Compression of Medical Images using Progressive Coders

Wavelets are defined as mathematical functions that segment the data into different frequency levels. We can easily capture the fine and coarse details of an image or signal referred to as a subband. And it also helps in subband thresholding to achieve good compression performance. In recent days in telemedicine services, the handling of medical images is prominently increasing and it leads to the demand for medical image compression. While compressing the medical images, we have to concentrate on the data that holds important information, and at the same time, it must retain the image quality. Near-Lossless compression plays an essential role to achieve a better compression ratio than lossy compression and provides better quality than lossless compression. In this paper, we analyzed the sub-banding of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) using different types of wavelets and made an optimal selection of wavelets for subband thresholding to attain a good compression performance with an application to medical images. We used Set Partitioning In Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) compression scheme to test the compression performance of different wavelets. The Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Bits Per Pixel (BPP), Compression Ratio, and percentage of number of zeros are used as metrics to assess the performance of all the selected wavelets. And to find out its efficiency in possessing the essential information of medical images, the subband of the selected wavelets is further utilized to devise the near-lossless compression scheme for medical images.

Wavelet-based image compression is proving to be a very effective technique for medical images, giving significantly better results than the JPEG algorithm. A novel scheme for encoding wavelet coefficients, termed set partitioning in hierarchical trees, has recently been proposed and yields significantly better compression than more standard methods. The authors report the results of experiments comparing such coding to more conventional wavelet compression and to JPEG compression on several types of medical images.

We investigate the issue of efficient data organization and representation of the curved wavelet coefficients [curved wavelet transform (WT)]. We present an adaptive zero-tree structure that exploits the cross-subband similarity of the curved wavelet transform. In the embedded zero-tree wavelet (EZW) and the set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT), the parent-child relationship is defined in such a way that a parent has four children, restricted to a square of 2×2 pixels, the parent-child relationship in the adaptive zero-tree structure varies according to the curves along which the curved WT is performed. Five child patterns were determined based on different combinations of curve orientation. A new image coder was then developed based on this adaptive zero-tree structure and the set-partitioning technique. Experimental results using synthetic and natural images showed the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive zero-tree structure for encoding of the curved wavelet coefficients. The coding gain of the proposed coder can be up to 1.2 dB in terms of peak SNR (PSNR) compared to the SPIHT coder. Subjective evaluation shows that the proposed coder preserves lines and edges better than the SPIHT coder.

Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) is an effective image compression algorithm. SPIHT is a unique approach which transmits the values of the pixels indirectly to the coordinates. The packet coders in the images present a universal transform the framework in a constriction of the filter bank schema which is attained by the Space Frequency Quantization (SFQ) and the effective compression is achieved by the Huffman coding. The proposed scheme permits transformation in the joints and alterations in the discrete magnitude of the input image. Hence, coding performance is enhanced and the image is compressed without compromising the excellence of the image. MSPIHT is an enhanced algorithm that fits the requirement of medical image compression for storage and transmission of medical data. MSPIHT improves on the standard SPIHT in the encoding operation of wavelet coefficients to provide high quality images at low bit rates important in medical applications where accuracy is paramount. The modification is aimed at changing the set partitioning strategy by minimizing memory consumption rates, thus improving the compression ratio and speed. It also may be used at telemedicine where high image compression rate is required for the quick and efficient image transfer for diagnostics and consultations. Experimental results shows that the image compression scheme is improved with the SPIHT-SFQ based Huffman Coding scheme and it outperforms the current image compression algorithms.

The recent years have witnessed rapid strides in the use of cloud computing and its countless applications. A cloud can contain massive volumes of multimedia data in the form of images, video and audio. Cloud computing platforms confront challenges in terms of data confidentiality, message integrity, user authentication and compression. Multimedia data needs plenty of storage capacity. Consequently, there is a need for multimedia data compression to reduce data size. Compression techniques are quite reliable, offering benefits to organizations dealing with metasized data in the cloud. Compressing large quanta of data leads to superior utilization of cloud storage. Compression techniques can compress data used for storage and transmission, yet compression alone is inadequate because multimedia data shared should, of necessity, be secure. Therefore, both multimedia compression and security are mandatory in the cloud. The chief goal of this paper is to propose a new framework, comprising multiscale transforms, public key cryptography and appropriate encoding techniques, that performs joint medical image compression and image encryption in the cloud. Multiscale transforms play a lead role in image compression, and the ones discussed in this paper include wavelet, bandelet, curvelet, ridgelet and contourlet transforms. Wavelet transforms offer robust localization both in terms of time and frequency domains. Bandelet transforms offer natural images geometric regularity to help improve the efficiency of representation. Curvelet transforms handle curve discontinuities well, with ridgelet transforms being the core idea behind curvelets. Contourlet transforms capture smooth contours and edges at any orientation. The Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) algorithm is used to encrypt images to provide maximum security when they are being transferred. Encoding techniques involved in this paper comprise the Embedded Zerotree Wavelet (EZW), Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT), Wavelet Difference Reduction (WDR), and Adaptively Scanned Wavelet Difference Reduction (ASWDR). Performance parameters such as peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), mean square error (MSE), image quality index and structural similarity index (SSIM) are used for evaluation. It is justified that the proposed framework compresses images securely in the cloud.

Medical images must be compressed before transmission due to bandwidth and storage limitations. The set partitioning in hierar- chical trees (SPIHT) algorithm is an efficient method for lossy and loss- less coding of medical images. We propose some modifications to the SPIHT algorithm. It is based on the idea of the insignificant correlation of wavelet coefficients among medium- and high-frequency subbands. In this scheme, insignificant wavelet coefficients that correspond to the same spatial location in the medium subbands can be used to reduce the redundancy by a combined function proposed in associated with the modified SPIHT. In high-frequency subbands, the modified SPIHT pro- poses a dictator to reduce the interband redundancy. Experimental re- sults indicate that the proposed technique improves the quality of the reconstructed medical image in terms of both the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and the perceptual results over JPEG2000 and the original SPIHT at the same bit rate. © 2003 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engi- neers. (DOI: 10.1117/1.1578645)

Transform coding has been the focus of the research for image compression. In previous research, the Amplitude and Group Partitioning (AGP) coding scheme is proved to be a low complexity algorithm with higher performance, clearly one of the state-of-art transform coding techniques. However, the previous AGP is used along with the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and the discrete wavelet transform. In this paper, a different transform, the Lapped Orthogonal Transform (LOT), replaces the DCT in conjunction with the AGP. This is the first time LOT and AGP have been combined in a coding method. The definition and design of the LOT are discussed. An objective metric to measure the performance of transform, coding gain, is calculated for both the DCT and the LOT. The LOT has slightly higher coding gain than the DCT. The principles of the LOT based AGP image codec (LOT-AGP) are presented and a complete codec, encoder and decoder, is implemented in software. The performance of the LOT-AGP is compared with other block transform coding schemes: the baseline JPEG codec and the DCT based AGP image codec (DCT- AGP) by both objective evaluation and subjective evaluation. The Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) is calculated for these three coding schemes. The two AGP codecs are much better than the JPEG codec on PSNR, from about 1.7 dB to 3 dB depending on bit rate. The two AGP schemes have PSNR differences only to a small degree. Visually, the LOT-AGP has the best-reconstructed images among these three at all bit rates. In addition, the coding results of two other state-of-art progressive image codecs are cited for further comparison. One is the Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) algorithm with a dyadic wavelet transform, and the other is Tran and Nguyen's method with the generalized LOT transform. The AGP coding and the adaptive Huffman entropy coding of LOT-AGP are less complex and the memory usage is smaller than in these two progressive codecs. Comparing these three codecs, i.e. the LOT-AGP and the two progressive codecs in PSNR small only small differences in PSNR. SPIHT has about 1 dB higher PSNR than the LOT-AGP and Tran and Nguyen's method for the test image Lena. For the test image Barbara, the PSNR of the LOT- AGP is about 0.5 dB higher than that of the SPIHT and 0.5 dB lower than that of Tran and Nguyen's method. This low- complexity and high performance codec may provide a new direction for the implementation of image compression.

This paper describes a family of list-free tree-set scanning (LIFTS) algorithms, related to Shapiro's (1993) embedded zero-tree wavelet (EZW) coding and to Said and Pearlman's (see IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, vol.6, no.3, p.243-9, 1996) set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) algorithm. The principal advantage of the LIFTS algorithms is that they are parallelizable and require greatly reduced computational complexity and memory overhead, while nearly achieving the efficiency of SPIHT. The algorithms may be tailored to special requirements, such as transmission of a fully embedded bit-stream with sub-image refinement.

In this paper an adaptive variable degree-k zero-tree (AVDZ) algorithm is proposed for re-encoding of perceptually quantized wavelet packet transform coefficients of high quality wideband speech. Its performance is compared with two well-known schemes comprising: 1- Embedded Zero-tree Wavelet (EZW) and 2- The set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT). This comparison is carried out using the speech modified versions of these schemes. It is shown that the proposed AVDZ algorithm outperforms these methods by about 6–10% in coding efficiency and respectively 50% and 35% (on average) in total computation times.

Lossless compression schemes with progressive transmission capability play a key role in critical data storage, retrieval and transmission, when a large volume of data must be handled fast, without distortions, over large networks with limited bandwidth. Wavelet transforms present one such approach for the purpose of compression. Wavelet based compression methods, when combined with EZW (Embedded Zerotree Wavelet) and SPIHT (Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees) algorithms gives high compression ratio along with appreciable image quality which is very much necessary for huge database storage in Medical Centres and medical data transfer for the purpose of diagnosis. The Progressive quality of the compression methods facilitates the user to the best compressed image which does not have recognizable quality loss.In this study wide variety of CT and MRI (512x512) images are used to validate the usefulness of progressive property especially for telemedicine purpose where either single image or sequence of images are transmitted over computer networks at large distances so that they could be used in a multitude of applications.Our main goal is to compare different types of wavelets (Haar, db, Bior 4.4) for medical image compression because of the fact that there is no single wavelet, which will always provide the best performance.

This paper describes applying the Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) algorithm using a devised model to compress audio signals. It allows choosing the amount of compression based upon bit rate requirements. A threshold setting model, based on energy and frequency patterns of the signal is used to assist the SPIHT encoder set efficient threshold values, based upon the nature of the audio. It is thus adaptable to the nature of the audio as well as the bit rate requirement. The implementation can be used for storage as well as progressive transmission.

Image compression is an important task for image transmission and storage. Thus far many compression techniques have been developed, such as transform image coding, predictive image coding, Vector Quantisation (VQ) and so on. Of these compression techniques, the techniques based on transform coding and VQ have received considerable attention. Recently, hybrid schemes for effective image compression have gained enormous popularity among researchers. In this paper, we analyse a hybrid scheme combining Kohonen’s Self-Organising Feature Map (SOFM)-based VQ coding and Set Partitioning In Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) coding for compression of images (Rawat and Meher, 2009). The reconstructed image quality achieved after decoding depends upon the wavelet used in SPIHT. The effectiveness of the scheme for various orthogonal and biorthogonal wavelets for the hybrid scheme is tested in terms of Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Visual Information Fidelity (VIF).

The recent innovation in digital medical imaging techniques requires the development of high-performance storage and image transmission systems. The biggest problem in digital technology is voluminous amount of data generated. For example, a digital mammographic image of size 1024 × 1024 pixels with 8 bits per pixel requires 8.3 Mb for storing it in original form. Researchers in several studies have demonstrated the need for high rate compression algorithms for medical imaging applications. But the recently reported image compression results indicate that Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) is outperformed by scalar wavelets. However, it often fails to capture high-frequency information accurately. Interestingly, multiwavelet preserves high-frequency information in mammographic image and provides good energy compaction. The challenge still remains as to how one can better represent the signal for achieving the best compression. This paper proposes a solution to the above open problems using balanced multiwavelet-based image compression. The proposed scheme presents combination of two novel ideas: A coefficient reorganization suitable to balanced multiwavelet decomposition is used to regain the parent-child relationship. A block tree coding is used for compression and reconstruction of multiwavelet transformed image and thus the proposed scheme is called as Multiwavelet Block Tree Coding (MBTC). This approach yields the advantages of high energy compaction, PSNR, and a less number of bits for encoding. Balanced multiwavelet-based compression, with MBTC applied to a set of four mammographic images, achieves an average PSNR of 43.245 dB against the existing Set Partitioning In Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) algorithm which on an average achieves only 34.181 dB for 0.5 bpp bit rate and MBTC requires encoding bits of 45.565% less than SPIHT encoding.

In recent years there has been widely increase the use of digital media everywhere. To increase the use of digital media, there is a huge problem of storage, manipulation and transmission of data over the internet. These digital media such as image, audio and video require large memory space. So it is necessary to compress the digital data to require less memory space and less bandwidth to transmission of data over network. Image compressions techniques are used to compress the data for reduce the storage requirement. It plays an important role for transfer of data such as image over the network. Two methods are used in this paper on Barbara image. This compression study is performed by using Set Partitioning In Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) and Embedded Zero tree Wavelet (EZW) compression techniques. There are many parameters are used to compare this techniques. Mean Square Error (MSE), Pick Signal to Noise Ration (PSNR) and Compression Ratio (CR) are used at different level of decompositions.

In this paper, a novel scheme for the accelerated analysis of quad-trees in the discrete wavelet spectrum of a digital image is proposed. During the pre-scanning step, the proposed scheme generates objective and specially structured binary codes for the whole set of quad-tree roots (wavelet coefficients) and thereby accumulates facts on the significance of respective descendants (wavelet coefficients comprising quad-trees on the view). The developed scheme can be successfully applied to any zero-tree based image coding procedure, such as the embedded zero-tree wavelet (EZW) algorithm of Shapiro and set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) by Said and Pearlman. Exceptionally high performance of the proposed quad-tree analysis scheme, in the sense of image encoding times, is demonstrated using the EZW algorithm and the discrete Le Gall wavelet transform.