Real-time very low bit rate video coding with adaptive mean-removed vector quantization

This article examines very low bit rate video coding in real-time and software-only implementation on personal computers. The method discussed is based on frame replenishment with block coding using mean-removed vector quantization. No motion compensation is employed and the VQ codebook is small. Algorithms are developed to minimize the bit rate and to reduce the search complexity for the vector quantizer. The codebook is adaptive ensuring good overall quality encoding for head-and-shoulder image sequences. Results are provided for some test sequences and compared to some other state-of-the-art techniques.