Adaptive Companding of Picture Signals in a Predictive Coder

This paper describes a technique for varying the quantization characteristics in a Differential Pulse Code Modulation (DPCM) System. A multiplier, based on already transmitted picture elements (pels) which are spatially close to the pel being coded, is used to multiply the prediction error in a DPCM system. This multiplied prediction error is quantized by a fixed quantizer. Coarseness of quantization is thus dependent on the value of the multiplier, which is adjusted on the basis of the sensitivity of the human observers to quantization errors. The implementation is particularly useful in those cases where the quantizer outputs are coded using fixed length code words. Computer simulations on a variety of pictures indicate that a good quality picture can be produced by using a quantizer having between 8 to 10 levels and a two-dimensional predictor. Similar picture quality can be obtained by a simple nonadaptive previous element DPCM system having a quantizer with 13 to 16 levels.