Most existing compression schemes treat the entire image uniformly. However, the background is much less critical than the foreground for sign language communication. A new algorithm is developed that gives priority to the foreground and sacrifices the quality of the background to achieve higher compression rates and higher foreground quality without compromising the frame rate. The algorithm is extended to use a dynamic region of interest defined by face and hand location. Results show that the frame rate and quality of the region of interest are higher than with uniform algorithms.
Signing is also expressive.
Body posture, facial expression, manner of articulation, etc., perform the same function in signed communication as prosody in speech. Sign language communication between remote individuals has been generally unavailable, due to a lack of affordable systems capable of transmitting two-way video. Instead, text systems such as TDDs were the only convenient choice for remote communication between hearing-impaired individuals. TDD is inferior to sign language in both rate and expressiveness. TDD speed is limited by typing ability, which results in slower communication than via signing.