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

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.