3,430 research outputs found
Weighted universal image compression
We describe a general coding strategy leading to a family of universal image compression systems designed to give good performance in applications where the statistics of the source to be compressed are not available at design time or vary over time or space. The basic approach considered uses a two-stage structure in which the single source code of traditional image compression systems is replaced with a family of codes designed to cover a large class of possible sources. To illustrate this approach, we consider the optimal design and use of two-stage codes containing collections of vector quantizers (weighted universal vector quantization), bit allocations for JPEG-style coding (weighted universal bit allocation), and transform codes (weighted universal transform coding). Further, we demonstrate the benefits to be gained from the inclusion of perceptual distortion measures and optimal parsing. The strategy yields two-stage codes that significantly outperform their single-stage predecessors. On a sequence of medical images, weighted universal vector quantization outperforms entropy coded vector quantization by over 9 dB. On the same data sequence, weighted universal bit allocation outperforms a JPEG-style code by over 2.5 dB. On a collection of mixed test and image data, weighted universal transform coding outperforms a single, data-optimized transform code (which gives performance almost identical to that of JPEG) by over 6 dB
Optimal modeling for complex system design
The article begins with a brief introduction to the theory describing optimal data compression systems and their performance. A brief outline is then given of a representative algorithm that employs these lessons for optimal data compression system design. The implications of rate-distortion theory for practical data compression system design is then described, followed by a description of the tensions between theoretical optimality and system practicality and a discussion of common tools used in current algorithms to resolve these tensions. Next, the generalization of rate-distortion principles to the design of optimal collections of models is presented. The discussion focuses initially on data compression systems, but later widens to describe how rate-distortion theory principles generalize to model design for a wide variety of modeling applications. The article ends with a discussion of the performance benefits to be achieved using the multiple-model design algorithms
A segmentation-based coding system allowing manipulation of objects (sesame)
We present a coding scheme that achieves, for each image in the sequence, the best segmentation in terms of rate-distortion theory. It is obtained from a set of initial regions and a set of available coding techniques. The segmentation combines spatial and motion criteria. It selects at each area of the image the most adequate criterion for defining a partition in order to obtain the best compromise between cost and quality. In addition, the proposed scheme is very suitable for addressing content-based functionalities.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Graded quantization for multiple description coding of compressive measurements
Compressed sensing (CS) is an emerging paradigm for acquisition of compressed
representations of a sparse signal. Its low complexity is appealing for
resource-constrained scenarios like sensor networks. However, such scenarios
are often coupled with unreliable communication channels and providing robust
transmission of the acquired data to a receiver is an issue. Multiple
description coding (MDC) effectively combats channel losses for systems without
feedback, thus raising the interest in developing MDC methods explicitly
designed for the CS framework, and exploiting its properties. We propose a
method called Graded Quantization (CS-GQ) that leverages the democratic
property of compressive measurements to effectively implement MDC, and we
provide methods to optimize its performance. A novel decoding algorithm based
on the alternating directions method of multipliers is derived to reconstruct
signals from a limited number of received descriptions. Simulations are
performed to assess the performance of CS-GQ against other methods in presence
of packet losses. The proposed method is successful at providing robust coding
of CS measurements and outperforms other schemes for the considered test
metrics
Content Distribution by Multiple Multicast Trees and Intersession Cooperation: Optimal Algorithms and Approximations
In traditional massive content distribution with multiple sessions, the
sessions form separate overlay networks and operate independently, where some
sessions may suffer from insufficient resources even though other sessions have
excessive resources. To cope with this problem, we consider the universal
swarming approach, which allows multiple sessions to cooperate with each other.
We formulate the problem of finding the optimal resource allocation to maximize
the sum of the session utilities and present a subgradient algorithm which
converges to the optimal solution in the time-average sense. The solution
involves an NP-hard subproblem of finding a minimum-cost Steiner tree. We cope
with this difficulty by using a column generation method, which reduces the
number of Steiner-tree computations. Furthermore, we allow the use of
approximate solutions to the Steiner-tree subproblem. We show that the
approximation ratio to the overall problem turns out to be no less than the
reciprocal of the approximation ratio to the Steiner-tree subproblem.
Simulation results demonstrate that universal swarming improves the performance
of resource-poor sessions with negligible impact to resource-rich sessions. The
proposed approach and algorithm are expected to be useful for
infrastructure-based content distribution networks with long-lasting sessions
and relatively stable network environment
A vector quantization approach to universal noiseless coding and quantization
A two-stage code is a block code in which each block of data is coded in two stages: the first stage codes the identity of a block code among a collection of codes, and the second stage codes the data using the identified code. The collection of codes may be noiseless codes, fixed-rate quantizers, or variable-rate quantizers. We take a vector quantization approach to two-stage coding, in which the first stage code can be regarded as a vector quantizer that “quantizes” the input data of length n to one of a fixed collection of block codes. We apply the generalized Lloyd algorithm to the first-stage quantizer, using induced measures of rate and distortion, to design locally optimal two-stage codes. On a source of medical images, two-stage variable-rate vector quantizers designed in this way outperform standard (one-stage) fixed-rate vector quantizers by over 9 dB. The tail of the operational distortion-rate function of the first-stage quantizer determines the optimal rate of convergence of the redundancy of a universal sequence of two-stage codes. We show that there exist two-stage universal noiseless codes, fixed-rate quantizers, and variable-rate quantizers whose per-letter rate and distortion redundancies converge to zero as (k/2)n -1 log n, when the universe of sources has finite dimension k. This extends the achievability part of Rissanen's theorem from universal noiseless codes to universal quantizers. Further, we show that the redundancies converge as O(n-1) when the universe of sources is countable, and as O(n-1+ϵ) when the universe of sources is infinite-dimensional, under appropriate conditions
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