Wavelet-based Image Compression

By: Heriniaina Andrianirina Akakpo Agbago University of Ottawa March,12 2002 This report was prepared for Professor L. Orozco-Barbosa in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the course ELG4183 #1817662 #1817699

Overview

Introduction. What is wavelet compression ? Compressing still images. Compressing video. Applications. Discussion. Trends. Conclusion.

Introduction

During the past years, there has been

tremendous increase in user demand for multimedia content.

Multimedia content takes up a lot of

storage space and bandwidth:

A truecolor 512x512 image would take 0.75

Mbyte of space.

One second of NTSC colour video takes

Hence, we need to compress images and

video.

about 23 Mbytes ! [1]

What is wavelet compression?

Wavelet is a transform just like Fourier,

DCT, Laplace, etc...

It is the newest compression technology

available on consumer market [2].

It performs better than existing

techniques in this area: it achieves better quality and higher compression ratios.

It has many applications in digital signal

processing.

Compressing still images (1)

Image compression techniques operate

by removing redundancy and details not perceived by the human eye .

Compression is achieved by keeping only

the most significant wavelet coefficients (lossy compression).

Compression algorithm allows

progressive transmission: most important information transmitted first.

Compressing still images (2)

Wavelet compression is applied on an [3]

quality and suppresses the blocky artefacts found in JPEG. JPEG at high compression rates.

Wavelet gracefully degrades the image [4]

image as a whole , unlike DCT based transforms.

This results in better performance than

Wavelet-based algorithms compress
images up to 200 times with no appreciable degradation in quality [5]

Comparison with JPEG

Fig 1: Images compressed with DWT and JPEG

Left image uses Discrete Wavelet Transform, right image uses JPEG. Both images have compression ratio of 100:1 [1]

Compressing video

Compression takes advantage of interframe redundancy: successive frames have very little differences.

Video compression and transmission

over heterogeneous networks requires:

Scalability. Packet loss and error resilience. Low delay in real-time situation. Low Jitter.

Compression techniques

Two ways to achieve compression:

Compute the difference between two successive
frames and encode the residual frame: similar to MPEG, results in peaks during transmission.

Use 3-D wavelet transforms on a group of frame:

The most popular algorithms are:

3D-SPIHT: Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees. 3D-IEZW: Improved Embedded Zero-tree

don't use motion compensation.

Achieves better results than MPEG-2

coding.

Scalability
These "embedded" codes achieve scalability
and robustness.

Coefficients transmitted progressively: First bits

provide a coarse description of a frame.

The image is refined as coefficients are received. response to changing network conditions [6].

It allows precise bit rate control by sender in Temporal and spatial scalability.

Comparison with MPEG-2 (1)

MPEG Flower Mobile Football Tennis 26.10 25.59 29.74 28.87 Waveletbased 27.83 27.61 30.54 29.85 Avg. Bit Rate (bpp) 0.625 0.797 0.266 0.219

Table 1: Comparison of PSNR of video compressed with MPEG and wavelet [1]

Comparison with MPEG-2 (2)

Fig 2: Left video uses 3D wavelet with a GOF of 16 frames, right video uses MPEG-2. Both have bit rate of 0.2 bpp

Applications Storage of fingerprints by the FBI[7]. Medical imaging. Alternates for current image compression
standards used on the internet. Video surveillance industry: hardware solutions Real-time video applications: video conferencing, video on demand. E.g.: VDOLive. Video Broadcasting. Image restoration and denoising.

 Advantages:

Discussion

Scalability and error resilience. Better quality at high compression rates. Simple algorithm: easy to implement with
hardware. Precise rate control.

Disadvantages:

3D wavelet algorithms introduce additional delay

and needs relatively large buffer. Software playback takes time. Currently all solutions are proprietary: no standards.

Some trends

Wavelet compression has been well

accepted in the field of video and image compression.

It is expected to become a widespread

technique.

Large companies are interested. JPEG 2000 is a big step towards

standardization [5].

Wireless video transmission [8].

Conclusion

Wavelet-based image compression is a

new buzz technology.

It outperforms current formats used on

the internet (JPEG, MPEG-2).

It is well suited for image and video

transmission over the internet.

It is expected to become the next

generation image compression standard.

Questions (1)
What is wavelet-based image compression?
Wavelet compression uses wavelet transform to compress images. Wavelet is a transform similar to Fourier, Laplace and DCT transforms. It achieves better performance than existing image-compression standards.

What is embedded code as explained here?

Embedded code packs the most important data at the beginning of a bit stream, further data refines the image. It can be truncated at any point and the decoder will be able to construct an image from it.

What is the most important advantage of wavelet-based image compression?

It is its scalability. The use of embedded code allows the sender to control precisely the transmission rate and therefore the image quality in order to adapt to changing network conditions.

Questions (2)
What are the applications of wavelet image compression?
- Real-time video transmission over the internet: video on demand, video conferencing. - Video surveillance. - Medical imaging.

- Storage of fingerprints.
- Video Broadcasting.

What is the main obstacle for widespread use of wavelet now?

The main obstacle is the lack of standards. All solutions are proprietary and incompatible with one another.

References
[1] Lee, K.; Park, S,; Suh, W. Wavelet-based Image and Video Compression. TCOM 502, April, 1997. http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~ksl/Classes/TCOM502/Wavelets/ [2] Loronix Information Systems, Inc. Wavelet technology: The next generation Digital video compression. 2002. http://www.loronix.com/solutions/whitepapers/wavelet.asp [3] Lee, T. Wavelet history. Wavelet Technology Marketing Ltd. December, 1995. http://www.wavestore.com/wavelet-history.html [4] gren, M. Wavelet methods for image and video transmission. Telia Research AB. http://www.itm.se/NTM/Annual_Report/ar_1997/GEP/ExPr/MatsOgren.html [5] Johnson, R. C. JPEG2000 wavelet compression spec approved. December 29, 1999. http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG19991228S0028 [6] Kim, B.; Pearlman, W. A.. An embedded wavelet Video Coder Using Threedimensional set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT). Department of electrical, computer and systems engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180. [7] Brislawn, K. The FBI Fingerprint Image Compression Standard. July 12, 1996. http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~brislawn/FBI/FBI.html [8] Pedagog integrates LuraTechs wavelet compression to enable worlds first video surveillance over mobile phone networks. Pedagog Ltd. http://www.luratech.com/company/press/pressreleases/000807LuraTechPedagog. doc