Methods and devices for video codec performance measurement and evaluation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12452403-B2
Application number	US-202418773787-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 16, 2024
Priority date	Jul 17, 2023
Publication date	Oct 21, 2025
Grant date	Oct 21, 2025

Abstract

This disclosure relates generally to video coding/decoding and particularly for evaluating codec performance. One method includes obtaining a first plurality of anchor data points; obtaining a second plurality of test data points; analyzing monotonicity conditions of the first plurality of anchor data points and the second plurality of test data points; determining a fitting algorithm based on the analyzed monotonicity conditions; fitting the first plurality of anchor data points with the fitting algorithm to obtain an anchor curve; fitting the second plurality of test data points with the fitting algorithm to obtain a test curve; and evaluating the test codec performance based on the anchor curve and the test curve, to obtain an evaluation result.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for processing video data, performed by an electronic device comprising a memory for storing instructions and a processor in communication with the memory, the method comprising:
obtaining a first plurality of anchor data points, wherein:
each anchor data point is generated based on an anchor video bitstream,
the anchor video bitstream is encoded by an anchor video codec based on a reference video and an anchor encoding parameter set from a first plurality of encoding parameter sets, and
each anchor data point represents an anchor codec performance corresponding to the anchor encoding parameter set;

obtaining a second plurality of test data points, wherein:
each test data point is generated based on a test video bitstream,
the test video bitstream is encoded by a test video codec based on the reference video and a test encoding parameter set from a second plurality of encoding parameter sets, and
each test data point represents a test codec performance corresponding to the test encoding parameter set;

analyzing monotonicity conditions of the first plurality of anchor data points and the second plurality of test data points;
determining a fitting algorithm based on the analyzed monotonicity conditions;
fitting the first plurality of anchor data points with the fitting algorithm to obtain an anchor curve;
fitting the second plurality of test data points with the fitting algorithm to obtain a test curve; and
evaluating the test codec performance based on the anchor curve and the test curve, to obtain an evaluation result.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the fitting algorithm based on the analyzed monotonicity conditions comprises:
when the analyzed monotonicity conditions are both monotonic, determining one of the following as the fitting algorithm: a cubic polynomial curve fitting, or a Piecewise Cubic Hermit Interpolation (PCHIP); and
when at least one of the analyzed monotonicity conditions is non-monotonic, determining a Constrained Cubic Curve Fitting as the fitting algorithm.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the fitting algorithm based on the analyzed monotonicity conditions comprises:
when one of the analyzed monotonicity conditions is non-monotonic, determining a Constrained Cubic Curve Fitting as the fitting algorithm.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
each anchor data point comprises a bit rate and a quality measurement corresponding to the anchor video bitstream; and
each test data point comprises a bit rate and a quality measurement corresponding to the test video bitstream.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the fitting algorithm comprises a polynomial function:

f
⁡
(
x
)

=

b
0

⁢

x
3

+

b
1

⁢

x
2

+

b
2

⁢
x

+

b
3

wherein:
b 0 , b 1 , b 2 , and b 3 are coefficients,
an x-axis of the polynomial function represents a bit rate, and
a y-axis of the polynomial function represents a quality measurement.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fitting the first plurality of anchor data points with the fitting algorithm to obtain the anchor curve comprises:
fitting the first plurality of anchor data points with the fitting algorithm and a constraint to obtain the anchor curve, wherein the constraint comprises, within an axis range, a first order derivative of the anchor curve being positive.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the fitting the first plurality of anchor data points with the fitting algorithm to obtain the anchor curve comprises:
fitting the first plurality of anchor data points with the fitting algorithm and a constraint to obtain the anchor curve, wherein the constraint comprises, within an axis range, a first order derivative of the anchor curve being positive and a second order derivative of the anchor curve being negative.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fitting the second plurality of test data points with the fitting algorithm to obtain the test curve comprises:
fitting the second plurality of test data points with the fitting algorithm and a constraint to obtain the test curve, wherein the constraint comprises, within an axis range, a first order derivative of the test curve being positive.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fitting the second plurality of test data points with the fitting algorithm to obtain the test curve comprises:
fitting the second plurality of test data points with the fitting algorithm and a constraint to obtain the test curve, wherein the constraint comprises, within an axis range, a first order derivative of the test curve being positive and a second order derivative of the test curve being negative.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
deriving a Bjøntegaard Delta Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (BD-PSNR) with

BD
-
PSNR

=

1

x
⁢
b

-

x
⁢
a

⁢

∫

x
⁢
a

xb

[

f
⁢

t
⁡
(
x
)

-

f
⁢

a
⁡
(
x
)

]

⁢
d
⁢
x

wherein: ƒa and ƒt represent the anchor curve and the test curve, resp

Assignees

• Tencent America LLC

Inventors

• Ding Ding
• Zhao Xin
• Liu Shan

Classifications

• H04N19/154

  Measured or subjectively estimated visual quality after decoding, e.g. measurement of distortion (use of rate-distortion criteria H04N19/147) · CPC title

• H04N17/00 Primary

  Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details · CPC title

• H04N17/004 Primary

  for digital television systems · CPC title