LOSSY COMPRESSION III

Introduction

Compression in all the lossy schemes is achieved

through quantization.
The process of representing a large possibly
infinite set of values with a much smaller set is
called quantization

Example: Source generates numbers between -10.0

and +10.0 Simple scheme is to represent each
output of the source with the integer value closer to
it.

Introduction

Two types of quantization

Scalar Quantization.
Vector Quantization.

The design of the quantizer has a significant

impact on the amount of compression (i.e.,
rate) obtained and loss (distortion) incurred in
a lossy compression scheme

Scalar Quantization

Many of the fundamental ideas of quantization and

compression are easily introduced in the simple
context of scalar quantization.

Any real number x can be rounded off to the nearest

integer, say
Q(x) = round(x)

Maps the real line R (a continuous space) into a

discrete space.

Scalar Quantization

Quantizer: encoder mapping and decoder

mapping.

Encoder mapping

The encoder divides the range of source into a number

of intervals
Each interval is represented by a distinct codeword

Decoder mapping

For each received codeword, the decoder generates a

reconstruct value

Scalar Quantization

Encoder mapping: Divides the range of values that the

source generates into a number of intervals. Each interval is
then mapped to a codeword. It is a many-to-one irreversible
mapping. The code word only identifies the interval, not the
original value.

Codes

000 001
-3.0

010

-2.0

-1.0

011

100 101 110

0

1.0

2.0

111
3.0

input

Scalar Quantization

Decoder: Given the code word, the decoder

gives an estimated value that the source might
have generated.

Usually, it is the midpoint of the interval but a

more accurate estimate will depend on the
distribution of the values in the interval.

Mapping of a 3-bit Decoder

Input Codes

Output

000
001
010
011
100
101
110
111

-3.5
-2.5
-1.5
-0.5
0.5
1.5
2.5
3.5

Encoder Decoder Example

Scalar Quantization

Quantization operation:

Let M be the number of reconstruction levels

Q( x) y j

iff

bi 1 x bi

where the decision boundaries are

and the reconstruction levels are

bi

M
i 0

M
i i 1

Scalar Quantization

MSQE (mean squared quantization error)

If the quantization operation is Q

Q( x) y j

iff

bi 1 x bi

Suppose the input is modeled by a random variable X

with pdf fX(x). The MSQE is

M bi

i 1 b

q 2 ( x Q( x))2 f X ( x) dx ( x yi ) 2 f X ( x) dx
i 1

Scalar Quantization

Rate of the quantizer

The average number of bits required to represent a

single quantizer output
For fixed-length coding, the rate R is:

For variable-length coding, the rate will depend on the

probability of occurrence of the outputs
M

R li
i 1

bi

f X ( x)dx

bi1

Scalar Quantization

Quantizer Design Problem:

Given an input pdf fX(x) and the number of levels M in

the quantizer, find the decision boundaries {bi} and the
reconstruction levels {yi} so as to minimize the MSQE
(Mean Square Quantization Error)

q 2 ( x Q( x))2 f X ( x) dx

bi

( x yi ) 2 f X ( x) dx
i 1 bi 1

Scalar Quantization

Find the optimum partitions, codes and representation

levels

Given a distortion constraint, find the decision boundaries,

reconstruction levels, and binary codes that minimize the
rate, while satisfying the distortion constraint given above.

Given a rate constraint find the decision boundaries,

reconstruction levels, and binary codes that minimize the
distortion.

Uniform Quantizer

Simplest Quantizer
All intervals are of the same size say , except
for the two outer intervals.
ie., the decision boundaries are spaced evenly.
The reconstruction values are also spaced evenly,
with the same spacing as decision boundaries.
They are the midpoints of the decision
boundaries except in the outer intervals

Uniform Quantization of a Uniformly

Distributed Source

Uniform Quantization of a Uniformly

Distributed Source

Uniform Quantization of a Uniformly

Distributed Source
Summary:
If the distortion constraint is given as D*, then step size can
be calculated directly, since
2
D* = 12
M = (xmax xmin)/

If the rate constraint is given as R*, then M can be calculated,

hence can be calculated.
2
Then distortion is D = 12

Example Image compression

Assume Image pixels are uniformly distributed between 0

& 255.
1 bit/pixel [0,255] is divided into two intervals [0,127]
and [128,255]
Reconstruction levelsmidpoints of intervals {64, 196}.

2 bits/pixel Four intervals [0,64,128,196,255]

boundaries
Reconstruction levels {32,96,160,224}

UNIFORM QUANTIZATION EXAMPLE

UNIFORM QUANTIZATION EXAMPLE