Embedded image compression using the important-oriented-tree

Proposes a simple and efficient embedded image compression algorithm. For embedded image compression, the embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW) method was proposed by J.M. Shapiro (1993), but the EZW method needs a high bit rate to record and to arrange the significant locations in 2D image compression. To obtain a better bit rate and image quality, we propose a new method that is called the embedded important-oriented-tree wavelet (EIW). The EIW bit stream is obtained from the bit stream of the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) by using the correlation of the relative location between sub-band coefficients. By replacing the significant part of the EZW bit stream with the bit stream of the EIW, we don´t need to sort, and we can save a lot of bit rate. Simulation results showed that the proposed method obtains a better (lower) bit rate than the EZW method and also produces a fully embedded coding for 2D images