Consistent estimation of erased data in a DPCM based multiple description coding system

Abstract

In this paper we tackle the problem of error propagation that packet losses can cause in commonly used predictive coding environments. Using multiple description coding (MDC) to generate redundant source data, we propose an algorithm for estimating the lost data in a DPCM coded stream. The novelty of our algorithm is that it uses a sequence search to verify the consistency of the estimates with the received data. In addition for the proposed MDC system, we have developed DPCM encoders which use simple quantizers such as uniform threshold quantizers, and do not require any special indexing or transform. The advantage of this encoder is that it gives good results and it can be constructed using standard codecs.