Multi-resolution image data management system and method based on tiled wavelet-like transform and sparse data coding

A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising:

• an image processing module that processes tiles of the image data in a predefined order, the tiles comprising nonoverlapping portions of the image data, so as to generate processed image data;
• and
• the image processing module including:
• instructions for storing the processed image data as a data image file;
• and
• instructions for processing each tile of image data by:
• applying a predefined family of transform filters to the tile of image data so as to generate successive sets of transform coefficients;
• each respective set of transform coefficients corresponding to a group of spatial frequency subbands of the image;
• wherein each subband group is generated by application of a distinct respective transform layer of the predefined family of transform filters;
• for at least two of the respective subband groups, each group having a distinct dimension, generating one or more parameters whose value is indicative of density of image features in the tile;
• classifying the tile into one of a predefined set of categories by comparing the one or more parameters with a plurality of predetermined thresholds;
• selecting a set of quantization factors for each respective tile in accordance with the category into which the tile has been classified;
• and
• scaling the transform coefficients of the tile by the set of quantization factors so as to generate a set of quantized transform coefficients for the tile.