Subband Compression of Images: Principles and Examples

Sixth in the book series, Advances in Image Communication, which documents the rapid advancements of recent years in image communication technologies, this volume provides a comprehensive exploration of subband coding. Originally, subband coding and transform coding were developed separately. The former, however, benefitted considerably from the earlier evolution of transform coding theory and practice. Retaining their own terminology and views, the two methods are closely related and this book indeed aims to unify the approaches. Specifically, the volume contributes effectively to the understanding of frequency domain coding techniques. Many images from coding experiments are presented, enabling the reader to consider the properties of different coders. Chapter 1 introduces the problem of image compression in general terms. Sampling of images and other fundamental concepts, such as entropy and the rate distortion function, are briefly reviewed. The idea of viewing coding techniques as series expansions is also introduced. The second chapter presents signal decomposition and the conditions for perfect reconstruction from minimum representations. Chapter 3 deals with filter bank structures, primarily those displaying the perfect reconstruction property. Quantization techniques and the efficient exploitation of the bit resources are discussed from a theoretical perspective in Chapter 4 and this issue is further examined in Chapter 6, from a more practical point of view. Chapter 5 provides a development of gain formulas, i.e. quantitative measures of the performance of filter banks in a subband coding context, and these are then employed in a search for optimal filter banks. A number of examples of coded images using different subband coders are presented in Chapter 7, these indicating that subband coders give rise to some characteristic types of image degradations. Accordingly, Chapter 8 presents several techniques for minimizing these artifacts. The theory and practice of subband coding of video, at several target bit rates, is discussed in the last chapter.

Preface. Introduction. Image Digitization. Image Compressibility. Practical Approaches to the Coding Problem. Exact Signal Decomposition. Series Expansion: Block Transforms. Series Expansion: Multirate Filter Banks. The PR Conditions and Biorthogonality. Extension of Finite Length Signals. A Design Method for FIR Filter Banks. Filter Bank Structures. z-Domain Notation. z-Domain PR Filter Bank Conditions. Polyphase Filter Bank Structures. Two-Channel Filter Banks. Tree Structured Filter Banks. Parallel Filter Banks. Bit Efficient Quantization. Scalar Quantization. Vector Quantization. Scalar Quantization and Mixture Distributions. Gain-Optimized Subband Coders. Gain in Subband Coders. Reformulation of the Optimal Subband System. System Quantizer Replaced by DPCM Coder. Lapped Orthogonal Transforms (LOTs). Classical Subband Coding. Subband Statistics. Scalar Image Subband Quantization. Extension to Colour Images. Coding Examples and Comparisons. Blurring Distortion. Ringing Noise. Blocking Distortion. Comparing Circular and Mirror Extension. Remedies for Coding Artifacts. Classification of Image Defects. FIR Filter Bands for Robust Coding. Subband Coding with Adaptive Filter Banks. Dynamic Entropy Coding. Subband Coding of Video. Approaches to Coding of Digital Video. Low-to-Medium Rate Coding. Medium-to-High Rate Coding. Appendices. Some Digital Signal Processing Facts. Allpass Filters. Anticausal Filtering. Multirate Digital Signal Processing. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Relation. Filter Coefficients. Johnston Filters. Two-Channel Filter Banks Based on Allpass Filters. Parallel Filter Bands Based on Allpass Filters. Parallel FIR Filter Banks. Original Images. Bibliography. Index.