A novel hierarchical coding scheme based on polar mass distribution

A novel method for coding arbitrarily shaped binary objects is presented. The main idea is expressing the binary object in terms of radial closed curves, that is, closed curves for which radius versus angle is a function. These functions and the simple rules for combining them uniquely represent the object. The data compaction property of the method and the flexibility of the introduced loss are shown. Experimental results are presented, with a comparison to G3 fax standard. Possible application areas are discussed.