Enhancing whole-frame error concealment with an intra motion vector estimator in H.264/AV

The novel H.264/AVC video coding specification [1] provides a significant improvement in terms of coding efficiency compared to previous standards. In certain streaming scenarios the problem of a whole-frame loss concealment can arise when using H.264/AVC. Two different algorithms have been proposed to conceal a lost image basing on the optical flow concept. In a real streaming scenario, an encoder usually introduce some kind of intra refresh policy that can put in troubles concealment algorithms leaving gaps in the motion vector field used for reference. In this paper we discuss the advantages of introducing a motion vector estimator for such intra coded regions.