A Simple One-pass Variable Rate Control Method for Fixed-Size Storage Systems

This paper provides a frame-layer method for controlling bit rate of compressed video data in real time. Our approach is easy to operate and can store encoded video data in real time without deteriorating the quality of an image. To provide ameliorated and consistent visual quality, a new concept named SOP (Set Of Pictures) and a new quantization parameter variation control algorithm based on a second-order rate-distortion model 〔2〕 are introduced. The total bit-budget is allocated efficiently to cope with unpredictable recording time by using the proposed algorithm and it is distributed to each frame. In the end, we show improved and consistent video quality with experimental results obtained from C-model of a MPEG-4 (simple-profile) encoder.