Papers for

video streaming engineers

Papers whose findings have a practical use for this group, as judged from the abstract. Open a paper to read what it means in practice.

Diffusion model improves real-world image super-resolution with dual inputs

DNF-SR: Dual-Input and Negative-Aware Feature Fine-Tuning for Real-World Image Super-Resolution

Abstract: Benefiting from the powerful generative priors of diffusion models, diffusion-based real-world image super-resolution (Real-ISR) methods have demonstrated impressive performance.To achieve efficient Real-ISR, several recent works have designed one-step diffusion-based models.Howerver, unmediatedly feeding LR into a diffusion model creates a distributional gap with the model's original input.A straightforward approach to reduce the distribution gap is to introduce noise to the LR latents. However, directly adding noise inevitably corrupts the content of the LR images.In this study, we propose DNF-SR, a Dual-input and Negative-aware Feature fine-tuning method for Real-ISR.Specifically, we use a dual-input strategy that concatenates the original LR image with the noisy LR input and feeds them into a diffusion-based image editing model, ensuring both high-fidelity one-step super-resolution and improved perceptual and content consistency.Additionally, the noise present in the noisy LR input introduces randomness and diversity into the outputs. We exploit this property and propose a post-training optimization method, Negative-aware Feature Fine-Tuning (NF2T), which guides the model toward producing higher-quality results.NF^2T classifies multiple outputs into positive and negative subsets and then defines implicit policy improvement directions in both the image and feature spaces, thereby further enhancing the stability of the optimization.Extensive experiments show that DNF-SR outperforms other methods.Code will be released.

Mon 14 SeptComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition
The gist
Making low-quality images clearer and more detailed is hard, especially in one step. The authors found that feeding just a noisy low-quality image into a special AI called a diffusion model can mess up the details. So, they combined the original image with a noisy version and used a new technique to help the model learn which results are better or worse. This method helps produce sharper and more consistent high-resolution images in one step.
Open 2609.15120v1

New method improves sequential data compression balancing error and perception

Sequential Lossy Compression With Causal Conditional Perception

Abstract: In this paper, we study sequential lossy compression under a causal conditional perception criterion comparing source and reconstruction distributions given the same reconstruction history. For first-order Markov sources, we formulate the finite-horizon nonanticipative rate-distortion-perception function (NRDPF) with stagewise constraints and establish one-shot lower and upper bounds on the minimum variable-length sum rate using a strengthened strong functional-representation lemma (SFRL) and common randomness. For time-varying scalar Gauss--Markov sources under pointwise mean-squared error (MSE) and conditional squared Wasserstein-$2$ fidelity, we prove Gaussian optimality, derive a log-variance characterization, and obtain a closed-form solution that recovers the classical Gaussian nonanticipative rate-distortion function (NRDF) when perception is unconstrained and the classical Gaussian RDPF when the source is stationary and memoryless.

Tue 8 SeptInformation Theory
The gist
This paper looks at how to compress sequences of data (like audio or video) while keeping the compressed version looking or sounding close to the original in a meaningful way. The authors focus on compressing data step-by-step without looking ahead, ensuring the reconstructed data matches the perception of the original when considering the past data. They develop mathematical tools and formulas to find the best compression rate when trying to balance accuracy and how the output is perceived. Their approach applies to certain statistical models of data and includes exact solutions for Gaussian cases, extending known results in data compression.
Open 2609.08611v1