Wavelet Image Compression Workbench

Digital imagery is an increasingly prevalent in the computerized workplace; however, the increasing volume of this data is stressing storage and communications systems. One of the most competitive solutions to these stresses is wavelet-based data compression. A wide variety of wavelet image compression methods exists, and given an application, there is a need to compare different methods before defining the software solution. We propose to develop a Wavelet Image Compression Workbench to accelerate the prototyping, evaluation, and use of this new technology. This Workbench will integrate Aware's state-of-the-art wavelet image compression software into Adobe Photoshop, combining our expertise in wavelet methods with the analysis tools of a proven commercial-off-the-shelf image processing package. Our vision for Phase II involves the development of an automatic code generator that will produce Photoshop-independent software; thus a wavelet algorithm may be turned to a specific application with the Workbench and Photoshop, and then deployed as a standalone executable on a variety of platforms or inserted as a linkable library into larger products. This represents an innovation both in ease of prototyping and evaluation, and in ease of deployment for wavelet image compression.