An adaptive finite-element method for image representation

A multiresolution image representation is proposed as a basis for constructing an approximation to an original image. The method is based on adaptive finite elements, a technique used in applied mathematics to solve numerically partial differential equations while preserving important features of the solution at different scales. Theory and experiments suggest that adaptive finite elements is a natural and computationally-powerful approach to image approximation problems. Our particular representation is based on hierarchical finite elements. A multiresolution algorithm computes the solution to the approximation problem in O(N) time on a sequential machine and in O(logN) time on a single-instruction, multiple-data, fine-grain parallel architecture, where N is the number of pixels in the image. Applications to the problems of image compression and restoration are given.