%0 Conference Paper
%A Minervini, Massimo
%A Tsaftaris, Sotirios A.
%B 2015 Visual Communications and Image Processing (VCIP)
%C Singapore, Singapore
%D 2015
%F eprints:3481
%I IEEE
%K Bit rate;Distortion;Encoding;Image coding;Optimization;Standards
%T Classification-aware distortion metric for HEVC intra coding
%U http://eprints.imtlucca.it/3481/
%X Increasingly many vision applications necessitate the transmission of acquired images and video to a remote location for automated processing. When the image data are consumed by analysis algorithms and possibly never seen by a human, tailoring compression to the application is beneficial from a bit rate perspective. We inject prior knowledge of the application in the encoder to make rate-distortion decisions based on an estimate of the accuracy that will be achieved when analyzing reconstructed image data. Focusing on classification (e.g., used for image segmentation), we propose a new application-aware distortion metric based on a geometric interpretation of classification error. We devise an implementation for the High Efficiency Video Coding standard, and derive optimal model parameters for the A-domain rate control algorithm by curve fitting procedures. We evaluate our approach on time-lapse sequences from plant phenotyping experiments and cell fluorescence microscopy encoded in intra-only mode, observing a reduction in segmentation error across bit rates.