nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
A testable NORA CMOS serial-parallel multiplier

The authors present a NORA CMOS serial-parallel multiplier which is testable and has the capability of self-checking. The error detection of the multiplier is done at two levels: (1) checking the entire multiplication process as a whole at the system level and (2) testing each individual cell module. Residue codes are used to detect error at the system level. A NORA CMOS testing technique is used for the error detection at the cell (or circuit) level. Both the system-level and the circuit-level error detection circuit for multipliers of different sizes are evaluated in terms of area and time. A prototype of a testable multiplier with 8-bit multiplicand and 8-bit multiplier implemented with 4 mu m-CMOS technology is also presented. The circuit-level error detection occupies only 11.5% of the total area. The additional time for error detection occupies only 11.1% of the total computational time.<<ETX>>
An efficient video decoder design for MPEG-2 MP@ML

In this paper, we present an efficient MPEG-2 video decoder architecture design to meet MP@ML real-time decoding requirement. The overall architecture, as well as the design of the major function-specific processing blocks, such as the variable-length decoder, the inverse 2-D discrete cosine transform unit, and the motion compensation unit, are discussed. A hierarchical and distributed controller approach is used and a bus-monitoring model for different bus arbitration schemes to control external DRAM accesses is developed and the system is simulated. Practical issues and buffer sizes are addressed. With a 27 MHz clock, our architecture uses much fewer than the 667 cycles, upper bond for the MP@ML decoding requirement, to decode each macroblock with a single external bus and DRAM.
Fast shape decoding for MPEG-4 video

To achieve fast shape decoding in MPEG-4, it is necessary to have a high speed binary shape decoder. A fast architecture is presented here that is able to decode up to 72.4 Mpixels/s, meeting up to MPEG-4 Main Profile @ Level 3 real time requirement. High performance is achieved by using a lookahead scheme in the probability generation unit and a fast ALU. Simpler shift registers are used in place of large barrel shifters to reduce the area. Furthermore, even with the use of low power synchronous ROM it is still possible to decode one bit (shape pixel) every clock cycle. The architecture is synthesized using Avanti's Passport 0.35 /spl mu/m technology library. The layout of the module is shown and the die area is 2.56 mm/sup 2/.
Expectations and challenges for next generation video compression

In the near future, significantly increase in resolution and perceptual quality will be expected for home and mobile video applications. With future devices and content moving toward high-definition (for mobile applications) and ultra-high-definition (for home applications), current AVC/H.264 technology will soon be unable to efficiently meet the compression demand for transmission. With the recent work from ISO/IEC MPEG high-performance video coding (HVC) and ITU-T VCEG groups, and the establishment of the Joint Collaborative Team (JCT), a new generation of video compression standardization process aiming at major improvements over the current AVC/H.264 standard has begun. In this paper, we briefly look at the technology and applications of video compression from the past to the present, and into possible directions and challenges for the next five years. We discuss key compression techniques and trends for future video coding efficiency, perceptual quality, and computational complexity.
Integrating object ontology and region semantic template for crime scene investigation image retrieval

Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) image retrieval plays an important role in solving crimes by providing useful clues for the police force. However, there has been little work done in this area due to limited public data access by researchers. Tested on real-world CSI images, it was observed that existing content-based image retrieval (CBIR) methods do not necessarily retrieve as effectively on CSI image database as compared to other general image databases. Hence, it is important to design CBIR algorithm tuned to CSI image database. This paper proposes a region-based semantic learning method based on object ontology which associates image categories with ‘objects’ in CSI images. Each object corresponds to a pre-defined semantic template (ST) which is defined as the average color and texture feature of a set of sample regions. In this way, low-level features of each region in a CSI image can be converted to an ‘object’ by comparing the region features with the set of pre-defined STs. The ‘objects’ in an image categorize the image based on the object ontology. The above process is referred to as ‘On-Set’. To further improve retrieval performance of On-Set, a weighting strategy named object-frequency-based weighting (OFW) is designed inspired by the idea of term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF). In OFW, heavier weight is assigned to regions that appear more often in one class and less often in other classes. Experimental results on real-world image data proved the effectiveness of the proposed method for CSI image database retrieval.
An MPEG-4 real-time video decoder software

This paper gives a description of our real-time software MPEG-4 video decoder. The performance of the decoder and the fast algorithms used for real-time decoding are discussed. Our techniques used to speed up four computationally intensive modules, inverse discrete cosine transform, context-based arithmetic decoding, padding, and variable length decoding, are also presented in this paper. Our decoding speed is improved so that software real-time video decoding is possible.
Motion and Structure Information Based Adaptive Weighted Depth Video Estimation

This paper presents a novel depth video estimation method, which improves estimation property and refines the temporal consistency and spatial accuracy at the same time. The main idea is to incorporate more useful motion and structure information into depth estimation. First, an adaptive weight is calculated based on the motion information of adjacent frames and attached to a temporal term to update the energy function, thus reducing the matching errors and improving temporal consistency. Second, the depth continuity/discontinuity in spatial domain is properly judged by combining the edges of initial depth map and color segmentation, and used in the refinement strategy. Finally, we evaluate the performance of our algorithm with several public stereoscopic video sequences. Experimental results show that the qualities of depth video and synthesized virtual view are all improved.
High-level synthesis of fast video compression algorithms

The performance targets for real time Multimedia needs make it necessary that core portions of video compression algorithms be constructed in hardware. The mapping of such algorithms into hardware has been an arduous task so far due to the differing design paradigms. Algorithms are designed to reduce software complexity measures, whereas hardware design involves reducing control complexity and hardware resources, and trading off one for the other. Usually, requiring a bottom up approach. With the advent of behavioral synthesis tools such algorithms can be written in a hardware description language, such as VHDL, preserving its high level content as well as allowing to explore various hardware architectures in a rapid manner. We show some representative algorithms of video compression and investigate various architectures that can be synthesized using Synopsys' Behavioral Compiler. We find that certain descriptions of the algorithm make them well suited for hardware mapping. The conclusion is that there exist a hardware form for each of the algorithms that preserve the semantics of the original algorithm but yet can be quickly and efficiently mapped to hardware.
High-band signals in motion estimation and compensation techniques for wavelet video coding

This paper investigates motion estimation and compensation techniques over spatial domain on wavelet video coding. In particular, we concentrate on high-band signals on prediction error which are key factors for a high coding efficiency, especially with wavelet transform. Moreover, we analyze the video coding performance according to computational complexity and motion estimation error. Finally, four types of motion estimation and compensation methods are investigated and we observe that overlapped block motion compensation and mesh-based algorithm generate smoother motion field.
Incorporating formal techniques into systolic array synthesis

The concept of using induction for designing arrays is illustrated by four different inductive design techniques: regular, stronger, double, and reverse order. These techniques exploit the repeatability, regularity, and locality of the appropriate algorithm and the corresponding array structure to provide an efficient way of deriving systolic designs. Such formal techniques also guarantee the correctness of designs. Two examples are given to illustrate how the techniques can be applied and be used to improve the design.<<ETX>>
On enhancing H.264/AVC video rate control by PSNR-based frame complexity estimation

In this paper, we present a PSNR-based frame complexity estimation to improve H.264/AVC rate control. Our scheme is based on adding PSNR-based complexity estimation to the existing mean absolute difference based (MAD-based) complexity measure to form s combined frame complexity estimation. The aim is to allocate bits more accurately, especially for frames with scene changes and high motions. Bit allocation to each frame is not just computed by encoder buffer status but also by a combined frame complexity measure. The quadratic rate-quantization (R-Q) model is used to determine the quantization parameter (QP) for each frame and the computed QP is further adjusted in two special cases. We also propose a frame skipping decision scheme to improve the performance at high frame rates. Simulation results show that the H.264 coder, using our proposed scheme, achieves better visual performances with similar or smaller PSNR deviations when compared to that of the recent JMS.6 rate control.
An MPEG-4 facial animation parameters generation system

We present a method for generating MPEG-4 FAPs (facial animation parameters) from a video sequence of a talking head. The method includes a render unit that animates a face based on a set of FAPs. The render unit provides feedback to the FAP generation process as guidance toward an optimal set of FAPs. Our optimization process consists of minimizing a penalty function, which includes a matching function and a few barrier functions. The matching function compares how well an animated face matches with the original face. Each barrier function indicates the level of distortion from a normal looking face for a certain part of a face, and advises the optimizer. Unnecessary FAPs are eliminated and the search is partitioned to speed up the optimization process. Three different search techniques, steepest descent method, linear search method, and cyclic coordinates method are applied to derive an optimum.
An approach to image compression using R-D optimal OMP selection

Transform-based coding is a technique that is widely used in image and video compression, where compression is achieved via decomposing each component block or patch over a complete dictionary known to provide compaction. Recently, there has been a growing interest in using basis selection algorithms for signal approximation and compression. Signal approximation using a linear combination of basis functions from an over-complete dictionary has proven to be an NP-hard problem. To solve this problem, Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) algorithm is often used to select dictionary elements and their coefficients. Based on its iterative nature, we propose a Rate-Distortion Optimization (RDO) method to select the number of nonzero coefficients assuming that a sparsity constraint is given. Experimental results demonstrate a very good improvement by our proposed method over conventional DCT based scheme.
A simple expert system for the reasoning of systolic designs

The author presents a simple expert system developed for the reasoning of systolic designs. It is based on the STA formalism, the spatial inductive techniques developed earlier, and a temporal induction technique (briefly introduced in this paper) to perform formal verification of systolic array designs. Induction techniques exploit the regularity and locality attributes of systolic arrays. The system is implemented in Prolog, making use of its pattern matching, automatic backtracking, and the depth-first searching rules to perform efficient reasoning. The techniques are applied to several array designs, including the 1D convolution array and a triangular matrix inversion array, which are described in this paper.<<ETX>>
An improved frame and macroblock layer bit allocation scheme for H.264 rate control

This paper proposes an improved frame and macroblock layer bit allocation scheme for H.264 rate control. Our improved algorithm has two main features: (a) a bit allocation method based on an improved complexity measure that uses a combination of mean absolute difference-based (MAD-based) measure and PSNR-based measure; and (b) a quantization parameter (QP) adjustment method and a better frame skipping decision method to improve overall visual quality and the accuracy of bit allocation. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm effectively alleviates visual quality degradation and variation caused by high motion or scene changes. Our method is effective especially for low bit rate video streaming.
Iterative Feedback Control-Based Salient Object Segmentation

In this paper, we establish a mathematical model that relates the control states and the saliency values in salient object detection. We show that a linear feedback control system (LFCS) is amenable to saliency detection tasks owing to its functional properties. This inspired us to employ an LFCS to detect salient objects in static images. Based on the novel iteration method, the system gradually converges to an optimized stable state, which is associated with an accurate saliency map. In addition, to initialize the system, we propose a so-called boundary homogeneity based on a priori knowledge of the boundary in order to estimate the background likelihood and indirectly obtain a foreground (saliency) map. The experimental results indicate that such a feedback control model can offer significant improvement in salient object detection performance.
Non-Delaunay hierarchical mesh-based motion estimation and compensation for Wavelet Video coding

In this paper, we propose a non-Delaunay hierarchical mesh-based motion estimation and compensation technique over the spatial domain for wavelet video coding. In particular, we concentrate on reducing high-band signals and corresponding motion estimation errors in order to improve coding efficiency. We also analyze the trade-off between rate-distortion and computational complexity with a variety of video test sequences. Finally, experimental results show that a non-Delaunay hierarchical mesh-based method can give good performance at low computational complexity in a wavelet video codec.
Real-time video decoding scheme for HDTV set-top boxes

We present a scheme for real-time digital HDTV video decoding suitable for DVB or ATSC set-top boxes. Our technique is based on a dual decoding datapath controlled in two fixed-scheduling combinations with an efficient memory interface scheme for anchor pictures. Unlike other decoding approaches such as the slice bar decoding method and the crossing-divided method, our scheme reduces memory access contention problem to achieve real-time HDTV decoding without a high cost in overall decoder buffers, architecture, and bus. Our simulation shows that with a relatively low rate 81 MHz clock, our decoder can decode MPEG-2 MP@HL HDTV in real-time, based on a video format of 1920 /spl times/ 1080 pixels/frame at 30 frames/s, at a bit rate of 18-22 Mbps.
Fast pixel-based video scene change detection

This paper proposes a new simple and efficient method to detect abrupt scene change based on only pixel values. Conventional pixel-based techniques can produce a significant number of false detections and missed detections when high motion and brightness variations are present in the video. To increase scene change detection accuracy yet maintain a low computational complexity, a two-phase strategy is developed. Frames are first tested against the mean absolute frame differences (MAFD) via a relaxed threshold, which rejects about 90% of the non-scene change frames. The rest 10% of the frames are then normalized via a histogram equalization process. A top-down approach is applied to refine the decision via four features: MAFD and three other features based on normalized pixel values - signed difference of mean absolute frame difference (SDMAFD*), absolute difference of frame variance (ADFV*), and mean absolute frame differences (MAFD*). Experimental results show that our method contributes to higher detection rate and lower missed detection rate while maintaining a low computational complexity, which is attractive for real-time video applications.
MPEG-2 video decoder for DVD

A video decoder with an efficient controller scheme and a sub-picture decoder for DVD application is presented in this paper. Most of the reported architecture for MPEG2 video decoding uses a 64 bit bus and a complex bus arbitration scheme. Our design uses synchronous DRAMs instead of standard EDO DRAMs and involves a novel controller scheme that allocates bus space for DRAM access efficiently. This efficient allocation allows us to reduce bus width from 64 bits to 32 bits, without significantly increasing embedded buffer sizes, and still meeting the requirements for MPEG2 MP/ML decoding. The bus arbitration algorithm is also simple allowing for a less complex controller design. Our main strategy is to impose a certain order in the DRAM access by the various processes instead of allowing any process to request for bus access arbitrarily. We also take advantage of the restricted GOP (group of picture) sequence in the DVD format to allow a longer decoding time for B frames. The sub-picture pixel data are run-length compressed bitmaps that are overlayed on top of the MPEG reconstruction video. The architecture for sub-picture decoding is simple and easy to implement.
Fast single depth intra mode decision for depth map coding in 3D-HEVC

In 3D-HEVC, single depth intra mode has been applied and has been integrated into depth intra skip mode for efficient depth map coding. With single depth intra mode, one 2N×2N prediction unit (PU) is predicted without high computational prediction process. In this paper, we propose a fast single depth intra mode decision method to address the problem of high computational complexity burden in depth intra mode decision of 3D-HEVC. To remove unnecessary computational complexity at the encoder, we early decide single depth intra mode for pruning quadtree in 3D-HEVC. This paper characterizes the statistics of smooth depth map signals for depth intra modes and analyzes distortion metrics of view synthesis optimization functionality as a decision criterion. With this proposed criterion, a single depth intra mode for intra coding has been detected and hierarchical CU/PU selection for intra coding can be stopped in 3D-HEVC. As a consequence, it utilizes the correlation between hierarchical block-based video coding and coding unit (CU)/PU mode decision for depth map coding so that a large number of recursive rate-distortion cost calculations can be skipped. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach experimentally. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve approximately 25.6% encoding time saving with 0.07% video PSNR/total bitrate gain and 0.18% synthesized view PSNR/total bitrate loss under all intra configuration.
Multi-Stage MCTF Coding Efficiency Analysis with Directed-Tree Model

Motion-compensated temporal filtering (MCTF) was believed to improve coding efficiency due to its temporal noise filtering capability. However, recent experimental results in scalable video coding (SVC) development revealed that MCTF update steps at the decoder side do not always contribute significantly to the coding efficiency. In this paper, we present a novel directed-tree model to analyze the lifting-based multi-decomposition stage MCTF coding efficiency. It shows that with skipping the inverse update steps at the decoder side, MCTF performance converges against an upper bound, which depends on the actual prediction and the adaptive weighting algorithms. The results in our study provide a theoretical justification for not including MCTF update steps in the decoding process for scalable video coding
Improved partial distortion search algorithm for rapid block motion estimation via dual-halfway-stop

Block motion estimation is a critical, yet computationally intensive, task for video encoding. Many fast block matching algorithms have been developed. Partial distortion search (PDS) algorithms generally produce less video quality degradation of the predicted images than those of conventional fast block matching algorithms (BMAs). However, the speedup gain of PDS algorithms is usually limited. We present an enhancement over a normalized PDS (NPDS) algorithm to reduce block matching motion estimation complexity further and improve video fidelity. The novelty of our algorithm is that, in addition to the halfway-stop technique in NPDS, a dual-halfway-stop (DHS) method, which is based on a dynamic threshold, is proposed so that block matching is not performed against all searching points. The dynamic threshold is obtained via a linear model utilizing already computed distortion statistics. An adaptive search range mechanism based on inter block distortion further constrains the searching process. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has a remarkable computational speedup. Particularly, it requires 92.0-99.4% less computation than full search (FS) and 8.0-91.0% less than NPDS. It encounters an average of 0.07 dB video degradation in PSNR performance compared to FS whereas it gains 0.01-0.12 dB over the NPDS algorithm.
Partial occlusion tracking with blocks and discriminative model

While tracking has been developed rapidly with the presentation of efficient algorithms recent years, some problems remain unsolved. Occlusion is a challenge for tracking especially in crowded scenes. In this paper, we address the problem by proposing a robust algorithm based on particle filter with blocks and discriminative model. Discriminative model offers accurate templates for occlusion detection by alleviating influence from background pixels. Since particle filter cannot carry out effective tracking under heavy occlusion, blocking is introduced to solve the problem by abandoning unobservable parts of the target. Experimental results show that our algorithm can work persistently and effectively under severe occlusion compared with state-of-the-arts.
Coefficient Conversion for Transform Domain VC-1 TO H.264 Transcoding

This paper discusses the problem of transcoding between VC-1 and H.264 video standards. VC-1 uses an adaptive block size integer transform, which is different from the 4×4 integer transform used by H.264. We propose an algorithm to transcode the transform coefficients from VC-1 to those for H.264, which is a fundamental step for transform domain transcoding. The paper also presents a fast computation version of the algorithm. The implementation of the proposed algorithm shows that the quality of the video remains roughly the same while the complexity is greatly reduced when compared with the reference full cascade pixel domain transcoder.