EMBEDDED WAVELET CODER WITH MULTISTAGE VECTOR QUANTIZATION

An embedded image coder based on wavelet transform coding and multista ge vector quantization (VQ) is proposed in this research. We have exam ined several critical issues to make the proposed algorithm practicall y applicable. They include the complexity of embedded VQ, design of th e successive vector quantizer, significance evaluation of a vector sym bol, and integration of wavelet transform coding and vector quantizati on. It is shown in experiments that the new method achieves a superior rate-distortion performance. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.