Scalar quantization error analysis for image subband coding using QMFs

The authors analyze the coding errors due to quantization by explicitly incorporating a mathematical model for a Lloyd-Max quantizer into a quadrature mirror filter (QMF) splitting and reconstruction scheme (P. H. Westerink et al., 1988). This approach explicitly incorporates quantization errors into a QMF system by means of a quantizer model. This makes it possible to discriminate between different types of coding errors, such as the aliasing error. Other errors that can be distinguished are a QMF design error, a signal error, and a random error, which is uncorrelated with the original image. Both a mean-squared error calculation and a subjective judgment of the coding errors show that the aliasing errors can be neglected for filter lengths of 12 taps or more. The signal error determines the sharpness of the reconstructed image, while the random error is most visible in the flat areas.< >