Combined Source-Channel Coding of Images

A combined source-channel coding approach is described for the encoding, transmission and remote reconstruction of image data. The source encoder employs two-dimensional (2-D) differential pulse code modulation (DPCM). This is a relatively efficient encoding scheme in the absence of channel errors. In the presence of channel errors, however, the performance degrades rapidly. By providing error control protection to those encoded bits which contribute most significantly to image reconstruction, it is possible to minimize this degradation without sacrificing transmission bandwidth. The result is a relatively robust design which is reasonably insensitive to channel errors and yet provides performance approaching the rate-distortion bound. Analytical results are provided for assumed 2-D autoregressive image models while simulation results are described for real-world images.