New bit allocation method for wavelet and octave subband coding

A new bit allocation algorithm is derived for wavelet and octave subband source coding, subject to the Shannon rate-distortion bound, using a Lagrange multiplier optimization technique. A sequential form is developed from the derived direct form, for effectively reducing unassigned bits due to negative bit allocation and fixed bit-rate quantizers. The proposed sequential form algorithm is generalized and optimized to incorporate any given finite number of fixed bit-rate quantizers and is highly suitable for real-time applications and implementation. The bit allocation performance of the sequential Shannon-bound based algorithm is demonstrated through its application in image coding.