A B-tree based recursive technique for image coding

This paper describes an algorithm for image compression called B-tree triangular coding (BTTC). An image is considered as a discrete 3D surface, which is then represented by a set of polyhedrons. The image domain is partitioned into right-angled triangles constituting the polyhedrons´ bases. Each polyhedron is characterized by the vertices of its triangular upper face, near the approximated surface. During the approximation process the polyhedrons are organized into a B-tree that will be represented as a binary string; the B-tree´s leaves are the polyhedrons needed to restore the image during decompression. The computing time is O(nlogn) for compression and Θ(n) for decompression, where n is the number of pixels. Especially in decompression, this is a very fast method if compared to the standard techniques (e.g. JPEG)