The limitations of commonly used separable extensions of one-dimensional transforms, such as the Fourier and wavelet transforms, in capturing the geometry of image edges are well known. In this paper, we pursue a "true" two-dimensional transform that can capture the intrinsic geometrical structure that is key in visual information. The main challenge in exploring geometry in images comes from the discrete nature of the data. Thus, unlike other approaches, such as curvelets, that first develop a transform in the continuous domain and then discretize for sampled data, our approach starts with a discrete-domain construction and then studies its convergence to an expansion in the continuous domain. Specifically, we construct a discrete-domain multiresolution and multidirection expansion using nonseparable filter banks, in much the same way that wavelets were derived from filter banks. This construction results in a flexible multiresolution, local, and directional image expansion using contour segments, and, thus, it is named the contourlet transform. The discrete contourlet transform has a fast iterated filter bank algorithm that requires an order N operations for N-pixel images. Furthermore, we establish a precise link between the developed filter bank and the associated continuous-domain contourlet expansion via a directional multiresolution analysis framework. We show that with parabolic scaling and sufficient directional vanishing moments, contourlets achieve the optimal approximation rate for piecewise smooth functions with discontinuities along twice continuously differentiable curves. Finally, we show some numerical experiments demonstrating the potential of contourlets in several image processing applications.

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The contourlet transform: an efficient directional multiresolution image representation

First published in 1995, Wavelets and Subband Coding offered a unified view of the exciting field of wavelets and their discrete-time cousins, filter banks, or subband coding. The book developed the theory in both continuous and discrete time, and presented important applications. During the past decade, it filled a useful need in explaining a new view of signal processing based on flexible time-frequency analysis and its applications. Since 2007, the authors now retain the copyright and allow open access to the book.

Wavelets and Subband Coding

The paper discusses the theory behind the dual-tree transform, shows how complex wavelets with good properties can be designed, and illustrates a range of applications in signal and image processing The authors use the complex number symbol C in CWT to avoid confusion with the often-used acronym CWT for the (different) continuous wavelet transform The four fundamentals, intertwined shortcomings of wavelet transform and some solutions are also discussed Several methods for filter design are described for dual-tree CWT that demonstrates with relatively short filters, an effective invertible approximately analytic wavelet transform can indeed be implemented using the dual-tree approach

/pdf/the-dual-tree-complex-wavelet-transform-4kfm5jwrrq.pdf

The dual-tree complex wavelet transform

In this paper, we develop the nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) and study its applications. The construction proposed in this paper is based on a nonsubsampled pyramid structure and nonsubsampled directional filter banks. The result is a flexible multiscale, multidirection, and shift-invariant image decomposition that can be efficiently implemented via the a trous algorithm. At the core of the proposed scheme is the nonseparable two-channel nonsubsampled filter bank (NSFB). We exploit the less stringent design condition of the NSFB to design filters that lead to a NSCT with better frequency selectivity and regularity when compared to the contourlet transform. We propose a design framework based on the mapping approach, that allows for a fast implementation based on a lifting or ladder structure, and only uses one-dimensional filtering in some cases. In addition, our design ensures that the corresponding frame elements are regular, symmetric, and the frame is close to a tight one. We assess the performance of the NSCT in image denoising and enhancement applications. In both applications the NSCT compares favorably to other existing methods in the literature

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The Nonsubsampled Contourlet Transform: Theory, Design, and Applications

http://www-sigproc.eng.cam.ac.uk/foswiki/pub/Main/NGK/ngk_ACHApap.pdf

Complex Wavelets for Shift Invariant Analysis and Filtering of Signals

The authors introduce a directionally oriented 2-D filter bank with the property that the individual channels may be critically sampled without loss of information. The passband regions of the component filters are wedge-shaped and thus provide directional information. It is shown that these filter bank outputs may be maximally decimated to achieve a minimum sample representation in a way that permits the original signal to be exactly reconstructed. The authors discuss the theory for directional decomposition and reconstruction. In addition, implementation issues are addressed where realizations based on both recursive and nonrecursive filters are considered. >

R.H. Bamberger

Papers

A filter bank for the directional decomposition of images: theory and design