Generalized optimum dynamic bit allocation scheme for source compression

Dynamic bit allocation directly impacts the overall coding performance in block transform (e.g., DCT, Hadamard, etc.) coding, subband coding, and wavelet coding. In very low bit rate coding (such as the evolving MPEG-4 standard), additional factors impacting the bit allocation process need to be identified and properly exploited to achieve optimal coding performance. In the paper, a generalized optimum dynamic bit allocation algorithm is presented. The algorithm is based on the Shannon rate-distortion bound and a weighted distortion criterion using a Lagrange multiplier optimization technique. The results look promising for applications in real-time multimedia communications