1 
                             
                           
                           1 
                         
                         ⁢ 
                         
                           
                             abs 
                             ⁡ 
                             
                               ( 
                               
                                 
                                   
                                     M 
                                     k 
                                   
                                   ⁡ 
                                   
                                     ( 
                                     
                                       i 
                                       , 
                                       j 
                                     
                                     ) 
                                   
                                 
                                 · 
                                 
                                   
                                     Y 
                                     L 
                                   
                                   ⁡ 
                                   
                                     ( 
                                     
                                       
                                         x 
                                         + 
                                         i 
                                       
                                       , 
                                       
                                         y 
                                         + 
                                         j 
                                       
                                     
                                     ) 
                                   
                                 
                               
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                           . 
                         
                       
                     
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 ( 
                 2 
                 ) 
               
             
           
         
       
     
       
       
         
           
             
               wherein, abs(·) indicates an absolute value of (·), M k (i,j) is the k th  sobel operator according to relation set (3) below, wherein each sobel operator/filter is used to obtain edge information: 
             
           
         
       
     
  
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
                     
                       M 
                       1 
                     
                     ⁡ 
                     
                       ( 
                       
                         i 
                         , 
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                       ) 
                     
                   
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                           1 
                         
                         
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                     ⁢ 
                     
                         
                     
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                         M 
                         4 
                       
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                       ] 
                     
                     . 
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 ( 
                 3 
                 ) 
               
             
           
         
       
     
       
       
         
           3. Obtain a binary map Y B  using a threshold with a user defined value τ according to relation (4): 
         
       
     
  
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
                     Y 
                     B 
                   
                   ⁡ 
                   
                     ( 
                     
                       x 
                       , 
                       y 
                     
                     ) 
                   
                 
                 = 
                 
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                         1 
                       
                       
                         
                           
                             
                               if 
                               ⁢ 
                               
                                   
                               
                               ⁢ 
                               
                                 
                                   Y 
                                   H 
                                 
                                 ⁡ 
                                 
                                   ( 
                                   
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                                   ) 
                                 
                               
                             
                             &gt; 
                             τ 
                           
                           , 
                         
                       
                     
                     
                       
                         0 
                       
                       
                         
                           otherwise 
                           . 
                         
                       
                     
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 ( 
                 4 
                 ) 
               
             
           
         
       
     
       
       
         
           
             
               Then, morphological operation opening (i.e., an erosion followed by a dilation) is performed in order to remove small spots caused by noisy information of the original input and refine the edge regions to obtain refined edge regions Y M (x,y). 
             
           
           4. Finally, a flat region binary map is obtained by inversing the refined edge binary map as the in inverter  302  ( FIG. 3 ) according to relation (5) to obtain flat region map from edge map:
 
   Y     B ( x,y )=1 −Y   M ( x,y ),   (5)
 
           wherein a flat region data Y 1  is further obtained by multiplying the original input Y IN  and the flat region binary map  Y   B (x,y) (i.e., Y 1 =Y IN ·  Y   B (x,y)). Therefore, Y 1  output from the flat region detector  200  indicates only flat areas in the input image Y IN . 
         
       
     
  
   Referring back to  FIG. 2 , the noise power calculator  202  receives the flat region data signal Y 1  and generates noise power Y 2  around the block boundaries where the block artifacts are significant. To calculate the noise power Y 2 , the noise power calculator  202  performs the following steps 5-9 shown in  FIG. 5 :
         5. Separate the image represented by the flat region data signal Y 1  into non-overlapped blocks of pixels. In the MPEG, the block size is 8×8.   6. For computation simplicity, we denote the flat region Y 1 (x,y) signal as M F ×N F  rectangular area for xε[1,M F ] and yε[1,N F ], and calculate a differencing signal Y 1h  between neighboring pixels in each block along each horizontal line according to relation (6):
 
 Y   1h ( x,y )= Y   1 ( x,y )− Y   1 ( x,y− 1) for  yε[ 1 , N   F −1].   (6)
   7. Compute an average B h  of said differences Y 1h  across the block boundaries along the horizontal direction is estimated according to relation (7):       

                   B   h     =       1       M   F     ⁡     (       〚       N   F     /   8     〛     -   1     )         ⁢       ∑     i   =   1       M   F       ⁢       ∑     j   =   1         N   F     -   1       ⁢            Y     1   ⁢   h       ⁡     (     i   ,     8   ⁢   j       )                          (   7   )               
where, [·] is rounding operator.
         8. Similar to steps 5-7, calculate a vertical average B v  from differencing signal Y 1v  between neighboring pixels in each block along each vertical line to obtain the vertical average difference value along the vertical boundaries of the image.   9. Generate the noise power Y 2  as       
             Y   2     =         B   h     +     B   v       2           
and provide to the Q parameter estimator  204 .
 
   It is known that the quantization noise power from a linear quantizer of spacing q in a uniformly distributed signal according to relation (8): 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   σ 
                   N 
                   2 
                 
                 = 
                 
                   
                     
                       1 
                       q 
                     
                     · 
                     
                       
                         ∫ 
                         
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                             q 
                             2 
                           
                         
                         
                           q 
                           2 
                         
                       
                       ⁢ 
                       
                         
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                           2 
                         
                         ⁢ 
                         
                             
                         
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                           ⅆ 
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                   = 
                   
                     
                       
                         q 
                         2 
                       
                       12 
                     
                     . 
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 ( 
                 8 
                 ) 
               
             
           
         
       
     
   
   Where x is an input signal. In MPEG coding, the signal comprises DCT coefficients and, apart from the intra DC coefficient, has a highly non-uniform probability distribution. The simple expression for the quantization noise power, therefore, is replaced by the general relation (10) for each coefficient as: 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   ∑ 
                   
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                     = 
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                 ⁢ 
                 
                   
                     1 
                     
                       
                         d 
                         
                           i 
                           + 
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                       - 
                       
                         d 
                         i 
                       
                     
                   
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                         d 
                         i 
                       
                       
                         d 
                         
                           i 
                           + 
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                     ⁢ 
                     
                       
                         p 
                         ⁡ 
                         
                           ( 
                           x 
                           ) 
                         
                       
                       ⁢ 
                       
                         
                           ( 
                           
                             x 
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                               r 
                               i 
                             
                           
                           ) 
                         
                         2 
                       
                       ⁢ 
                       
                           
                       
                       ⁢ 
                       
                         ⅆ 
                         x 
                       
                     
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 ( 
                 10 
                 ) 
               
             
           
         
       
     
   
   where, d i , i=1 . . . M are the quantizer decision levels, r i  are the corresponding reconstruction levels (with d i &lt;=r i &lt;=d i+1 ) and p(x) is the probability density function of the input signal x, here assumed to be a continuous function.  FIG. 6  shows an example step graph  600  which represents the relationship between quantization decision and reconstruction levels. The vertical axis represents the reconstructed values r i  while the horizontal axis shows the quantizer decision level d i  spaced by a quantization step size q. For an example, when a continuous signal x is input and if the value is in the range between d i −q/2 and d i +q/2, then the decision value is d i  and the reconstructed value is r i  as shown by step graph  600  in  FIG. 6 . 
   If the quantizer has 2N+1 uniformly spaced reconstruction levels centered on zero (as defined, for example, in the MPEG specification for intra coefficients) and has a decision threshold offset parameter L (L=0 corresponds to truncation and L=1 to rounding), then the expression for the quantization noise power σ N   2  is according to relation (11) below: 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   σ 
                   N 
                   2 
                 
                 = 
                 
                   
                     2 
                     ⁡ 
                     
                       [ 
                       
                         
                           
                             ∫ 
                             0 
                             
                               
                                 ( 
                                 
                                   1 
                                   - 
                                   
                                     L 
                                     / 
                                     2 
                                   
                                 
                                 ) 
                               
                               ⁢ 
                               q 
                             
                           
                           ⁢ 
                           
                             
                               p 
                               ⁡ 
                               
                                 ( 
                                 x 
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                             ⁢ 
                             
                                 
                             
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                         + 
                         
                           
                             ∑ 
                             
                               i 
                               = 
                               1 
                             
                             N 
                           
                           ⁢ 
                           
                             
                               1 
                               q 
                             
                             ⁢ 
                             
                               
                                 ∫ 
                                 
                                   
                                     ( 
                                     
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                                       - 
                                       
                                         L 
                                         / 
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                                     ) 
                                   
                                   ⁢ 
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                                     ( 
                                     
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                                       + 
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                                       - 
                                       
                                         L 
                                         / 
                                         2 
                                       
                                     
                                     ) 
                                   
                                   ⁢ 
                                   q 
                                 
                               
                               ⁢ 
                               
                                 
                                   p 
                                   ⁡ 
                                   
                                     ( 
                                     x 
                                     ) 
                                   
                                 
                                 ⁢ 
                                 
                                   
                                     ( 
                                     
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                                       - 
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                                     ) 
                                   
                                   2 
                                 
                                 ⁢ 
                                 
                                     
                                 
                                 ⁢ 
                                 
                                   ⅆ 
                                   x 
                                 
                               
                             
                           
                         
                       
                       ] 
                     
                   
                   . 
                 
               
             
             
               
                 ( 
                 11 
                 ) 
               
             
           
         
       
     
       
       Relation (11) above depends only on three quantities:
       i. The quantizer level spacing q, which is known from the quantizer scale and is estimated according to the present invention.   ii. The decision threshold offset parameter L. This is not known but it is reasonable to suppose that it takes the compromise value 0.75 in the case of intra coding, as defined in the MPEG Test Model.   iii. The probability distribution p(x) of the input signal.   
     
     
  
   It follows that the quantization scale can be estimated if the shape of the probability distribution of the input signal and noise power can be found. That information is not directly available, but in principle possible to be estimated from the reconstructed signal at the output of the inverse quantizer. 
   In image processing theory it is common to model the probability distribution of a signal such as a particular DCT coefficient, by a function specified by one or two parameters. For example, the Laplacian, or two-sided exponential distribution, is often used: 
   
     
       
         
           
             p 
             ⁡ 
             
               ( 
               x 
               ) 
             
           
           = 
           
             
               α 
               2 
             
             ⁢ 
             
               
                 ⅇ 
                 
                   
                     - 
                     α 
                   
                   ⁢ 
                   
                      
                     x 
                      
                   
                 
               
               . 
             
           
         
       
     
   
   The shape of the distribution is determined by the single parameter α. If this parameter can be estimated from the decoded DCT coefficients, the quantization parameter q can be calculated because the noise power Y 2  can be used as an alternative noise power based on the Parseval&#39;s theorem. Indeed, the noise power in the DCT domain is according to relation (12): 
                   σ   N   2     =       2     α   2       -           q   ·     ⅇ     α   ·     q   ⁡     (       L   2     -   1     )               α   ⁡     (     1   -     ⅇ       -   α     ·   q         )         ⁡     [       α   ·     q   ⁡     (     1   -   L     )         +   2     ]       .               (   12   )               
wherein the parameter α depends on the activity of the original picture (image) or prediction error signal at the spatial frequency represented by the particular DCT coefficient under consideration. In principle, source picture (material) might exhibit different levels of activity at different frequencies. In practice, however, it is found that there is a degree of interdependence between the activity levels across the spectrum. This is not surprising if it is observed that features that contribute to high activity, such as edges, have energy over a wide range of spatial frequencies.
 
   It is, therefore, reasonable to suppose that large variations possible in the shapes of the probability distributions for all the DCT coefficients can be parameterized by a single quantity which describes the overall activity of the source. Then, the quantization parameter q can be estimated from this single ‘activity’ parameter α together with the noise power. In practice, for example, α is assigned to 0.08. 
   According to the present invention, the estimated noise power Y 2  in noise power calculator  202  ( FIG. 2 ) can replace actual noise power in the DCT domain σ N   2  according to relation (13):
 
σ N   2   =η·Y   2   2 .   (13)
 
   Then, estimating the quantization parameter q involves minimizing the value represented by relation (14): 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 q 
                 = 
                 
                   
                     
                       arg 
                       ⁢ 
                       
                           
                       
                       ⁢ 
                       min 
                     
                     q 
                   
                   ⁢ 
                   
                     
                       ( 
                       
                         
                           σ 
                           N 
                           2 
                         
                         - 
                         
                           2 
                           
                             α 
                             2 
                           
                         
                         + 
                         
                           
                             
                               q 
                               · 
                               
                                 ⅇ 
                                 
                                   α 
                                   · 
                                   
                                     q 
                                     ⁡ 
                                     
                                       ( 
                                       
                                         
                                           L 
                                           2 
                                         
                                         - 
                                         1 
                                       
                                       ) 
                                     
                                   
                                 
                               
                             
                             
                               α 
                               ⁡ 
                               
                                 ( 
                                 
                                   1 
                                   - 
                                   
                                     ⅇ 
                                     
                                       
                                         - 
                                         α 
                                       
                                       · 
                                       q 
                                     
                                   
                                 
                                 ) 
                               
                             
                           
                           ⁡ 
                           
                             [ 
                             
                               
                                 α 
                                 · 
                                 
                                   q 
                                   ⁡ 
                                   
                                     ( 
                                     
                                       1 
                                       - 
                                       L 
                                     
                                     ) 
                                   
                                 
                               
                               + 
                               2 
                             
                             ] 
                           
                         
                       
                       ) 
                     
                     . 
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 ( 
                 14 
                 ) 
               
             
           
         
       
     
   
   Relation (14) provides the procedure to minimize the error between the noise power obtained from the previous procedures and the theoretical equation for estimating q. 
   However, the quantization parameter may be calculated recursively. Therefore, an alternative calculation for fast processing, such as real-time applications, can be according to relation (15): 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   σ 
                   N 
                   2 
                 
                 = 
                 
                   
                     ( 
                     
                       β 
                       · 
                       
                         Y 
                         2 
                         2 
                       
                     
                     ) 
                   
                   = 
                   
                     
                       
                         q 
                         2 
                       
                       12 
                     
                     . 
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 ( 
                 15 
                 ) 
               
             
           
         
       
     
   
   Where, β is predefined constant based on empirical results. In practice, as a reference value of the constant β, one can set it to 1.234. 
   While the present invention is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms, these are shown in the drawings and have herein been described in detail, preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspects of the invention to the embodiments illustrated. The aforementioned example architectures above according to the present invention can be implemented in many ways, such as program instructions for execution by a processor, as logic circuits, as ASIC, as firmware, etc., as is known to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the example embodiments described herein. 
   The present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof; however, other versions are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.