Stereo image coding using multiscale recurrent patterns

A stereo image coding method using multiscale recurrent patterns is proposed. The method relies on the matching of recurrent patterns. The input image is segmented in variable-sized blocks. Each segment is coded by making use of contractions, expansions and displacements of elements of a dictionary. The segmentation is ruled by a rate distortion criterion and the dictionary is updated with the concatenation of previously coded elements. The novelty of this work is the absence of the disparity map in the stereo image coding process. That is, the burden of its calculation, the pre-and post-processing phases, the generation of the error images, as well as their coding and transmission are not necessary. In brief, the proposed method cuts off the load of the whole disparity estimation process yet presenting high-quality results at the decoder end.