Distributed Fractal Image Compression on PVM
for Million-Pixel Images
Pou-Yah Wu
Department of Mathematics Education, National Tainan Teachers College, Tainan 700, Taiwan
E-mail :y??wu~,i),ipx.i~ti~tc.edu.
hv
Abstract
In this paper, we propose the distributed fractal image
compression and decompression on the PVM system. We
apply the regional search for the fractal image
compression to reduce the communication cost on the
distributed system PVM. The regional search is to search
the partitioned iterated function system from a region of
the image instead of over the whole image. Because the
area surrounding of a partitioned block is similar to this
block possibly, finding the fractal codes by regional search
has a higher compression ratio and less compression time.
When implemented on the PVM, the fractal image
compression using regional search reduces the
compression time with less compression loss. When we
compress the image Lena with image size 1024 x 1024
using the region size 512 x 512 on the PVM with 4
Pentiuni 11-300 PCs, the compression time is 13.6 seconds.
the compression ratio is 6.34 and the PSNR is 38.59. But it
needs to take 176 seconds, have the compression ratio
6.30 and have PSNR 39.68 by the conventional fractal
image compression. In addition, when the region size is
I 2 8 x I28, the compression time is 7.8 seconds, the
compression ratio is 7.53 and the PSNR is 36.67. In the
future, we can apply this method to the fractal image
compression using neural networks.
1. Introduction
Today, distance diagnostic medical system, digital
library and Internet are applied popularly. One of the most
important problems in such applications is how to store
and transmit images. Image compression reduces both
memory storage and transmission time [ 141. Previous
developed compression techniques include discrete cosine
transform technique and pyramid coding. In this paper, we
study a more recently developed method of compression
technique, the fractal image compression.
Fractal image compression is based on self-similarity
property of an image, and performs image compression by
applying a series of transformations. These
transformations are applied to perform image
decompression iteratively until the system converges.
Previous workers have used the Hutchinson metric to
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0-7695-0951-7/01
measure the convergence, and Mandelbort had generated
images by the fractal theory [ I , 5, 12, 13, 231. Bamsley
developed a collage theorem and the iterated function
system (IFS), and was able to produce a method for fractal
coding, which greatly enhanced compression-ratios [ 1, 2,
3, 41. Jacquins improved on IFS by proposing the
partitioned iterated hnction system (PIFS) which is able to
automatically determine the fractal code [8, 91. The main
disadvantage of previous techniques for fractal image
compression is the large amount of computation that they
require [6, 161.
A number of more efficient methods have been
proposed to achieve a higher compression-ratios and
smaller compression times. Efforts to increase the
compression ratio have been based on alternative methods
of partitioning [ 171, altemative encoding methods [8, 9,
151, and heuristic search methods [18]: attempts to
decrease compression time have also resorted to a variety
of techniques, including image classification [6], parallel
processing [ 19, 201, and processing using neural networks
[IO, 1 I].
Parallel processing, a method in which many small tasks
are used to solve one large problem, has been facilitated by
two major developments: the development of massively
parallel processors (MPPs) and the widespread use of
distributed computing. Distributed computing offers many
advantages; for instance, by using existing hardware, the
cost of this computing can be significantly reduced. In
addition, the virtual computer resource that is created by
distributed computing can grow in stages and can thus take
advantage of the latest computational and network
technologies. As distributed computing and MPP have
gained in popularity the notion of message passing has also
become increasingly common. The Parallel Virtual Machine
(PVM) system uses a message-passing model to allow
programmers to take advantage of distributed computing,
using a wide variety of computer types, including MPPs. To
be effective, distributed computing requires high
communication speeds [7].
As already mentioned by Fisher, the simplest way to
implement the fractal image compression with quadtree
partition in parallel is to assign a piece of image to each
processor element [6]. Uhl and Hammerle have previously
studied some parallel methods for fractal image
compression using PVM [19, 201. We also studied that
fractal image compression using regional search had the
minimum communication cost on a PVM system, but in
these methods a part of an image in one node of the PVM
was considered as a region for searching the fractal code
[21]. In dealing with images consisting of more than one
million pixels, we applied the regional search to reduce the
compression time [22].
In this study, we parallelize fractal image compression
using regional search on a PVM. In Section 2, we present a
technique for sequential fractal image compression using
regional search. The distributed fractal image compression
and experimental results are discussed in Section 3 and
Section 4. Finally, Section 5 gives conclusions.
2. Fractal Image Compression with Regional
Search
In this section, we develop a new search strategy for
fractal image compression. Searching for fractal codes is
one of the major tasks of fractal image compression and
there are several directions that we may pursue as we seek
to improve the compression process. First, we can design a
search method which will reduce the execution time of
image compression. Secondly, we can seek to reduce the
loss ratio. Finally, we can aim to improve the compression
ratio.
In an image, the area which surrounds a partitioned
block is naturally similar to the block. Therefore, a search
which is prioritized by neamess may be quicker than a
search which begins from the upper left corner of the
image. Prioritizing the search by neamess also improves
the compression ratio at the same time. Although the
compression method used in this study classifies reference
regions according to archetype, it searches the fractal codes
from the same archetype class that is permuted from the
upper left comer to the right-down comer of the whole
image.
However, assuming that we wish to compare the
nearest reference region with the destination region each
time, we find that this requires a length execution time. In
the regional search method, the original image is
partitioned into sufficiently large nonoverlapped regions,
as shown in Figure 1. In this method of fractal image
compression, the search is confined to similar reference
regions from the same search region of the destination
region. Simultaneously, we also use the archetype
classification in the regional search.
Assume an original image GE P(A) be partitioned into
sufficiently large nonoverlapped search regions G i e P(A,),
where 1Gls. Since Gi is sufficiently large, there is a
partitioned iterated function system Wi={CDij=(p,J,
Tij)}j=,,2.,,,,m
of G,, for any 1 l i S According to the regional
search method, we need show that U wi is a partitioned
i=
I
iterated function system of the image G, as shown in
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Theorem 1.
Figure 1. Nonoverlapped search regions of regional search.
Theorem 1: Assume an image G E P(A) be partitioned
into sufficiently large nonoverlapped search regions GIE
P(AJ where l l i l s and W,={CDIJ=(pL,, T,)}J=l.2..m be a
partitioned iterated function system of GI. Then U w,is a
,=I
partitioned iterated function system of the image G.
The encoding procedure for fractal image compression
using regional search partitions the original image into
search regions. For each search region, find a partitioned
iterated function system to represent the search region.
The union of these partitioned iterated function systems is
a partitioned iterated function system of the image. The
algorithm for fractal image compression is shown in
Figure 2.
Similarly, the algorithm for fractal image
decompression using regional search is shown in Figure 3.
Input : An original image G
Output : The compressed file of the image
Method :
Choose a partition number n and a tolerance level e,;
Partition G into nonoverlapped search regions Go, G,, .. .,
G-1;
For each GJ do {
Set D , = GJand mark it uncovered;
While there are uncovered destination regions D, do {
Find the reference region RI and the corresponding w,
that best cover D,;
If d(D,, w,(R,)) <e, or size(D,) < rmlnthen
Mark D, as covered, and write out the
transformation w,;
Else
Partition D, into smaller destination regions that are
marked as uncovered, and remove D, from the
list of uncovered destination range;
1
1
Figure 2. Algorithm for the fractal image compression
using regional search.
The encoding algorithm is appropriate to compress
images with million pixels. Because the size of search
region is constant, the time complexity to find a partitioned
iterated function system in a search region is O(c). Assume
that the size of the original image be wxh, the time
complexity of the encoding algorithm is O(wxh), as shown
in Theorem 2.
Theorem 2: Assume that the size of the original image be
wxh, then the time complexity of the encoding algorithm is
O(wx h).
Input : The fractal image compression code
Output : The image decompression file
Method :
Choose any initial image Gowith search regions having the
same size as the search regions in the original image as
the region of the reference image and an iteration
number i,;
For each search region do {
Apply the fractal image code to the search region of the
domain image iteratively until the iteration number is
1,;
1 If d(D,, wi(R,))<e, or size(Di) < rminthen
Output the transformed image as the image decompression
file;
Figure 3. Algorithm for fractal image decompression using
regional search.
3. Distributed Fractal Image Compression on
PVM
Next, we parallelize the regional search method of
fractal image compression by using PVM. Since the issue
of performance on PVM is primarily concerned with
communication overhead, the main objective of our design
is to reduce communication costs.
Fractal image compression partitions the original image
into s search regions and sends search regions to nodes by
region decomposition. The region decomposition divides
the work based on different search regions. For example,
consider the fractal image compression of s search regions,
GI, G2, ..., G,. If we assume that n processes are working
on this compression, region decomposition involves the
allocation of s/n search regions to each process. Each node
performs conventional fractal image compression on s/n
search regions. Then, the fractal codes for each search
region are sent to the master node and are merged to a
compressed file. The algorithm is shown in Fig. 4.
Similarly, the master program for the regional search
method of the fractal image decompression sends the
fractal codes for search regions to child nodes. Then, the
master and the slave node apply the fractal codes for a
given search region to a region of the same size in any
initial image iteratively. After the decompression of all the
search regions is complete, the slave program sends the
decompressed regions to the master and they are merged to
395
a decompressed file. The algorithm is shown in Fig. S .
Algorithm of master program
Input : An original image G and a node number n
Output : The compressed file of the image G
Method :
Choose a tolerance level e,;
Partition G into s nonoverlapped search regions, then
decompose these regions into Goo,Go,,. .., Go,,-,,. ..,
Gn-l.o,.. ., G,.,,,.,, where s = n x t;
Broadcast the slave program to each child node;
Broadcast the tolerance level and the size of search region
to each child node;
For each child j do {
send G,,,,, ,G,+,,,,..., G,+,,,.,to the child node j; }
For each Go, do {
Set D, = GOkand mark it uncovered;
While there are uncovered destination regions Di do {
Find the reference region R,and the corresponding wi
that best cover D,;
Mark Di as covered, and record the transformation
w,;
Else
Partition Di into smaller reference regions that are
marked as uncovered, and remove Di from the
list of uncovered destination regions;
}
1
For each child j do {
Receive the transformations from the child node j; }
Write out the transformations;
Exit PVM;
Algorithm for the slave program at node j
Method :
Receive the tolerance level e, and the size of the search
region from the master;
Receive Gj+,o, . .., G,,,,., from the master;
For each Gj+l,kdo {
Set D , = G,+l,kand mark it uncovered;
While there are uncovered destination regions Di do {
Find the reference regions Ri and the corresponding
withat best cover Di;
If d(D,, w,(Ri))<e, or size(Di) < rminthen
Mark Di as covered, and record the transformation w,:
Else
Partition Di into smaller destination regions that are
marked as uncovered, and remove Ri from the list
of uncovered destination regions;
}
}
Send the recorded transformations to the master;
Exit PVM;
Figure 4. Algorithm for fractal image compression using
regional search on PVM.
Algorithm for the master program
Input : The fractal image compression code and an iteration
number i,
Output :The image decompression file
Method :
Broadcast the slave program to each child node;
Broadcast the search region size and the iteration number
to each child node;
For each child node do {
Send the fractal codes for search regions to the child
node;}
For each search region do {
Choose any initial image Go in which search regions are
the same size as search regions of the reference
image ;
Apply the fractal image code for a search region of the
initial image to the corresponding region of the
reference image iteratively until the iteration number
is i,;
Record the transformed search region of the image;
} sizes are shown in Figure 6. Encoding times, compression
Receive the transformed search regions of the image from
each child node;
Output the transformed image as the image decompression
file;
Exit PVM;
Algorithm for the slave program at node j
Method :
Receive the search region size and the iteration number
from the master;
Receive the fractal codes on the respective regions from the
master;
For each search region do {
Choose any initial image Goin which search regions are
the same size as search regions of the reference
image ;
Apply the fractal image code for a search region of the
initial image to the corresponding region of the
reference image iteratively until the iteration
number is i,;
1 Secondly, the less the size of search region, the quicker
Send the transformed search regions of the image to the
master;
Exit PVM;
Figure 5. Algorithm for fractal image decompression using
regional search on PVM.
4. Experimental Results
Because the number of reference regions in a search
region is smaller than that in the whole image, the
destination regions may be partitioned into smaller regions
for finding the most similar reference regions. It is
possible that the compression ratio will be smaller than
396
that obtained by the conventional compression. Moreover,
the vision quality may be poor and the encoding time is
long. But if the area which surrounds a partitioned block is
similar to the block, the destination region can find the
similar reference region under the tolerance level without
more partitions. The compression ratio obtained by the
regional search method will larger than that obtained by
the conventional compression, the vision quality will be
tolerant and the encoding time is short. In this section, we
use the experimental results to illustrate that the area
which surrounds a partitioned block is similar to the block.
Our PVM system consists of 4 Pentium 11-300 PCs
connected by 100Mbits/sec Ethemet. The original image is
Lena's image with size 1024x1024. The sizes of search
regions are 1024x1024, 512x512, 256x256, 128x128,
64x64 and 32x32. Due to 4 nodes in the PVM system,
search regions are partitioned into a 2x2 mesh by the
region decomposition. But when the size is 1024x 1024, we
use the conventional fractal image compression on one
node. The decompressed images using different region
ratios and PSNRs (Peak Signal Noise Ratio) are shown in
Table 1; where
Compression ratio = (the file size of original
image)/(the file size of compressed image), and
PSNR = 20xlog,,(B/rms),
B is the largest gray value (255) and rms is the root mean
square of gray values of original image and decompressed
image.
First, we observe the vision quality of decompressed
images using different region sizes in Figure 6. When sizes
are not smaller than 128x128, the vision quality is equal to
that of the image decompressed by the conventional fractal
image compression. As the size of search region is 64x64,
if we compare the decompressed image with the original
image then we can find the edge of the hat has fuzz. In the
decompressed image using the search region size 32x32,
the edge of the hat has fuzz clearly. It means that the
regional search at least can find the tolerant similar
reference region.
the encoding and the larger the compression ratio, as
shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8. Though reference regions
for search decrease, the destination region can find the
similar reference region under the tolerant level without
more partitions. This says that the area which surrounds a
partitioned block is similar to the block.
Finally, when the size of search region decreases half
each side, the value of PSNR reduces 1, as shown in
Figure 9. The small compression loss can save many
execution times. Hence, images with more than million
pixels will need the regional search method to reduce the
encoding time and increase the compression ratio with the
small compression loss.
 myw 5M!2 EFZ mn Iwz

Figure 8. The relation between compression ratios and

region sizes

Figure 6. Using regional search

method to compress Lena image
with size 1024x1024, where the 41
region size is below the 40
decompressed image. 39
33
I 32x32 I
Table 1. Encoding times, compression ratios and PSNRs of
%
a
35
34
Lena's image using the regional search.
33
he search region size 1024 512 256 128 64 32 32-
31
/The encoding time (sec.) I 176 113.6(10.217.81 3.9 15.1 I
IThe compression ratio
I I I I I I II
6.30 6.34 6.85 7.5 8.59 10.00

lpsm 139.7 138.6137.7136.135.31 34.0

Figure 9. The relation between PSNRs and region sizes

5. Conclusions

This paper has presented the distributed fractal image

compression using regional search on the PVM. This
method is especially appropriate to images with more than
million pixels. We shall apply this method to fractal image
compression using other partitions. In addition, we will
research to parallelize the fractal image compression using
neural networks.

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