Segmented video coding

A means of preserving the perceptually significant features of an image is to extract them by segmentation prior to coding. Distortion can be restricted to less important areas, such as fine detail and texture. This is the basis of several two-component and segmented image coding schemes. The technique is extended to video coding by applying segmentation to the frame difference signal. However, independent processing of each frame by this approach leads to inadequate portrayal of motion. An extension of the method, that incorporates guiding of the segmentation according to the history of the sequence, is developed. Results show a considerable improvement, suggesting that there may be further potential for the application of this approach in low rate video coding