On the spectral factor ambiguity of FIR energy compaction filter banks

This paper focuses on the design of signal-adapted finite-impulse response (FIR) paraunitary (PU) filter banks optimized for energy compaction (EC). The design of such filter banks has been shown in the literature to consist of the design of an optimal FIR compaction filter followed by an appropriate Karhunen-Loe/spl grave/ve transform (KLT). Despite this elegant construction, EC optimal filter banks have been shown to perform worse than common nonadapted filter banks for coding gain, contrary to intuition. Here, it is shown that this phenomenon is most likely due to the nonuniqueness of the compaction filter in terms of its spectral factors. This nonuniqueness results in a finite set of EC optimal filter banks. By choosing the spectral factor yielding the largest coding gain, it is shown that the resulting filter bank behaves more and more like the infinite-order principal components filter bank (PCFB) in terms of numerous objectives such as coding gain, multiresolution, noise reduction with zeroth-order Wiener filters in the subbands, and power minimization for discrete multitone (DMT)-type nonredundant transmultiplexers

Oversampling PCM techniques and optimum noise shapers for quantizing a class of nonbandlimited signals

We consider the efficient quantization of a class of nonbandlimited signals, namely, the class of discrete-time signals that can be recovered from their decimated version. The signals are modeled as the output of a single FIR interpolation filter (single band model) or, more generally, as the sum of the outputs of L FIR interpolation filters (multiband model). These nonbandlimited signals are oversampled, and it is therefore reasonable to expect that we can reap the same benefits of well-known efficient A/D techniques that apply only to bandlimited signals. We first show that we can obtain a great reduction in the quantization noise variance due to the oversampled nature of the signals. We can achieve a substantial decrease in bit rate by appropriately decimating the signals and then quantizing them. To further increase the effective quantizer resolution, noise shaping is introduced by optimizing prefilters and postfilters around the quantizer. We start with a scalar time-invariant quantizer and study two important cases of linear time invariant (LTI) filters, namely, the case where the postfilter is the inverse of the prefilter and the more general case where the postfilter is independent from the prefilter. Closed form expressions for the optimum filters and average minimum mean square error are derived in each case for both the single band and multiband models. The class of noise shaping filters and quantizers is then enlarged to include linear periodically time varying (LPTV)M filters and periodically time-varying quantizers of period M. We study two special cases in great detail

Results on optimal biorthogonal filter banks

Optimization of filter banks for specific input statistics has been of interest in the theory and practice of subband coding. For the case of orthonormal filter banks with infinite order and uniform decimation, the problem has been completely solved in recent years. For the case of biorthogonal filter banks, significant progress has been made recently, although a number of issues still remain to be addressed. In this paper we briefly review the orthonormal case, and then present several new results for the biorthogonal case. All discussions pertain to the infinite order (ideal filter) case. The current status of research as well as some of the unsolved problems are described

Bit rates in audio source coding

The goal is to introduce and solve the audio coding optimization problem. Psychoacoustic results such as masking and excitation pattern models are combined with results from rate distortion theory to formulate the audio coding optimization problem. The solution of the audio optimization problem is a masked error spectrum, prescribing how quantization noise must be distributed over the audio spectrum to obtain a minimal bit rate and an inaudible coding errors. This result cannot only be used to estimate performance bounds, but can also be directly applied in audio coding systems. Subband coding applications to magnetic recording and transmission are discussed in some detail. Performance bounds for this type of subband coding system are derived

Statistically optimum pre- and postfiltering in quantization

We consider the optimization of pre- and postfilters surrounding a quantization system. The goal is to optimize the filters such that the mean square error is minimized under the key constraint that the quantization noise variance is directly proportional to the variance of the quantization system input. Unlike some previous work, the postfilter is not restricted to be the inverse of the prefilter. With no order constraint on the filters, we present closed-form solutions for the optimum pre- and postfilters when the quantization system is a uniform quantizer. Using these optimum solutions, we obtain a coding gain expression for the system under study. The coding gain expression clearly indicates that, at high bit rates, there is no loss in generality in restricting the postfilter to be the inverse of the prefilter. We then repeat the same analysis with first-order pre- and postfilters in the form 1+αz-1 and 1/(1+γz^-1 ). In specific, we study two cases: 1) FIR prefilter, IIR postfilter and 2) IIR prefilter, FIR postfilter. For each case, we obtain a mean square error expression, optimize the coefficients α and γ and provide some examples where we compare the coding gain performance with the case of α=γ. In the last section, we assume that the quantization system is an orthonormal perfect reconstruction filter bank. To apply the optimum preand postfilters derived earlier, the output of the filter bank must be wide-sense stationary WSS which, in general, is not true. We provide two theorems, each under a different set of assumptions, that guarantee the wide sense stationarity of the filter bank output. We then propose a suboptimum procedure to increase the coding gain of the orthonormal filter bank

Results on principal component filter banks: colored noise suppression and existence issues

We have made explicit the precise connection between the optimization of orthonormal filter banks (FBs) and the principal component property: the principal component filter bank (PCFB) is optimal whenever the minimization objective is a concave function of the subband variances of the FB. This explains PCFB optimality for compression, progressive transmission, and various hitherto unnoticed white-noise, suppression applications such as subband Wiener filtering. The present work examines the nature of the FB optimization problems for such schemes when PCFBs do not exist. Using the geometry of the optimization search spaces, we explain exactly why these problems are usually analytically intractable. We show the relation between compaction filter design (i.e., variance maximization) and optimum FBs. A sequential maximization of subband variances produces a PCFB if one exists, but is otherwise suboptimal for several concave objectives. We then study PCFB optimality for colored noise suppression. Unlike the case when the noise is white, here the minimization objective is a function of both the signal and the noise subband variances. We show that for the transform coder class, if a common signal and noise PCFB (KLT) exists, it is, optimal for a large class of concave objectives. Common PCFBs for general FB classes have a considerably more restricted optimality, as we show using the class of unconstrained orthonormal FBs. For this class, we also show how to find an optimum FB when the signal and noise spectra are both piecewise constant with all discontinuities at rational multiples of π

Vector quantization

During the past ten years Vector Quantization (VQ) has developed from a theoretical possibility promised by Shannon's source coding theorems into a powerful and competitive technique for speech and image coding and compression at medium to low bit rates. In this survey, the basic ideas behind the design of vector quantizers are sketched and some comments made on the state-of-the-art and current research efforts

A Wavelet Visible Difference Predictor

In this paper, we describe a model of the human visual system (HVS) based on the wavelet transform. This model is largely based on a previously proposed model, but has a number of modifications that make it more amenable to potential integration into a wavelet based image compression scheme. These modifications include the use of a separable wavelet transform instead of the cortex transform, the application of a wavelet contrast sensitivity function (CSF), and a simplified definition of subband contrast that allows us to predict noise visibility directly from wavelet coefficients. Initially, we outline the luminance, frequency, and masking sensitivities of the HVS and discuss how these can be incorporated into the wavelet transform. We then outline a number of limitations of the wavelet transform as a model of the HVS, namely the lack of translational invariance and poor orientation sensitivity. In order to investigate the efficacy of this wavelet based model, a wavelet visible difference predictor (WVDP) is described. The WVDP is then used to predict visible differences between an original and compressed (or noisy) image. Results are presented to emphasize the limitations of commonly used measures of image quality and to demonstrate the performance of the WVDP. The paper concludes with suggestions on how the WVDP can be used to determine a visually optimal quantization strategy for wavelet coefficients and produce a quantitative measure of image quality