Region oriented compression of color images using fuzzy inference and fast merging

A new region based lossy compression scheme for color images is proposed. The segmentation method belongs to the split and merge category. Splitting is carried out using the watershed transform. In the merging stage, a fuzzy color preserving rule-based system and a novel one-dimensional graph structure are introduced to provide accurate results with reduced computational complexity. The compression part is based on the Shape Adaptive DCT with ΔDC correction method. The quantization matrices used have been designed according to the properties of the employed transform. Promising perceptual results for the low bit rate range compared to previously reported compression methods have also been reported.