Space Limited Quadtree Based Fractal Image Encoder

This paper introduces a limited search based fractal image coding scheme which balances the reconstructed image fidelity and encoding time of the fractal encoder. The proposed technique utilizes the benefits of quad-tree (QT) partitioning scheme to improve the image fidelity. On the other hand, limiting the searching space with the maximum probable region of obtaining the best match, ensures total encoding time of a few seconds. Compared to the no-search approach, the proposed technique improves the image fidelity more than 5 db at improved encoding time and compression ratio. This approach, improves the encoding speed of the baseline FIC encoder more than 1000 times.