Adding selective enhancement in scalable video coding for region-of-interest functionality

In this paper, we propose a lossless, graceful, and arbitrary-shaped region-of-interest (ROI) functionality for the scalable video coding in MPEG-4 Part 10 Amd. 1. Specifically, we propose a prioritized block coding scheme and a layer remapping technique. Within an enhancement layer, the prioritized block coding reshuffles the transform coefficients for ROI. Moreover, the layer remapping technique prioritizes different ROI among enhancement layers. For graceful and arbitrary-shaped properties, additional syntax are coded at the levels of slice, layer, and macroblock. To minimize overhead, an efficient representation for priority information is proposed. Experimental results show that our schemes can offer the ROI functionality over a wide range of bit rates while maintaining coding efficiency.