Method and apparatus for video compression using block and wavelet techniques

An apparatus for compressing an image, said image comprising a plurality of blocks, comprising the steps of:

• average color computation means for computing an average color of a block of said plurality of blocks, said block comprising a plurality of pixels;
• average and differential luminance computation means coupled to said average color computation means for computing an average luminance of said block dependent on said average color and a differential luminance of each pixel of said plurality of pixels of said block, wherein said differential luminance is the difference in luminance value between each particular luminance value of each said pixel of said plurality of pixels and a average luminance value of said block;
• and,
• encoding means for variable length encoding of a quantized average color difference and a second plurality of frequency details of said block, wherein said second plurality of frequency details is less than or equal to a first plurality of frequency details of said block.

A method for compressing an image of a first color space, comprising the steps of:

• dividing said image into a plurality of blocks in image space, wherein said blocks are comprised of a plurality of adjacent pixels in image space;
• computing an average color of a block of said plurality of blocks, said block comprising a plurality of pixels;
• computing an average luminance of said block dependent on said average color and a differential luminance of each pixel of said plurality of pixels of said block, wherein said differential luminance is the difference in luminance value between each particular luminance value of each said pixel of said plurality of pixels and a average luminance value of said block;
• and
• encoding a quantized average color difference and a second plurality of frequency details of said block, wherein said second plurality of frequency details is less than or equal to a first plurality of frequency details of said block.