Perceptual quantization of chromatic components

In order to achieve a color image coding based on the human visual system features, we have been interested by the design of a perceptually based quantizer. The cardinal directions Ach, Cr1 and Cr2, designed by Krauskopf from habituation experiments and validated in our lab from spatial masking experiments, have been used to characterize color images. The achromatic component, already considered in previous study, will not be considered here. The same methodology has been applied to the two chromatic components to specify the decision thresholds and the reconstruction levels which ensure that the degradations induced will be lower than their visibility thresholds. Two observers have been used for each of the two components. From the values obtained for Cr1 component one should notice that the decision thresholds and reconstruction levels follow a linear law even at higher levels. However, for Cr2 component the values seem following a monotonous increasing function. To determine if these behaviors are frequency dependent, further experiments have been conducted with stimulus frequencies varying from 1cy/deg to 4cy/deg. The measured values show no significant variations. Finally, instead of sinusoidal stimuli, filtered textures have been used to take into account the spatio-frequential combination. The same laws (linear for Cr1 and monotonous increasing for Cr2) have been observed even if a variation in the quantization intervals is reported.