-------------------------------------------------------------- Elsevier Visual Communication and Image Representation Journal Special Issue on QoE in 2D/3D Video Systems --------------------------------------------------------------

Statement of purpose of this special issue

It is now widely acknowledged that the adoption of new multi-modal media necessitates mechanisms in order to assess and evaluate perceived multimedia quality. The problem of understanding and enhancing Quality of Experience (QoE) in complex, distributed and diverse environments has been and is continuing to be the subject of intense research investigation. Considerable efforts have been devoted to assessing QoE via objective or subjective means for new and emerging multimedia services (e.g. immersive multimedia, multimodal applications) over modern fixed/mobile devices (e.g. IPTV/HDTV/UHD/3DTV, video call, 3D smartphone, etc). However, controlling the QoE of these applications is difficult not only because of their high data rate. The combination of multiple media in a single application (multimodality) and the need to keep multiple media in synch across multiple parties means that the problem of capturing and controlling QoE becomes multi-dimensional and cannot be addressed through existing methods. Open questions that will be addressed include for instance: - How can we equalize the QoE perceived by different users in multimodal, immersive and multiparty applications? - How will it be possible to engineer a closed-loop, QoE management framework where the QoS-to-QoE mapping models are sufficiently accurate and stable? - How should data, media, network, control and application planes be orchestrated to maximize QoE / minimize resource consumption? - How can 2D (SVC, HEVC etc) and 3D Coding (MVC, MPEG Part C, etc) affect QoE?

With reference to 2D/3D video, research topics of interest include but are not limited to: - QoE evaluation methodologies and metrics (subjective, objective, online versus offline) - QoE Modeling and QoE-QoS Mapping - KPI and KQI for the QoE definition - QoE Control, Monitoring and Management strategies - Subjective evaluation methodology for 3D/multiview/free-view video, graphics, and augmented and mixed reality - QoE Methodologies for 3D - QoE for novel applications (immersive media, multimodal applications etc) - Standardization activities for QoE - New databases and validation (especially for 3D signals)

Schedule: Manuscript submission: April 30, 2013 Acceptance Notification: July 15, 2013 Final Manuscript Due: August 30, 2013 Publication: November 2013

Guest Editors Prof. Tasos Dagiuklas, Hellenic Open University, Greece Email: dagiuklas@eap.gr

Prof. Luigi Atzori University of Cagliari, Italy Email: l.atzori@diee.unica.it

Dr. Periklis Chatzimisios Alexander TEI of Thessaloniki, Greece Email: pchatzimisios@ieee.org

Prof. Chang Wen Chen University at Buffalo, State University of New York, USA Email: chencw@buffalo.edu

Prof Lin Weisi Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Email: WSLIN@ntu.edu.sg