A Further Investigation of Max's Algorithm for Optimum Quantization

Although Max's algorithm is frequently thought of as a simple and adequate method for the design of scalar minimum mean squared error quantizers, there are two tactical problems associated with this iterative scheme: the initialization and the updating of the algorithm. This paper proposes easy and efficient solutions to these problems. A straightforward method for obtaining good initial conditions for three common input densities is presented. Also, an efficient technique for updating the algorithm for a wide class of input densities is given.