Accurate distortion measurement for B-spline-based shape coding

In this paper, we present a new contour point distortion measurement, called accurate distortion measurement for B-spline-based shape coding (ADMBSC). Different from existing distortion measurements containing approximation, quantization or parameterization, our distortion is defined as the shortest distance from the original B-spline to the associated contour point. This is in line with the subjective-based objective quality metric. Geometric relationships are introduced to simplify computation, followed by a hybrid admissible distortion checking algorithm to reduce execution time. Theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate that when the operational rate-distortion optimal shape coding framework under the minimum-maximum criterion is applied, the ADMBSC can lead to the smallest bit-rate among all the distortion measurements that can guarantee the admissible distortion. Moreover, if the original contour has N_C points, it takes only O(N_C) time for segment distortion measuring paradigms, whose computational complexity is the same as the lowest one among the existing distortion measurements.