Multiresolution Vector Quantization Research Articles

Designing Optimal Multiresolution Quantizers with Error Detecting Codes

This paper investigates the design of optimal multiresolution vector quantizers for broadcast channels with cyclic redundancy checks (CRC). Given a CRC-coded broadcast system with multiresolution vector quantization (MRVQ), a closed-form formula for the weighted end-to-end distortion (EED) is first derived under random index assignment. The closed-form expression is then further utilized to identify necessary optimality conditions to minimize the EED, from which an iterative algorithm is proposed for quantization design. Experiments conducted under both the point-to-point and broadcast channels demonstrate that for a wide range of channel error probability, inclusion of CRC significantly reduces the EED without sacrificing bandwidth. Further analyses are conducted to determine the best tradeoff between bits allocated for source quantization and CRC error detection.

Multiresolution Vector Quantization

Multiresolution source codes are data compression algorithms yielding embedded source descriptions. The decoder of a multiresolution code can build a source reproduction by decoding the embedded bit stream in part or in whole. All decoding procedures start at the beginning of the binary source description and decode some fraction of that string. Decoding a small portion of the binary string gives a low-resolution reproduction; decoding more yields a higher resolution reproduction; and so on. Multiresolution vector quantizers are block multiresolution source codes. This paper introduces algorithms for designing fixed- and variable-rate multiresolution vector quantizers. Experiments on synthetic data demonstrate performance close to the theoretical performance limit. Experiments on natural images demonstrate performance improvements of up to 8 dB over tree-structured vector quantizers. Some of the lessons learned through multiresolution vector quantizer design lend insight into the design of more sophisticated multiresolution codes.

Multilevel Wavelet Feature Statistics for Efficient Retrieval, Transmission, and Display of Medical Images by Hybrid Encoding

Many common modalities of medical images acquire high-resolution and multispectral images, which are subsequently processed, visualized, and transmitted by subsampling. These subsampled images compromise resolution for processing ability, thus risking loss of significant diagnostic information. A hybrid multiresolution vector quantizer (HMVQ) has been developed exploiting the statistical characteristics of the features in a multiresolution wavelet-transformed domain. The global codebook generated by HMVQ, using a combination of multiresolution vector quantization and residual scalar encoding, retains edge information better and avoids significant blurring observed in reconstructed medical images by other well-known encoding schemes at low bit rates. Two specific image modalities, namely, X-ray radiographic and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have been considered as examples. The ability of HMVQ in reconstructing high-fidelity images at low bit rates makes it particularly desirable for medical image encoding and fast transmission of 3D medical images generated from multiview stereo pairs for visual communications.

Edge enhancement of images by multiresolution vector quantization

Edge enhancement is employed to improve visual perception of images that are unclear because of blur. In this paper, the point spread function is considered to be known, and a method of edge enhancement is proposed using wavelet expansion and vector quantization for multiresolution representation. With the proposed method, sharp images are prepared along with corresponding blurred images, and the local frequency characteristics are taught to a vector quantizer for subsequent edge enhancement. The local frequency characteristics are extracted from images by means of wavelet expansion and then classified and processed through the vector quantizer. Experiments with blurred images, including those with noise superposed, showed the proposed method to be efficient in edge enhancement and, at the same time, in noise suppression. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 82(1): 87–96, 1999

Multiresolution Vector Quantization for Video Coding

In this work, we propose a coding technique that is based on the generalized block prediction of the multiresolution subband decomposition of motion compensated difference image frames. A segmentation mask is used to distinguish between the regions where motion compensation was effective and those regions where the motion model did not succeed. The difference image is decomposed into a multiresolution pyramid of subbands where the highest resolution subbands are divided into two regions, based on the information given by the segmentation mask. Only the coefficients of the regions corresponding to the motion model failure are considered in the highest resolution subbands. The remaining coefficients are coded using a multiresolution vector quantization scheme that exploits inter-band non-linear redundancy. In particular, blocks in one subimage are predicted from blocks of the adjacent lower resolution subimage with the same orientation. This set of blocks plays the role of a codebook built from coefficients inside the subband decomposition itself. Whenever the inter-band prediction does not give satisfactory results with respect to a target quality, the block coefficients are quantized using a lattice vector quantizer for a Laplacian source.