Low-complexity image coding

A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for compressing a digital image, the method comprising:

• receiving the digital image;
• performing a wavelet transform operation on the digital image to produce transform-domain coefficients;
• quantizing the transform-domain coefficients to produce quantized coefficients;
• and
• compressing one or more, but less than all, bitplanes of the quantized coefficients using a non-arithmetic encoding, wherein the one or more bitplanes that are compressed have a more significant bitplane position and less entropy than one or more bitplanes of the quantized coefficients that are not compressed.

An apparatus that compresses a digital image, comprising:

• a receiving mechanism configured to receive the digital image;
• a transform mechanism configured to perform a wavelet transform operation on the digital image to produce transform-domain coefficients;
• a quantizing mechanism configured to quantize the transform-domain coefficients to produce quantized coefficients;
• and
• a compression mechanism configured to compress one or more, but less than all, bitplanes of the quantized coefficients using a non-arithmetic encoding, wherein the one or more bitplanes that are compressed have a more significant bitplane position and less entropy than one or more bitplanes of the quantized coefficients that are not compressed.

A method for decompressing a compressed digital image, comprising:

• using a computer to perform:
• receiving the compressed digital image which contains compressed quantized transform-domain coefficients;
• decompressing one or more compressed bitplanes of the quantized coefficients using a non-arithmetic decoding, wherein not all bitplanes are compressed, and wherein the one or more bitplanes that are compressed have a more significant bitplane position and less entropy than one or more bitplanes of the quantized coefficients that are not compressed;
• de-quantizing the decompressed quantized transform-domain coefficients to produce transform-domain coefficients;
• and
• performing an inverse wavelet transform operation on the transform-domain coefficients to reproduce the decompressed digital image.