CSA302: Assignment 2001/02
Assignment Title
JPEG compresses images by utilising within-image spatial redundancy. Video compression can also use JPEG-like compression techniques, except that most video compression techniques also exploit temporal redundancy and motion compensation in consecutive (or nearby) video frames to achieve higher compression ratios (e.g., MPEG).
Image libraries can contain thousands of images. The standard JPEG compression techniques can achieve a maximum compression ratio of 24:1, but for an image library it would be useful if a JPEG variant could achieve even higher compression ratios.
Describe an inter-image coding extension to JPEG. Unlike frames in a video sequence, images in an image library do not have a natural sequence. However, your solution must attempt to be scalable (e.g., it should not have to compare an image to every other image in the library). Explain the advantages and disadvantages of your approach. What information must the image server provide to a client so that a requested compressed image may be decompressed on the client-side? What would be the impact of adding new images to, or removing images from, the library?
This assignment is worth 30% of the total number of marks awarded for the CSA302 credit. The essay must be approximately 1,200 words long. You must submit a hard copy of the essay to Room 202 by noon on Friday 21st December, 2001. The pages of your essay must be numbered sequentially, and must have “CSA302: Assignment 2001/02” as a footer on each page. Your name, degree and course details, assignment title, etc., must appear on a separate title page. Your name or any other identifying information must not appear on any other page. Your essay will be given a unique number when you submit it. This number will be copied to the first page of your essay, and the title page, with your personal information will be detached and filed separately by the administrative staff. This means that your assignment will be anonymous when it is graded. Your name, etc., will not be disclosed to the examiner until after the exam scripts have been graded.
Late submissions will be penalised. The penalties are cumulative and include weekends. Failure to submit the essay on time will incur an immediate 25% penalty. A further 10% penalty is accrued per day that the submission is late. Please note that the Room 202 will shut at 12:00 on Friday 21st December, and it will not re-open until Monday, 24th December. This means that if you do not manage to submit you essay on time, the earliest you will be able to submit it is Monday, and you will incur a 45% penalty. The penalties apply only to the marks for the essay, and will not carry over to the marks awarded for the exam.
BSc IT (Hons) students are unable to resit this credit. BSc students and those registered to the course through the Faculty of Science may be eligible to resit the credit. In this case, the marks awarded for the assignment will stand, and only the examined paper may be re-taken.
Sources must be properly referenced. Quotations must be enclosed within double quotation marks. Even if you have paraphrased an idea taken from some source, you must reference the source.
Sources will be listed alphabetically by author surname in a bibliography. Each source is to be preceded by a reference number, starting from 1, enclosed in square brackets. For example:
[1] Adams, D., 1996. The Dilbert Principle, Amsterdam:Prentice-Hall.
[2] Barry, H., Humphrey, P., and Fry, S., 2001. ‘A Lighter Look at the Bright Side’,
in Chaplin, C., 2001, A Collection of Witticisms, London:Harris Publishers.
[3] Coulson, J., Carr, C.T.,
Hutchinson, L., Eagle, D. (eds), 1981. The Oxford
Illustrated Dictionary, Oxford:Book Club Associates.
[4] Staff, C., 2001. CSA302 Assignment: 2001/02.
http://www.cs.um.edu.mt/~cstaff/courses/lectures/csa302/assignments/2002.html.
(12/12/01).
In [4], the date in brackets indicates the date on which you last accessed the document on-line. Incidentally, the previous sentence also contains an example of how to refer to sources in the bibliography.
Plagiarism is the act of “taking and using another person’s work as your own” [3]. Plagiarism is theft and cheating, and is treated very seriously. If you have plagiarised you risk not only failing this credit, but also being expelled from your degree programme.
This assignment should require approximately 2.5 days to research and complete.