title: An efficient compression scheme for 4-D medical images using hierarchical vector quantization and motion compensation.
abstract: This paper proposes an efficient compression scheme for compressing time-varying medical volumetric data. The scheme uses 3-D motion estimation to create a homogenous preprocessed data to be compressed by a 3-D image compression algorithm using hierarchical vector quantization. A new block distortion measure, called variance of residual (VOR), and three 3-D fast block matching algorithms are used to improve the motion estimation process in term of speed and data fidelity. The 3-D image compression process involves the application of two different encoding techniques based on the homogeneity of input data. Our method can achieve a higher fidelity and faster decompression time compared to other lossy compression methods producing similar compression ratios. The combination of 3-D motion estimation using VOR and hierarchical vector quantization contributes to the good performance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore 117576, Singapore. phubinh@nus.edu.sg
authors.forename: Binh P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Chee-Kong
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Chui
authors.forename: Sim-Heng
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000465:Algorithms; D001011:Aorta / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D001940:Breast / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D044962:Data Compression / Q000379:methods*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D013909:Thorax / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed