ITERATIVE SPLIT-AND-MERGE ALGORITHM FOR VECTOR QUANTIZATION CODEBOOK GENERATION

We propose a new iterative algorithm for the generation of a codebook in vector quantization. The algorithm starts with an initial codebook that is improved by a combination of merge and split operations. By me rging small neighboring clusters, additional resources (codevectors) a re released. These extra codevectors can be reallocated by splitting l arge clusters. This process can be iterated until no further improveme nt is achieved in the distortion of the codebook. Experimental results show that the proposed method performs well in comparison to other te sted methods, including the generalized Lloyd algorithm (GLA) and two hierarchical methods. (C) 1998 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentatio n Engineers. [S0091-3286(98)01110-6].