LCT-wavelet based algorithms for data compression

We present an algorithm that compresses two-dimensional data, which are piece-wise smooth in one direction and have oscillatory events in the other direction. Fine texture, seismic, hyper-spectral and fingerprints have this mixed structure. The transform part of the compression process is an algorithm that combines the application of the wavelet transform in one direction with the local cosine transform (LCT) in the other direction. This is why it is called hybrid compression. The quantization and the entropy coding parts in the compression process were taken from SPIHT codec but it can also be taken from any multiresolution based codec such as EZW. To efficiently apply the SPIHT codec to a mixed coefficients array, reordering of the LCT coefficients takes place. When oscillating events are present in different directions as in fingerprints or when the image comprises of a fine texture, a 2D LCT with coefficients reordering is applied. These algorithms outperform algorithms that are solely based on the the application of 2D wavelet transforms to each direction with either SPIHT or EZW coding including JPEG2000 compression standard. The proposed algorithms retain fine oscillating events including texture even at a low bitrate. Its compression capabilities are also demonstrated on multimedia images that have a fine texture. The wavelet part in the mixed transform of the hybrid algorithm utilizes the Butterworth wavelet transforms library that outperforms the 9/7 biorthogonal wavelet transform.