Mesh-based motion estimation and compensation in the wavelet domain using a redundant transform

In this paper a technique is presented that incorporates an irregular triangle mesh into wavelet-domain motion-estimation and motion-compensation using a shift-invariant redundant wavelet transform. Triangle vertices are identified by a simple correlation operator locating image edges in the wavelet subbands, while motion compensation takes place through an affine transformation mapping triangles from one frame to the next. The motion-compensated residual is downsampled to a non-redundant form which is then coded using any wavelet-based still-image coder. Experimental results indicate that the combined approach outperforms either technique applied separately; in addition, the proposed method outperforms a variety of motion-estimation and motion-compensation approaches operating in both the spatial and wavelet domains.