Image coding method and apparatus for localized decoding at multiple resolutions

The method generates a compressed digital image from a original image. The compressed digital image allows random access to portions of the compressed image at a number of resolutions. The original image is first transformed ( 103 ) by a multi-level DWT to form a non-redundant multiple resolution frequency domain representation of the image. The representation comprises a DC subband and a plurality of high frequency subbands arranged as levels, where each level represents a frequency contribution between adjacent resolutions and where each subband comprises a plurality of tiles. The DC subband is then entropy encoded ( 104 ) into the bitstream. The high frequency subbands are next entropy encoded ( 108,109 , and 110 ) into the bitstream in level order ( 105,113,114 ) and tile order ( 107,111 ).