International Journal of Wavelets, Multiresolution and Information Processing

The theorems giving the conditions for discrete wavelet transforms (DWTs) to achieve perfect translation invariance (PTI) have already been proven, and based on these theorems, the dual-tree complex DWT and the complex wavelet packet transform, achieving PTI, have already been proposed. However, there is not so much flexibility in their wavelet density. In the frequency domain, the wavelet density is fixed by octave filter banks, and in the time domain, each wavelet is arrayed on a fixed coordinate, and the wavelet packet density in the frequency domain can be only designed by dividing an octave frequency band equally in linear scale, and its density in the time domain is constrained by the division number of an octave frequency band. In this paper, a novel complex DWT is proposed to create variable wavelet density in the frequency and time domains, that is, an octave frequency band can be divided into N filter banks in logarithmic scale, where N is an integer larger than or equal to 3, and in the time domain, a distance between wavelets can be varied in each level, and its transform achieves PTI.

Wavelet-based image coding has been adopted in the international standard JPEG 2000 for its efficiency. It is well-known that the orthogonality and symmetry of wavelets are two important properties for many applications of signal processing and image processing. Both can be simultaneously realized by the wavelet filter banks composed of a complex allpass filter, thus, it is expected to get a better coding performance than the conventional biorthogonal wavelets. This paper proposes an effective implementation of orthonormal symmetric wavelet filter banks composed of a complex allpass filter for lossy to lossless image compression. First, irreversible real-to-real wavelet transforms are realized by implementing a complex allpass filter for lossy image coding. Next, reversible integer-to-integer wavelet transforms are proposed by incorporating the rounding operation into the filtering processing to obtain an invertible complex allpass filter for lossless image coding. Finally, the coding performance of the proposed orthonormal symmetric wavelets is evaluated and compared with the D-9/7 and D-5/3 biorthogonal wavelets. It is shown from the experimental results that the proposed allpass-based orthonormal symmetric wavelets can achieve a better coding performance than the conventional D-9/7 and D-5/3 biorthogonal wavelets both in lossy and lossless coding.

A two-dimensional (2D) quaternion Fourier transform (QFT) defined with the kernel is proposed. Some fundamental properties, such as convolution, Plancherel and vector differential theorems, are established. The heat equation in quaternion algebra is presented as an example of the application of the QFT to partial differential equations. The wavelet transform is extended to quaternion algebra using the kernel of the QFT.

The purpose of blind source separation is to separate the original sources from the sensor array, without knowing the transmission channel characteristics. Besides methods based on independent component analysis, several methods based on time-frequency analysis have been proposed. In this paper, a new method of multistage separation is proposed, which improves our formerly proposed methods using the time-scale information matrix based on the continuous multiwavelet transform.

The real-valued tight wavelet frame having perfect translation invariance (PTI) has already proposed. However, due to the irrational-number distances between wavelets, its calculation amount is very large. In this paper, based on the real-valued tight wavelet frame, a practical design of a real-valued discrete wavelet transform (DWT) having PTI is proposed. In this transform, all the distances between wavelets are multiples of 1/4, and its transform and inverse transform are calculated fast by decomposition and reconstruction algorithms at the sacrifice of a tight wavelet frame. However, the real-valued DWT achieves an approximate tight wavelet frame.

It is well-known that a mother wavelet for the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) has the band-pass filter characteristic with octave width in the frequency domain and can be used for octave analysis. However, it is possible that the octave analysis is not necessarily the most suitable to match the analysis signal. In this study, in order to construct the most suitable basis to match the analysis signal, a novel variable-filter band discrete wavelet transform (VFB-DWT) is proposed. It is achieved by using variable-band filters instead of conventional decomposition and reconstruction sequences, which are designed in consideration of the real signal characteristics. Additionally, it is proven that perfect reconstruction of the analysis signal by VFB-DWT is guaranteed using the perfect shift invariant theorem that underlies the theory of the PTI-CDWT having base DWT.

In this study, in order to verify the effectiveness of the variable filter band discrete wavelet transform (VFB-DWT) and construction method of the variable-band filter (VBF), a fetal ECG extraction has been carried out and the main results obtained are as follows. The approach to configuration VBF by selecting the frequency band only where the fetal ECG component is present was effective to configure the optimal base sensible signal. The extraction of the fetal ECG was successful by applying the wavelet shrinkage to VFB-DWT, which used the constructed VBF. The information entropy was selected as an evaluation index, and two kinds of ECG signals are used to evaluate the wavelet transform basis between the wavelet packet transform (WPT) and the VFB-DWT. One is a synthesized signal composed of white noise, the maternal ECG and the fetal ECG. The other signal is the real target signal separated by independent component analysis (ICA) and has the mother's body noise, the maternal ECG and the fetal ECG. The result shows that the basis by VBF of the VFB-DWT is better than the basis of the WPT that was chosen by the best basis algorithm (BBA).

Echocardiography is widely used for the diagnosis of fetal cardiac arrhythmias. However, this method does not detect configurational changes in the electrocardiogram (ECG) such as life-threatening changes in QRS and the prolongation of the QT interval. Fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG) and fetal electrocardiography (fECG) are valuable tools for the detection of electrophysiological cardiac signals although both have certain limitations. Such techniques must deal with excess internal noise such as maternal respiratory movements, fetal movements, muscle contraction and fetal body movement and external noise (e.g., electromagnetic waves). Heart rate variability (HRV) is a well-known phenomenon with fluctuation in the time interval between heartbeats. The lack of translation invariance is a serious defect in the conventional wavelet transforms (discrete wavelet transform (DWT)). Fluctuation of the impulse response at each energy level is observed in the multi-resolution analysis (MRA). Configurational changes in the ECG waveforms are frequently observed after noise reduction by the conventional wavelet transforms. Both the lack of translation invariance of conventional wavelet transforms and HRV cause deformation of the ECG waveforms. We describe here the CDWTs with perfect translation invariance (PTI). Compared with conventional wavelets, PTI of the fECG and fMCG resulted in only minor configurational changes in the ECG waveforms. This technique yields persistently stable ECG waveforms, including P wave and QRS complex. First, an independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to fECG or fMCG data to remove noise. We provide an example to show that the morphological change in QRS complex is barely affected when PTI is applied to normal fECG. Examples of fetal arrhythmias, such as ventricular trigeminy, ventricular bigeminy and premature atrial contraction are demonstrated using this technique. The results lead us to the conclusion that ICA and noise reduction in fECG and fMCG by PTI are promising methods for the diagnosis of fetal arrhythmia.

Music sounds are analyzed using a 12 even-tempered wavelet based upon the variable-density perfect translation invariance complex discrete wavelet transform (VD-PTI-CDWT) which divides an octave frequency band into 12 filter banks of equivalent width. Music chords generated from different sound sources thus analyzed are represented as scalogram and in 3 dimension (3D) graph over time-frequency domain. The scalogram representation provides information corresponding to the western music notation and accords with human's cognition for pitch of the music sound whereas 3D graph representation is capable of providing more detail sound information. We further apply the method to Specmurt analysis in order to estimate the fundamental frequency distribution of polyphonic music sound. The polyphonic sound of C₄, G₄, D₅, A₅ in scientific notation generated with saw-tooth wave tone is successfully filtered out its overtones to provide the fundamental frequency distribution.

In this paper, we introduce several methods of signal quantitative analysis using the perfect-translation-invariant complex wavelet functions (PTI complex wavelet functions), which are used in our proposed perfect-translation-invariant complex discrete wavelet transforms (PTI CDWTs) and can be designed by customization. First, using PTI complex wavelet functions, we define the continuous wavelet coefficient (CWC). Next, using orthonormal wavelet functions in the classical Hardy space, we analyze the CWC, and show that, using a CWC, we can measure the energy of a customizable frequency band, and additionally, using numbers of CWCs, we can measure the energy of the whole frequency band. Next, we introduce the fast calculation method of CWCs and show the applicability of the PTI CDWTs to digital signals. Based on them, we introduce some examples of signal quantitative analysis, including the methods to obtain instantaneous amplitude, instantaneous phase and instantaneous frequency. Additionally, we introduce the energy measurement of the whole frequency band using the PTI DT-CDWT, which is one of our proposed PTI CDWTs.