Progressive image coding based on visually important features

A novel scalable coding scheme is proposed in which wavelet transform is used to induce a multiple resolution framework for progressive coding. The proposed algorithm corresponds well to human visual characteristics. In particular, our proposed algorithm would display visually important information, such as edges first, with visually not-so-important information displayed progressively. A common problem with edge-based coding is the high bit rate. We propose a way to make a compromise between the high bit rate and the skeleton coding idea. As simulation results show, the shape of an image can be recognized with only one or two decoded skeleton flames, i.e., bit rates under 0.05. This is important for image browsing application as images can be recognized with a low bit rate. Also, the accurate coding of edges facilitates the motion estimation in video coding. Therefore, the proposed algorithm has great potential in both image and video coding.