Segmentation-based lossless coding of medical images
Liang Chi Shen, Rangaraj Mandayam Rangayyan · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1995
Lossless compression techniques are essential in archival and communication of medical images. However, there has been limited recent progress in lossless image coding. Algorithms available are either too complicated for fast implementation or suitable only for certain specific types of images. In this paper, a new Segmentationbased Lossless Image Coding (SLIC) scheme is proposed, which is based on a simple but efficient region growing procedure. This embedded procedure produces an adaptive scanning pattern for an image with the help of a very-few-bits-needed discontinuity index map. Along with this scanning pattern, the high correlation among image pixels is exploited by the method, and thereby an error image data part with a very small dynamic range is generated. Both the error image data and the discontinuity index map data parts are then JBIG encoded. In comparison with direct coding by JBIG, JPEG, adaptive Lempel-Ziv, and 2D Burg prediction pius Huffman error coding methods, the SLIC method performed better by at least 7% with ten 8-bit and 10-bit high-resolution digitized medical images. Keywords: segmentation, region growing, lossless compression, image coding, medical image