The source picture timing SEI message in the VSEI standard

Sean McCarthy, Gary J. Sullivan, Peng Yin

Abstract: The source picture timing information (SPTI) supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message indicates to a receiver the actual temporal distance between source pictures in a manner independent from the output timing of corresponding decoded pictures. The SPTI SEI message can also be used to indicate that a coded picture corresponds to a synthetically generated picture rather than an original source picture. The SPTI SEI message has been agreed to be included in the next version of the versatile supplemental enhancement information (VSEI) standard for use with various video coding standards including VVC, HEVC, and AVC. In this paper, the history, syntax, semantics, and several use cases of the SPTI SEI message are described. Example use cases include high-speed imaging, variable-rate source pictures, event-driven image capture, time-lapse video, time-reverse video, frame rate conversion, motion analysis, and machine analysis for scientific, industrial, and forensic applications.