Complex Wavelet Bases, Steerability, and the Marr-Like Pyramid

Our aim in this paper is to tighten the link between wavelets, some classical image-processing operators, and David Marr's theory of early vision. The cornerstone of our approach is a new complex wavelet basis that behaves like a smoothed version of the Gradient-Laplace operator. Starting from first principles, we show that a single-generator wavelet can be defined analytically and that it yields a semi-orthogonal complex basis of , irrespective of the dilation matrix used. We also provide an efficient FFT-based filterbank implementation. We then propose a slightly redundant version of the transform that is nearly translation-invariant and that is optimized for better steerability (Gaussian-like smoothing kernel). We call it the Marr-like wavelet pyramid because it essentially replicates the processing steps in Marr's theory of early vision. We use it to derive a primal wavelet sketch which is a compact description of the image by a multiscale, subsampled edge map. Finally, w...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: TIP
• Authors: Dimitri Van De Ville, Michael Unser
• Keywords: Complex Wavelet Basis, Primal Wavelet Sketch, TIP 2008, Wavelet