Multi rate/resolution control in progressive medical image transmission for the region of interest (ROI) using EZW

Current progressive image transmission (PIT) systems can not control both bit rate and resolution constraints in images. Due to the partially localised nature of the wavelet transform, the value of any pixel in the image depends on only a small number of wavelet coefficients. Thus, it is possible to specify an arbitrary region of the image and prevent that region from being badly degraded during the compression process. This can be done by representing coefficients corresponding to those regions in the wavelet space more accurately. This is accomplished by multiplying those values by an arbitrary factor before applying the embedded zerotree wavelets (EZW) coding technique. The EZW algorithm is then effectively applied to, wavelet coefficients to refine and encode the most significant ones in the wavelet space. The information of the image is thus transmitted in several successive stages. It is shown that in a PIT system not only any region of interest (ROI) can be sent and received progressively, but also bit rate and resolution constraints can be controlled simultaneously. This option becomes very effective in interactive communication channels where the available bandwidth is at a premium.