Template-based video coding with opacity representation

We describe an image coding scheme based on multiple templates for interactive audio-visual (AN) database retrieval. The image sequence to be coded consists of overlapping image planes with opacity information and depth ordering. In this method, each image plane is independently encoded to a different bit stream where each video object sequence is reconstructed from representative frames (i.e., templates) by global and local deformations. Owing to this coding scheme, the following new functionalities are supported: identification and manipulation of two-dimensional (2-D) video objects, selective decoding and browsing of visual contents, and very high compression efficiency. We have extended an MPEG1 coding software to an object-based coding software. Experimental results of the proposed scheme prove the above advantages.