Fractal Image Compression Using Fast Context Independent HV Partitioning Scheme

A fast context independent HV partitioning scheme for fractal image compression technique of grey scale images is proposed. The proposed partitioning scheme partitions middle of range either horizontally or vertically to create to sub-ranges if the range is not covered well by any domain. The decision to select one of the two possibilities i.e. horizontal or vertical partitioning is done only by a simple checking which side of the range is larger than the other. It does not depend on the context of the range to compute the partitioning point that speed up the partitioning. One variant of the same is also proposed where the decision to select one of the two sides of range is done by computing the pixel value differences of the middle vertical lines and the middle horizontal lines and determining which is greater than other. The fractal image compression for grey scale image with the proposed partitioning schemes offer better compression rates than the quadtree partitioning scheme maintaining almost same compression times with improved PSNRs. Though the compression rates are not as well as offered by HV partitioning scheme, the proposed schemes are much faster than the same.