Alpha coding of arbitrarily shaped objects for low-bit-rate MPEG-4

Ofer Hadar; Hagai Folkman

doi:10.1117/12.448198

12 November 2001 Alpha coding of arbitrarily shaped objects for low-bit-rate MPEG-4

Ofer Hadar, Hagai Folkman

Proceedings Volume 4518, Multimedia Systems and Applications IV; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.448198
Event: ITCom 2001: International Symposium on the Convergence of IT and Communications, 2001, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

This paper presents a new scheme for compact shape-coding which can reduce the needed bandwidth for low bit rate MPEG- 4 applications. Our scheme is based on a coarse representation of the alpha plane with a block size resolution of 8x8 pixels. This arrangement saves bandwidth and reduces the algorithm complexity (number of computations), as compared to the Content-based Arithmetic Encoding (CAE) algorithm. In our algorithm, we encode the alpha plane of a macroblock with only 4 bits, while we can further reduce the number of encoding bits by using the Huffman code. The encoding blocks are only contour macroblocks, transparent macroblocks are considered as background macroblocks, while opaque macroblocks are considered as object macroblocks. We show that the amount of bandwidth saving with representing the alpha-plane can reach a factor of 9.5. Such a scheme is appropriate for mobile applications where there is a lack of both bandwidth and processing power. We also speculate that our scheme will be compatible to the MPEG-4 standard.

Citation Download Citation

Ofer Hadar and Hagai Folkman "Alpha coding of arbitrarily shaped objects for low-bit-rate MPEG-4", Proc. SPIE 4518, Multimedia Systems and Applications IV, (12 November 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.448198

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available

Members: $17.00

Non-members: $21.00 ADD TO CART

PROCEEDINGS
8 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Get copyright permission Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace

KEYWORDS

Computer programming

Video

Binary data

Video coding

Opacity

Transparency

Visualization

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years