Very low bit rate wireless video telephony using face coding

In this thesis a novel video telephony compression scheme is proposed, implemented and discussed. The scheme generates a talking head sequence from a head and shoulder video telephony sequence. The generated talking head mimics the facial expressions of the individual depicted in the head and shoulder input sequence. The scheme is based on model based coding and more specifically based on an eigenspace approach. The model which is used to represent the objects to be encoded is statistically derived as the principal components of a training sequence depicting the individual performing a wide range of facial expressions. The thesis introduces the concept of eigenfeatures as used in video compression and a method for encoding the facial expressions of the talking head as a number of coefficients defining a linear combination of the eigenfeatures. Using the proposed scheme acceptable video telephony can be achieved at data rates as low as 3-4 kBit/s. Acknowledgements First of all, my thanks go to my supervisors, Henrik Storm, for inspiration, ideas and support and Fredrik Kahl for ideas and support especially regarding the mathematically intensive parts. Also thanks to Johan Strömbeck and Karl-Anders Johansson for their endless stream of mostly good ideas. Especially thanks to Summus, Inc. (USA), Raleigh, North Carolina, for funding this project. Finally, thanks to all my colleagues at TAT Movide AB where most of my work has been performed.