Modified cubic convolution scaler for multiformat conversion in a transcoder

Abstract

We derive a modified version of cubic convolution interpolation for the enlargement or reduction of digital images by arbitrary scaling factors. The proposed scaling scheme is used to resize various format pictures in the transcoding system, which transforms the bitstream compressed at a bit rate, such as the HD bitstream, into another bit rate stream, for example, the SD bitstream. The transcoding is performed in spatial domain. In many applications such as the transcoder, the resolution conversion is very important for changing the image size while the scaled image maintains high quality. The scaling process consists of two steps: fitting the original data with a continuous function, and resampling the function on a new sampling grid. We focus on the modification of the scaler kernel according to the relation between formats of the original and the resized image. In the modification, various formats defined in MPEG standards are considered. We show experimental results that demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed interpolation method. The algorithm exhibits significant improvement in the minimization of information loss when compared with the conventional interpolation algorithms. (C) 2004 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.