Complexity Reduction and Fast Algorithm for 2-D Integer Discrete Wavelet Transform Using Symmetric Mask-Based Scheme

Wavelet coding has been shown to be better than discrete cosine transform (DCT) in image/video processing. Moreover, it has the feature of scalability, which is involved in modern video standards. This work presents novel algorithms, namely 2-D symmetric mask-based discrete wavelet transform (SMDWT), to improve the critical issue of the 2-D lifting-based discrete wavelet transform (LDWT), and then obtains the benefit of low latency, high-speed operation, and low temporal memory. The SMDWT also has the advantages of high-performance embedded periodic extension boundary treatment, reduced complexity, regular signal coding, short critical path, reduced latency time, and independent subband coding processing. Moreover, the 2-D lifting-based DWT performance can also be easily improved by exploiting appropriate parallel method inherently in SMDWT. Comparing with the normal 2-D 5/3 integer lifting-based DWT the proposed method significantly improves lifting-based latency and complexity in 2-D DWT without degradation in image quality. The algorithm can be applied to real-time image/video applications, such as JPEG2000, MPEG-4 still texture object decoding, and wavelet-based Scalable Video Coding (SVC).