A High-Performance Rate Control Algorithm in Versatile Video Coding Based on Spatial and Temporal Feature Complexity

Abstract

This paper presents a high-performance rate control (HPRC) algorithm for the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard that aims to achieve higher coding efficiency by considering spatial and temporal feature complexity. The HPRC algorithm differs from conventional rate control (RC) algorithms in that it uses an adaptive Canny operator (ACO) with a novel double-threshold algorithm to obtain the feature complexity of video content accurately. Moreover, an advanced bit allocation strategy at the frame-level and coding tree unit (CTU)-level is constructed to realize rational RC by thoroughly exploring the relationship between coding bits and complexity. To improve the precision of RC, an appropriate parameter updating based on the quasi-Newton algorithm is also proposed. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed HPRC algorithm outperforms the default RC algorithm in VVC Test Model (VTM) 18.0, with Bjontegaard Delta Rate (BD-Rate) savings of 8.77% and 10.34% under Low Delay-P and Random Access configurations, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm also shows performance enhancements compared to other advanced algorithms.