Interest in image compression for internet and other multimedia applications has spurred research into compression techniques that will increase storage capabilities and transmission speed. This tutorial provides a practical guide to fractal and wavelet approaches--two techniques with exciting potential. It is intended for scientists, engineers, researchers, and students. It provides both introductory information and implementation details. Three Windows-compatible software systems are included so that readers can explore the new technologies in depth. Complete C/C++ source code is provided, enabling readers to go beyond the accompanying software. The mathematical presentation is accessible to advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students in technical fields.

This book explains the stages necessary to create a wavelet compression system for images and describes state-of-the-art systems used in image compression standards and current research. It starts with a high level discussion of the properties of the wavelet transform, especially the decomposition into multi-resolution subbands. It continues with an exposition of the null-zone, uniform quantization used in most subband coding systems and the optimal allocation of bitrate to the different subbands. Then the image compression systems of the FBI Fingerprint Compression Standard and the JPEG2000 Standard are described in detail. Following that, the set partitioning coders SPECK and SPIHT, and EZW are explained in detail and compared via a fictitious wavelet transform in actions and number of bits coded in a single pass in the top bit plane. The presentation teaches that, besides producing efficient compression, these coding systems, except for the FBI Standard, are capable of writing bit streams that have attributes of rate scalability, resolution scalability, and random access decoding. Many diagrams and tables accompany the text to aid understanding. The book is generous in pointing out references and resources to help the reader who wishes to expand his knowledge, know the origins of the methods, or find resources for running the various algorithms or building his own coding system. Table of Contents: Introduction / Characteristics of the Wavelet Transform / Generic Wavelet-based Coding Systems / The FBI Fingerprint Image Compression Standard / Set Partition Embedded Block (SPECK) Coding / Tree-based Wavelet Transform Coding Systems / Rate Control for Embedded Block Coders / Conclusion

Computer analysis of images and patterns is a scienti c eld of longstanding tradition, with roots in the early years of the computer era when electronic brains inspired scientists. Moreover, the design of vision machines is a part of humanity’s dream of the arti cial person. I remember the 2nd CAIP, held in Wismar in 1987. Lectures were read in German, English and Russian, and proceedings were also only partially written in English. The conference took place under a di erent political system and proved that ideas are independent of political walls. A few years later the Berlin Wall collapsed, and Professors Sommer and Klette proposed a new formula for the CAIP: let it be held in Central and Eastern Europe every second year. There was a sense of solidarity with scienti c communities in those countries that found themselves in a state of transition to a new economy. A well-implemented idea resulted in a chain of successful events in Dresden (1991), Budapest (1993), Prague (1995), Kiel (1997), and Ljubljana (1999). This year the conference was welcomed at Warsaw. There are three invited lectures and about 90 contributions written by more than 200 authors from 27 countries. Besides Poland (60 authors), the largest representation comes from France (23), followed by England (16), Czech Republic (11), Spain (10), G- many (9), and Belarus (9). Regrettably, in spite of free registration fees and free accommodation for authors from former Soviet Union countries, we received only one accepted paper from Russia.

An exciting new development has taken place in the digital era that has captured the imagination and talent of researchers around the globe - wavelet image compression. This technology has deep roots in theories of vision, and promises performance improvements over all other compression methods, such as those based on Fourier transforms, vectors quantizers, fractals, neural nets, and many others. It is this revolutionary new technology that is presented in Wavelet Image and Video Compression, in a form that is accessible to the largest audience possible. Wavelet Image and Video Compression is divided into four parts. Part I, Background Material, introduces the basic mathematical structures that underly image compression algorithms with the intention of providing an easy introduction to the mathematical concepts that are prerequisites for the remainder of the book. It explains such topics as change of bases, scalar and vector quantization, bit allocation and rate-distortion theory, entropy coding, the discrete-cosine transform, wavelet filters and other related topics. Part II, Still Image Coding, presents a spectrum of wavelet still image coding techniques. Part III, Special Topics in Still Image Coding, provides a variety of example coding schemes with a special flavor in either approach or application domain. Part IV, Video Coding, examines wavelet and pyramidal coding techniques for video data. Wavelet Image and Video Compression serves as an excellent reference and may be used as a text for advanced courses covering the subject.