• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.197-209
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• 2002

If we reduce the number of vertexes to decrease bit rate in polygon-based shape coding, the distortion of approximated contour increases rapidly. On the other hand, if we reduce the distortion, the number of vertexes increases rapidly and many bits are required to encode the vertexes. To improve this problem, in this paper we propose the approximation vertex search method. The encoder in the proposed method searches the type of distortion patterns that is the most similar to the shape which polygon edge and contour segment form and then encodes it. And then, the decoder mathematically finds the approximated vertexes from decoded distortion pattern information. Therefore, the proposed algorithm results in encoding many vertexes at a low bit rate and having the smoother shape than conventional method. As shown in computer simulation, the proposed method has less distortion than conventional method. It costs less bit rate by $10{\sim}20%$ than conventional algorithm in same distortion.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics S
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• v.36S no.1
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• pp.70-80
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• 1999

In this paper, a new hierarchical image segmentation algorithm based on human visual system(HVS) characteristic is proposed which can efficiently reduce and control transmission information quantity without the degradation of the subjective and objective image quality. It consists of image segmentation based on mathematical morphology and region merging considering HVS characteristic for the pairs of two adjacent regions at each level of the hierarchy. Image segmentation is composed of 3-level hierarchical structure. In the region merging structure of each level, we extract the pairs of two adjacent regions which human vision can't discriminate, and then merge them. The proposed region merging method extracts pairs of two neighbor regions to be merged and performs region merging according to merging priority based on HVS characteristics. The merging priority for each adjacent pair is determined by the proposed merging priority function(MPF). First of all, the highest priority pair is merged. The information control factor is used to regulate the transmission information at each level. The proposed segmentation algorithm can efficiently improve bottleneck problem caused by excessive contour information at region-based very low bit rate coding. And it shows that it is more flexible structure than that of conventional method. In experimental results, though PSNR and the subjective image quality by the proposed algorithm is similar to that of conventional method, the contour information quantity to be transmitted is reduced considerably. Therefore it is an efficient image segmentation algorithm for region-based very low bit rate coding.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Broadcast Engineers Conference
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• 1997.11a
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• pp.49-53
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• 1997

본 논문에서는 평활한 완전 8방향 윤곽선을 부호화하는 법의 성능을 기존의 방법과 비교 평가한다. 평활한 완전 8방향 윤곽선은 majority filter를 이용하여 윤곽선에서 화질에 큰 영향을 미치지 않는 작은 돌출부분들을 제거함으로써 얻을 수 있고, 이의 효율적인 부호화 방법으로 2단계 움직임 보상 후 NDSC를 적용하는 기법이 소개되어 있다. 본 논문에서는 이러한 윤곽선 부호화 방법의 성능을 현지 MPEG4에서 검토중인 CAE와 비교하였다. 그 결과, 2단계 움직임 보상 후 NDSC를 적용하는 기법은 CAE에 비해 비트율을 7∼37% 감소시킬 수 있고, Dp, Dn 척도에서 본 distortion-bitrate 특성도 우수한 것으로 나타났다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics S
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• v.36S no.1
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• pp.81-92
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• 1999

In this paper, we propose a new image segmentation algorithm which can be use din object-based image coding applications such as MPGA-4. Since the conventional objet segmentation methods based on mathematical morphology tend to yield oversegmented results, they normally need a postprocess which merges small regions to obtain a larger one. To solve this oversegmentation problem, in this paper, we prosed a block-based segmentation algorithm that can identify large texture regions in the image. Also, by applying the watershed algorithm to the image blocks between the homogeneous regions, we can obtain the exact pixel-based contour. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm yields larger segments, particularly in the textural area, and reduces the computational complexities.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.28 no.3C
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• pp.239-247
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• 2003

This paper presents a dual-rate (2.4/4.0 kbps) Improved Harmonic-CELP(IHC) speech coder based on the EHC(Efficient Harmonic-CELP) which was presented by the authors. The proposed IHC employs the harmonic coding for voiced and the CELP for unvoiced segments. In the IHC, an initial voiced/unvoiced estimate is obtained by the pitch gain and energy. Then, the final V/UV mode is decided by using the frame energy contour. A new harmonic estimation combining peak picking and delta adjustment provides a more reliable harmonic estimation than that in the EHC. In addition, a noise mixing scheme in conjunction with an improved band voicing measurement provides the naturalness of the synthesized speech. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed IHC coder, the coder has been implemented and compared with the 2.0/4.0 kbps HVXC(Harmonic excitation Vector Coding) standardized by MPEG-4. Results of subjective evaluation showed that the proposed IHC coder and produce better speech quality than the HVXC, with only 40% complexity of the HVXC.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.30 no.11A
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• pp.1098-1103
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• 2005

The edge and contour information are very much appreciated by the human visual systems and are responsible for our perceptions and recognitions. Therefore, if edge information is integrated during extracting video objects, we can generate boundaries of oects closer to human visual systems for multimedia applications such as interaction between video objects, object-based coding, and representation. Most of object extraction methods are difficult to implement real-time systems due to their iterative and complex arithmetic operations. In this paper, we propose a VLSI architecture integrating edge information to extract video objects for precisely located object boundaries. The proposed architecture can be easily implemented into hardware due to simple arithmetic operations. Also, it can be applied to real-time object extraction for object-oriented multimedia applications.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics S
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• v.35S no.8
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• pp.68-76
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• 1998

In this paper, a new morphological image segmentation algorithm of hierarchical structure by binary split is proposed. It splits a region with the lowest quality into two regions using only two markers having the highest contrast. Therefore, it improves the quality of image with limited regions and reduces contour information which is not sensitive to human visual system, when compared with the conventional algorithm. It is appropriate to PSTN, LAN, and mobile networks, of which the available transmission bandwidth is very limited, because the number of regions can be controlled. And the proposed algorithm shows very simple structure because it doesn't need post processing to eliminate small regions and reduces much computation by using only structuring element of small size at simplification step of each hierarchical structure when compared with the conventional algorithm.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.562-567
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• 2009

As a key mechanism of the human emotion interaction, Facial Expression is a powerful tools in HRI(Human Robot Interface) such as Human Computer Interface. By using a facial expression, we can bring out various reaction correspond to emotional state of user in HCI(Human Computer Interaction). Also it can infer that suitable services to supply user from service agents such as intelligent robot. In this article, We addresses the issue of expressive face modeling using an advanced active appearance model for facial emotion recognition. We consider the six universal emotional categories that are defined by Ekman. In human face, emotions are most widely represented with eyes and mouth expression. If we want to recognize the human's emotion from this facial image, we need to extract feature points such as Action Unit(AU) of Ekman. Active Appearance Model (AAM) is one of the commonly used methods for facial feature extraction and it can be applied to construct AU. Regarding the traditional AAM depends on the setting of the initial parameters of the model and this paper introduces a facial emotion recognizing method based on which is combined Advanced AAM with Bayesian Network. Firstly, we obtain the reconstructive parameters of the new gray-scale image by sample-based learning and use them to reconstruct the shape and texture of the new image and calculate the initial parameters of the AAM by the reconstructed facial model. Then reduce the distance error between the model and the target contour by adjusting the parameters of the model. Finally get the model which is matched with the facial feature outline after several iterations and use them to recognize the facial emotion by using Bayesian Network.