SBIR Phase II: Use of No-Reference Measurements of Subjective Quality to Enhance Next Generation Systems for Video Distribution

该小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目涉及用于实时测量和增强通过新兴网络分发的视频质量的系统的设计、开发和商业化。第一阶段项目已经证明了实时版本的自动视频质量仪(AVQ)的可行性，它具有几个新的特征。由于不需要引用源视频，并且是可计算扩展的，AVQ计量器可以驻留在视频分发链中的任何位置。此外，AVQ分数与用户的主观评估具有极好的相关性，这使其不仅作为一种准确的测量工具具有价值，而且还作为VQ增强(VQE)的起点。这项第二阶段的工作将创建一个行业就绪的AVQ产品套件，可以驻留在网络(AVQ-N)、家庭(AVQ-H)和机顶盒(AVQ-STB)中。它还将创建驻留在多个网点的视频质量增强(VQE)解决方案。AVQ和VQE产品将依赖于几项设计创新，包括在AVQ和VQE的精简版本中保留性能，以及将核心AVQ引擎移植到多个PC本机、板级和芯片级平台。在快速崛起的场景中，使用比以往任何时候都更多的通信网络，实时生成、收集和分发视频信息。越来越多地，接触到高质量、高清晰度电视概念的用户将要求在所有情况下，无论是在固定系统还是移动系统中，都能获得高质量的视频体验。这项研究中提出的解决方案最初将帮助内容提供商、聚合器、分销商和接收器制造商满足用户对新兴娱乐视频系统的期望。这些系统包括有线电视和电信服务，以及移动和互联网视频。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project concerns the design, development and commercialization of systems for real-time measurement and enhancement of the quality of video distributed over emerging networks. The Phase I project has demonstrated the feasibility of a real-time version of an automatic video quality meter (AVQ) that has several novel features. By not requiring a reference to the source video, and by being compute-scalable, the AVQ meter can reside anywhere in the video distribution chain. In addition, AVQ scores correlate extremely well with subjective assessments of users, making it valuable not only as an accurate measurement tool, but also as the starting point for VQ Enhancement (VQE). This Phase II work will create an industry-ready suite of AVQ products that can reside in the network (AVQ-N), home (AVQ-H) and Set Top Box (AVQ-STB). It will also create solutions for video quality enhancement (VQE) that will reside in several network points. The AVQ and VQE products will depend on several innovations in design, including the retention of performance in the leaner versions of AVQ and VQE, and portability of a core AVQ engine into multiple PC-native, board-level and chip-level platforms.In rapidly emerging scenarios, video information is generated, gathered and distributed in real time, using a larger number of communication networks than ever before. Increasingly, users who are exposed to the notion of high-quality, high definition television will demand a high quality of video experience in all circumstances, in both fixed and mobile systems. The solutions proposed in this research will initially help content providers, aggregators, distributors and receiver manufacturers in meeting user expectations in emerging systems for entertainment video. These systems include cable and telco services as well as mobile and internet video.