Novel Distortion Estimation Technique for Hardware-Based JPEG2000 Encoder System

Optimal rate-control is an important feature of JPEG2000 which allows simple truncation of compressed bit stream to achieve best image quality at a given target bit rate. Accurate distortion estimation (DE) with respect to the allowed bit stream truncation points, is essential for the rate-control performance. In this paper, we address the issues involved in accurate DE for the hardware oriented implementation of JPEG2000 encoding systems. We propose a novel hardware efficient DE technique. Rate control based on the proposed technique results in a average peak signal-to-noise ratio degradation of only 0.02 dB with respect to the optimal DE technique used in the software implementations of JPEG2000. This is the best performance reported in comparison to existing techniques. The proposed technique requires only an additional 4096 memory bits per block coder which is 80% less than the memory requirements of optimal technique.