Image Quantization

The signals that are of interest in image technology were shown to have continuous variations along a number of dimensions (wavelength, space, time and amplitude). By applying insights into human color perception, it could be derived that the relevant information contained in the continuous variation in wavelength can be represented by three color signals. Subsequently, based on the limited resolution of the visual system in space and time, it was argued that adequate discrete approximations to the continuous variations in space and time can be obtained by representing these color signals on a repetitive basis. Since only images of finite spatial and temporal extent are considered, a repetitive basis with a finite number of basis signals suffices in practice. Consequently, each of the three color signals can be described by a (discrete) approximation on a finite repetitive basis.