Rate-distortion optimized region-based video coder

In this paper, we present an efficient region-based video coding scheme. The region partioning is optimized according to a rate-distortion criterion in order to achieve constant bit-rate or constant quality. This optimization is led through a labeling for each image of an initial segmentation map using regions merging, regions´ label relaxation and quantization variation. Results obtained show the performance of this coding scheme compared to MPEG and H263 codecs.