Motion Analysis for Image Sequence Coding

Motion Analysis for Image Sequence Coding

G. Tziritas, University of Crete, Computer Science Department, Heraklion, Crete, Greece and
C. Labit, IRISA/INRIA, Campus de Beaulieu, Rennes, France,
Elsevier, 1994.

Included in series : Advances in Image Communication

Contents

Foreword. Contents. List of Figures. List of Tables.
Introduction to Image Sequence Coding. Digital picture sequences. Transmission and storage systems. Extraction and exploitation of inter-frame correlations. Types of compression methods. Coding and motion. Plan of the book. Appendices. Bibliography.
Perception of Time-Varying Images. Introduction. Modelling aspects. Principal results in the visual analysis of motion. Motion perception by selective filters. Motion perception and application to coding schemes. Conclusion. Appendices. Bibliography.
Two-Dimensional Motion Analysis. 2-D velocity field and optical flow. Curvilinear domain. Two-dimensional domain. Appendices. Bibliography.
Motion-Compensated Predictive Coding. A note on predictive coding. Rate-distortion function. Motion-compensated prediction. Quantization of the prediction error. Information encoding. Channel errors. Appendices. Bibliography.
Hybrid Coding: Motion Compensation and Orthogonal Transformation. Rate-distortion function. Quantization of transform coefficients. Data encoding. Channel error. Appendix. Bibliography.
Multigrid Motion Estimation Schemes and Subband Coding. Introduction to multigrid schemes. Decomposition into subbands. Multiscale motion estimation. Multigrid motion estimation on low-pass pyramids. Multiband motion estimation on bandpass pyramids. Subband coding and motion compensation. Performance of a subband coding and motion scheme compensation. Conclusion. Appendices. Bibliography.
Motion-Compensated Image Interpolation. Temporal interpolation error. Rate-distortion function. Motion estimation for interpolation. Bibliography.
Motion and Structure. Application to Feature-Oriented Coding. Models and descriptors of 3-D motions. Estimation methods in the monocular case. Motion estimation methods in the binocular case. Bibliography.
Applications and Standards. Principle applications in image sequence compression. Coding/decoding standards. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.

Description

 This volume is the fourth in the book series, Advances in Image Communication, a series dedicated to exploring the rapidly evolving, multidisciplinary field of image communications. Each publication stands alone as a state-of-the-art reference work in its particular area of expertise. It also forms an integral part of the comprehensive overview of developments across the field, which the series offers as a whole.

Motion Analysis for Image Sequence Coding documents the technical advances made through the years in dealing with motion in image sequences - from straightforward coarse approaches to complicated algorithms. It is timely because of the unprecedented effort which is made to establish a set of international standards for the digital compression of moving pictures and television signals. These standards rely heavily on motion estimation and compensation techniques and will be exploited on a large scale in multimedia applications as well as in intelligent systems. The book will be of prime importance, not only to active engineers and researchers in the field, but also by serving as a basic educational tool.

Foreword

By Maurice Bellanger, Professor at CNAM Paris

Intelligent systems are entering all technical fields. Gathering information from their environment and taking into account the experience they have learnt from past situations, they are able to make decisions and successfully perform more and more complex tasks. It is a major trend for science and industry, which is enabled by the staggering progress made by electronics technology, at the end of this century, combined with remarkable advances in devising and mastering complex algorithms.

Among the techniques which are widely used in intelligent systems, for example in robotics, transportation or entertainment, computer vision holds a special position, very much like the vision for humans. Processing images and image sequences to extract pertinent information or to condense and store relevant data is a basic function which crucially impacts the system performance and determines its potential. Therefore, it is not surprising to observe that image processing has been a very active research area for several decades. But, the novelty is that the progress in algorithms can now be better exploited than ever, using integrated circuits which have a huge processing power, expressed for example in hundrends of megaflops or in gigaflops, and large memories.

A particularly important segment of image processing, for intelligent systems but also for many other applications, is motion analysis, estimation and compensation. In fact, motion is a key information, which has to be accurately determined and carefully exploited in many different circumstances.

Along the years, techniques to deal with motion in image sequences have grown in sophistication, from straightforward coarse approaches to complicated algorithms, and the need to bring together the knowledge in the field and have a comprehensive presentation has become more and more urgent. The book by George Tziritas and Claude Labit exactly fullfils that need: it provides a clear, up-to-date and well documented and organized coverage of the field. It is also extremely timely, because of the unprecedented effort which is made to work out a set of international standards for the digital compression of moving pictures and television signals. These standards make a great use of motion estimation and compensation techniques, and they are going to be exploited on a large scale in multimedia applications as well as in intelligent systems.

The book by George Tziritas and Claude Labit is an important addition to the scientific literature. It can be used for education as well as engineering and research, and it will undoubtedly contribute to the development of imaging technology and its numerous applications.

February 1994