Course teacher(s)
Gauthier LAFRUIT (Coordinator)ECTS credits
5
Language(s) of instruction
english
Course content
Compression is a fundamental technique used in any multimedia streaming application for sending audio-visual content with the least possible bitrate (Mbps) over the network.
Visual compression (images, video) based on the Discrete Cosine Transform (e.g. MPEG-2&4 in broadcasting and YouTube, and JPEG on smartphone) and the Wavelet Transform (e.g. JPEG2000 and JPEG-XR in respectively cinema and medical applications) will be revisited. The course will mostly address lossy compression, where some information is lost (through quantization), but rate-distortion optimization reduces the visual quality degradation. This approach is complementary to the lossless entropy coding techniques of INFO-H422.
The course will also review 3D volumetric compression techniques (only theoretically; no exercises/project), where the 3D information is transformed intelligently into 2D images/videos that are then later coded with conventional 2D codecs (this approach is called codec agnostic). Immersive MPEG standards will be briefly reviewed with this purpose in mind.
Objectives (and/or specific learning outcomes)
Understand a typical image or video coding pipeline, starting from source code of a very basic codec that will be gradually improved by adding new functionalities, following the JPEG/MPEG (Joint Picture Experts Group/Moving Picture Experts Group) standardization workflow.
Prerequisites and Corequisites
Required and Corequired knowledge and skills
Students should well master C/C++ programming (Python for some data format conversions is also helpful).
Teaching methods and learning activities
An image/video coding pipeline is developed, starting from source code of a very basic codec (MPEG-1 or wavelet transform with entropy coder) that will be gradually improved by adding new functionalities (towards MPEG-2 or JPEG-XR), following the JPEG/MPEG standardization workflow. Student groups will collaboratively reach the targets of the compression project, where the use of github (and a software coordinator) is recommended (not compulsory).
References, bibliography, and recommended reading
[1] Iain E.G. Richardson, "H.264 and MPEG-4 video compression: video coding for next-generation multimedia," Wiley, 2003, ISBN 0-470-84837-5
[2] D. S. Taubman, M. W. Marcellin, "JPEG2000 – Image Compression Fundamentals, Standards, and Practice," Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.
Other information
Contacts
Prof. Gauthier Lafruit, LISA-VR
Campus
Solbosch
Evaluation
Method(s) of evaluation
- Project
- Oral examination
Project
Oral examination
- Open book examination
- Open question with short answer
- Visual question
The project report must be submitted before the exam period.
The oral examination covers punctual questions on the report, as well as some complementary theory questions. With an MPEG project, the complementary theory questions will most probably cover JPEG related subjects, and vice versa. Punctual questions on the 3D volumetric codecs can also be expected.
Even though the project is done in group, the exam is individual (but the report can be submitted as a group report).
Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)
50% on the project questions (and report), 50% on the complementary theory questions.
Language(s) of evaluation
- english
- (if applicable french, Dutch )