A new algorithm for designing DPCM systems is proposed for image data compression. When transmitting images over noiseless channels, the distortion between the original and reconstructed images is primarily due to quantization noise. This is true when optimal predictor structures are employed. The quantization error becomes severe at low bit rates. This is due to the large quantization error being directly fed back into the predictor and used in subsequent estimation of future pixels. The DPCM scheme developed attempts to balance between non-optimal predictor designs and significantly reduced feedback effects due to quantization errors with the objective of maximizing reconstructed image quality. DPCM system performance using the algorithm is about 2.5 dB greater than that obtained from an optimally designed conventional system. In addition, the algorithm is robust. Thus, the DPCM predictor does not need to be re-designed using exact statistics of the input image data for each image to be transmitted.

Date Published: 1 June 1990
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 1244, Image Processing Algorithms and Techniques, (1 June 1990); doi: 10.1117/12.19534

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1244:
Image Processing Algorithms and Techniques
Robert J. Moorhead II; Keith S. Pennington, Editor(s)