Q-wave: a flexible and low complexity quadtree wavelet encoder

Abstract

In this paper, the novel Q-wave algorithm for image coding is proposed. Q-wave, which provides progressive transmission, is designed with the aim of limiting the computational complexity at the expenses of a slight quality degradation with respect to popular coders such as SPIHT. It is particularly suitable for low bit rate compression, and is then promising for applications such as intraframe video coding, Internet browsing, image transmission over band-limited channels. Moreover, Q-wave can be applied also to non standard wavelet decompositions without modifications.