Iterative motion-based segmentation for object-based video coding

In this paper a new iterative motion-based segmentation algorithm is presented for object-based video coding. At first, dense motion fields between image pairs are obtained by a multiresolution motion estimation algorithm. Based on these motion fields a set of global motion vectors are determined by an iterative vector quantisation procedure. Using the global motion vectors, the images are segmented into homogenous regions. Covered and uncovered areas of the background and objects are properly recognized by examining two consecutive motion fields. Experimental results for artificial as well for real-life video have shown that the proposed algorithm results in good quality segmentation label fields while it requires only moderate computations.