Near-Lossless Image Compression Based on Maximization of Run Length Sequences

In this paper an algorithm is proposed which performs near-lossless image compression. For each pixel in a row of the image a group of value-states are considered, which have values close to that of the pixel. A trellis is constructed for every row of the image where the nodes of the trellis are the states of the pixels of that row. The goal of the algorithm is to find a path on this trellis that creates a sequence which can be efficiently coded using run length encoding (RLE). For sections of the pixels of the row that suitable RLE cannot be achieved then minimization of the entropy is employed to complete a path on the trellis. The application of the algorithm to a wide range of standard images shows that the scheme, while having low computational complexity, is competitive with other near-lossless image compression methods.