In model-based, or semantic, coding, parameters describing the nonrigid motion of objects, e.g., the mimics of a face, are of crucial interest. The facial animation parameters (FAPs) specified in MPEG-4 compose a very rich set of such parameters, allowing a wide range of facial motion. However, the FAPs are typically correlated and also constrained in their motion due to the physiology of the human face. We seek here to utilize this spatial correlation to achieve efficient compression. As it does not introduce any interframe delay, the method is suitable for interactive applications, e.g., videophone and interactive video, where low delay is a vital issue.