Robust motion estimation and multistage vector quantisation for sequence compression

Motion prediction and spatial coding are the two main techniques used to construct algorithms for image sequence compression. We present an approach which merges a robust motion estimation technique, based on the Hough transform and robust statistics, with multiple stage vector quantization. MSVQ uses global optimization and multipath searching. The algorithm is capable of segmenting multiple motions and uses line segments to code real motion boundaries. This significantly improves the subjective quality of coded sequence on the motion edges. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve better PSNR without the increase in bitrate