Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE

International Conference on Information and Automation

June 22 -25, 2009, Zhuhai/Macau, China

Image Quality Assessment Based on the Correlativity and the

Discrete Wavelet Transform
Junfeng Li, Wenzhan Dai and Haipeng Pan
AbstractA novel image quality assessment is proposed
based on the characteristics of wavelet coefficients of images and
the correlativity in this paper. Firstly, the reference image and
the distorted images are decomposed into several levels by
means of the wavelet transform respectively. Secondly, the
approximation and detail coefficients of the reference image are
as the reference sequences and the approximation and detail
coefficients of the distorted images are as the comparative
sequences respectively. And the correlativity values are
calculated between the reference sequences and the comparative
sequences respectively. Moreover, the image quality assessment
matrix of every distorted image can be constructed based on the
correlativity values and the image quality can be assessed. The
algorithm makes full use of perfect integral comparison
mechanism of the correlativity and the well matching of discrete
wavelet transform with multi-channel model of human visual
system. The experimental results show that the proposed
algorithm can not only evaluate the integral and detail quality of
image fidelity accurately but also bears more consistency with
the human visual system than the traditional method PSNR.

I. INTRODUCTION

n the field of image processing, image quality assessment

(QA) is a fundamental and challenging problem with many
interests in a variety of applications, such as dynamic
monitoring and adjusting image quality, optimizing
algorithms and parameter settings of image processing
systems, and benchmarking image processing system and
algorithms[1]. Finally, quality assessment and the
psychophysics of human vision are closely related
disciplines. Evaluation of quality requires clear
understanding of the sensitivities of the HVS to several
features such as luminance, contrast, texture, and masking.
Research on image quality assessment may lend deep insights
into the functioning of the HVS, which would be of great
scientific value.
Image quality assessment can be classified as subjective
and objective image quality assessment [2]. Subjective testing
methods[3] require human assessors to judge the overall
quality of a set of images. Those approaches are
time-consuming, and very expensive. Moreover, they give an
empirical, consistent representation of the perceptual
phenomenon, but do not lead to a deterministic model of the
evaluation process. Conversely, objective assessment
methods aim at the automated estimation of perceived quality
Manuscript received April 9, 2009. This work was supported by National
Natural Science Foundation (NO: 60804010); Supported by Natural Science
Foundation of Zhejiang (NO: Y607556, Y1080791, Y1080823).
Junfeng Li is with the Department of Automatic control, Zhejiang
Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, CO 310018 China (phone: 0571-86843358;
fax: 0571-86843341; e-mail: ljf2003@ zstu.edu.cn).
Wenzhan Dai is with the Department of Automatic control, Zhejiang
Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, CO 310018 China e-mail: dwzhan@
zstu.edu.cn).

978-1-4244-3608-8/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE.

by using numerical features extracted from images. These

approaches bypass human assessors but, to be effective, they
must provide results consistent with data obtained from
subjective experiments. Objective methods are usually
classified with respect to the amount of information available
from the original, unprocessed image. No-reference
approaches[4-5] assess perceived quality in the absence of the
original image. Full reference methods [6-9] assume to have
both the original and the processed image available, and
relate perceived quality to the difference between these two.
Typically, these approaches are extended by including
analytical models of the human visual system (HVS) in order
to improve their accuracy and reliability [10-12]. Finally,
reduced-reference schemes only use a limited set of features
from the original image; they can e.g. access the quality of
noise-affected images.
However, Vision models which treat visible distortions
equally, regardless of their location in the image, may not be
powerful enough to accurately predict picture quality in such
cases. This is because we are known to be more sensitive to
distortions in areas of the image to which we are paying
attention than to errors in peripheral areas. In this paper, a
novel image quality assessment based on the characteristics
of the wavelet coefficients of images and the correlativity is
proposed. The algorithm makes full use of perfect integral
comparison mechanism of the correlativity and the well
matching of discrete wavelet transform with multi-channel
model of human visual system. Experimental results show
that the proposed algorithm can not only evaluate the integral
and detail quality of image fidelity accurately but also bears
more consistency with the human visual system than the
traditional method PSNR.
II. DISCRETE 2-D WAVELET TRANSFORM
The DWT was applied for different applications, example
for texture classification, image compression, face
recognition, because of its powerful capability for
multi-resolution decomposition analysis. The wavelet
transform breaks an image down into four subsampled, or
decimated, images. They are subsampled by keeping every
other pixel. The results consist of one image that has been
high pass filtered in both the horizontal and vertical
directions, one that has been high pass filtered in the vertical
and low pass filtered in the horizontal, one that has been
lowpassed in the vertical and highpassed in the horizontal,
and one that has been low pass filtered in both directions. So,
the wavelet transform is created by passing the image through
a series of 2D filter bank stages. One stage is shown in Fig. 1,
in which an image is first filtered in the horizontal direction.
The filtered outputs are then down sampled by a factor of 2 in

589

the horizontal direction. These signals are then each filtered

by an identical filter pair in the vertical direction.
Decomposed image into 4 subbands is also shown in Fig. 2.
Here, H and L represent the high pass and low pass filters,
respectively, and  2 denotes the subsampling by 2.
Secondlevel decomposition can then be conducted on the LL
subband. Second-level structure of wavelet decomposition of
an image is also shown in Fig. 3. This decomposition can be
repeated for n-levels.

0 k ik

C0 i =

k =1

(1)

x x
2

0k

k =1

ik

k =1

3.2 Degree of Grey incidence

Degree of grey incidence is to measure relational degree
among things and factors. Quantitative model of relational
grade influence relational analysis and application results
directly. The bigger the degree of grey incidence is, the more
similar the referenced sequence and the comparative
sequence are. The definition of the degree of grey incidence
against time sequence can be gotten.
Definition 2 Supposed X 0 = {x0 ( k )}, k = 1,2, ", n is a
referenced

sequence

X i = {xi (k )}, k = 1,2, " , n

(mother
sequence);
is a comparative sequence

(son sequence). In the time of k the relation coefficient

between
Fig. 1. one-level 2-D filter bank for wavelet decomposition

X i and X 0 is:

r0i (k ) = r ( x0 (k ), xi (k )) =

min + max
ik + max

(2)

where, min = minminx0 (k) xi (k) , max = maxmax

i

x0 (k ) xi (k) , ik = x0 (k ) xi (k ) , is differentiate

Fig. 2. one-level structure of wavelet decomposition of an image

coefficient, which is used to enlarge the difference between

each grey relation coefficient, (0,1) , commonly

= 0.5 . So X i s grey relation degree with X 0 is:

Fig. 3. Second-level structure of wavelet decomposition of an image

r0i =

III. THE CORRELATIVITY INDEX

The correlativity index is a kind of analytical method
based on microcosmic and macroscopical geometry
comparability of behavior gene sequence, which is used to
analyze and define the degree of genes influence on each
other or the genes contribution to main behavior.
3.1 Included angle cosine
Included angle cosine between referenced sequence and
comparative sequence the can be gotten by comparing the
similitude of their curve shape. The bigger included angle
cosine is, the more similar the referenced sequence and the
comparative sequence are. The definition of the included
angle cosine against time sequence can be gotten.
Definition 1 Supposed X 0 = {x01 , x02 ,", x0 n } is a
referenced

sequence;

X i = {xi1 , xi 2 ,", xin }

comparative sequence. So

is

1 n
r0i (k )
n i =1

(3)

3.3 Correlation coefficient

The correlation coefficient is also to measure relational
degree among things and factors. The bigger the correlation
coefficient is, the more similar the referenced sequence and
the comparative sequence are. The definition of the
correlation coefficient against time sequence can be gotten.
Definition 3 Supposed X 0 = {x01 , x02 ,", x0 n } is a

X i = {xi1 , xi 2 ,", xin } is a

comparative sequence. So X i s correlation coefficient
with X 0 is:
referenced

sequence;

R0i =

X i s included angle cosine

(x

0k

(x

0k

with X 0 is:

k =1

Where

590

x0 )( xik xi )

k =1

x0 )

(4)

(x

ik

xi )

k =1

x0 and xi are the Means of x0 and xi respectively.

3.4 Theil inequality coefficient

The theil inequality coefficient is also to measure
relational degree among things and factors. The smaller the
theil inequality coefficient is, the more similar the referenced
sequence and the comparative sequence are. The definition of
the theil inequality coefficient against time sequence can be
gotten.
Definition 4 Supposed X 0 = {x01 , x02 ,", x0 n } is a

X i = {xi1 , xi 2 ,", xin } is a

comparative sequence. So X i s theil inequality coefficient
with X 0 is:
referenced

sequence;

th

The approximation and detail coefficients of the i

distorted image which are the comparative sequences are as
follow

LLim , LH mi , HLim , HH mi , LH mi 1 , HLim1 ,

HH mi 1 ,", LH1i , HL1i , HH1i
Where i = 1,2,", n . The superscript 0 denotes the wavelet
sequences of the normal image and the superscript i denotes
th
the wavelet sequences of the i image assessed image. The
subscript 1 ~ m denotes the wavelet coefficients at 1 ~ m
levels respectively.
Step2. Calculate the correlation coefficient values between
th

T0i =

the referenced sequences and the i comparative sequences

and get the following image quality assessment matrix.

1 n
( x0 k xik ) 2

n k =1
n

q11i
0
i
i
q21 q22
i

Q = i
i
q31 q32
i
i
q41 q42

(5)

1
1
2
2
x0 k +

xik
n k =1
n k =1

Because the dimension of behavior gene sequence is

likely to be inconsistent, the referenced sequence and
comparative sequence should be unified before calculating
the correlativity index. Three unified means are as follows:
The better is, the bigger is

xij =

xij

Suppose the number of the

quality assessment matrix as follow.

Pm

max xij

q11i =

xij =

min xij

'

k =1
Pm

(7)

q i2 j =

(cH

0
m

k =1

Pj

(8)

q i3 j =

(cV

0
m

k =1

of wavelet transform respectively, such as db, harr,

sym, coif and so on. The approximation and detail
coefficients of reference image which are the referenced
sequences are as follow

HH

0
m1

,", LH , HL , HH
0
1

0
1

0
1

, HL

(k ) cV )

(cV (k ) cV )
i
j

i 2
j

k =1

Pj

q i4 j =

(cD

0
m

k =1

(cD
k =1

Where

(k ) cDm0 )(cD ij (k ) cD ij )

Pj

0
m

i th (i = 1,2,", n) distorted image into m levels by means

LL , LH , HL , HH , LH

Pj

0 2
m

k =1

This paper takes the correlation coefficient as an example.

The steps of the assessment method are as follow.
Step1. Decompose the reference image and the

0
m 1

(k ) cVm0 )(cV ji (k ) cV ji )

Pj

(cV

IV. IMAGE QUALITY ASSESSMENT BASED ON THE

CORRELATIVITY AND DISCRETE 2-D WAVELET TRANSFORM

0
m 1

(k ) cH m0 ) 2 (cH ij (k ) cH ij ) 2

0
m

0
m

(k ) cH m0 )(cH ij (k ) cH ij )
Pj

k =1

0
m

0
m

k =1

Pj

'

0
m

k =1

(cH

xij ri
'

i 2
m

Pj

Propriety, asthe better it is, the more it is close to the

standard ri

max xij ri

i
m

0 2
m

k =1

0
m

Pm

0
m

xij = 1

(k ) cAm0 )(cAmi (k ) cAmi )

0
m

(cA (k ) cA ) (cA (k ) cA

the better is, the smaller is

min xij

(cA

(6)

'

j th wavelet coefficients is

Pj ( j = 1,2," , m) and calculate the elements of the image

'
'

" 0

" q2i m
" q3i m

" q4i m

Pj

(k ) cD )

0 2
m

(cD (k ) cD )
i
j

i 2
j

k =1

0 qkji < 1 , i = 1,2,", n ;

j = 1,2, " , m ;

k = 1,2,3,4 . The j th column of the image quality

assessment matrix represents the correlation coefficient
values between the referenced sequences and the

591

i th comparative

sequences

at

j th

level

wavelet

th

decomposition. The k row of the image quality assessment

matrix represents the correlation coefficient values of
approximation coefficients, horizontal detail coefficients,
vertical detail coefficients and diagonal detail coefficients
th

between the referenced sequences and the i comparative

sequences respectively.
Step3. Assess image quality. The first row of the image
quality assessment matrix reflects the general picture quality
between the referenced image and the comparative image.
The other rows reflect horizontal detail quality, vertical detail
quality and diagonal detail quality between the referenced
image and the comparative image respectively. Every column
reflects the image quality at different scale. The smaller the
elements of the image quality assessment matrix are, the
better the comparative image quality at the corresponding
direction and scale is.

(B) the image quality is 0.67

(C) the image quality is 0.92

Fig. 5. The JPG compression images
TABLE 1
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (A)
0.99987
1
1
0.9972
0.98538
0.86474
0.99864
0.99063
0.89834
0.99269
0.92909
0.54845

V. EXPERIMENT AND ANALYSIS

In order to validate the validity of this method, the four
quality assessment experiments will be implemented. The
experiment image choices the cameraman image which size
is 256 256 and the level of wavelet decomposition is
three. The function of wavelet decomposition choices the
coif3.

TABLE 2
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (B)
0.99997
1
1
0.99926
0.99527
0.893293
0.9997
0.99682
0.96034
0.99753
0.97185
0.74464

4.1 the quality assessment of compression image

Fig. 4 is the normal image and Fig.5 are the JPG
compression images whose quality is 33%, 67% and 92%
respectively. TABLE 1, TABLE 2 and TABLE 3 are the
corresponding quality assessment matrixes of the JPG
compression images respectively. The peak signals to noise
ratio of the JPG compression images are 30.1286, 33.3114
and 43.6513 respectively.

Fig. 4. The original image

TABLE 3
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (C)
1
1
1
0.99989
0.99911
0.98482
0.99995
0.99947
0.99243
0.99958
0.99446
0.9434

4.2 the quality assessment of noise image

Fig.6 are the salt & pepper noise images whose noise
density is 0.01, 0.1 and 0.5 respectively. TABLE 4, TABLE 5
and TABLE 6 are the corresponding quality assessment
matrixes of the salt & pepper noise images respectively. The
peak signals to noise ratio of the salt & pepper noise images
are 43.6513, 15.1075 and 10.3246 respectively.

(A) the image quality is 0.33

(A) the noise density is 0.01

592

(B) the range is 1.3

(B) the noise density is 0.1

(C) the range is 2.1

Fig. 7. The gaussian blur images

(C) the noise density is 0.5

Fig. 6. The salt & pepper noise images

TABLE 7
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (A)
0.99984
1
1
0.99548
0.9727
0.83904
0.99622
0.96575
0.83249
0.98509
0.91139
0.59653

TABLE 4
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (A)
0.99948
1
1
0.98261
0.92683
0.72954
0.99082
0.9576
0.8117
0.95269
0.81011
0.51899

TABLE 8
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (B)
0.99908
1
1
0.97357
0.86921
0.586
0.97434
0.82423
0.58212
0.92754
0.62906
0.23666

TABLE 5
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (B)
0.9944
1
1
0.83298
0.57424
0.30513
0.90883
0.70577
0.38539
0.67484
0.37263
0.17613

TABLE 9
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (C)
0.99604
1
1
0.90275
0.70382
0.40441
0.89927
0.62266
0.40404
0.74011
0.34494
0.09456

TABLE 6
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (C)

0.92365
0.36784
0.50459
0.29385

1
0.17799
0.25967
0.1082

1
0.07683
0.11409
0.04089

4.3 the quality assessment of gaussian blur image

Fig.7 are the gaussian blur images whose range is 0.8, 1.3
and 2.1 respectively. TABLE 7, TABLE 8 and TABLE 9 are
the corresponding quality assessment matrixes of the
gaussian blur images respectively. The peak signals to noise
ratio of the gaussian blur images are 27.5734, 23.7496 and
21.6400 respectively.

4.4 the quality assessment of vignette image

Fig.8 are the vignette images whose range is 1.0, 2.0 and
3.0 respectively. TABLE 10, TABLE 11 and TABLE 12 are
is the corresponding quality assessment matrixes of the
vignette images respectively. The peak signals to noise ratio
of the vignette images are 27.4292, 19.8500 and 15.7344
respectively.

(A) the range is 0.8

(A) the range is 1.0

593

monitoring and adjusting image quality, optimizing

algorithms and parameter settings of image processing
systems, and benchmarking image processing system and
algorithms. In this paper, a novel image quality assessment
based on the characteristics of the wavelet coefficients of
images and the correlativity is proposed. The image quality
assessment makes full use of the property of multiresolution
analysis of the wavelet transform to analyze image in
frequency domain. And the algorithm makes full use of
perfect integral comparison mechanism of the correlativity
and the well matching of discrete wavelet transform with
multi-channel model of human visual system. Experimental
results show that the proposed algorithm can not only
evaluate the integral and detail quality of image fidelity
accurately but also bears more consistency with the human
visual system than the traditional method PSNR.

(B) the range is 2.0

REFERENCES

(C) the range is 3.0

Fig. 8. The vignette images
TABLE 10
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (A)
0.99959
1
1
0.99427
0.98544
0.96826
0.99516
0.98569
0.97334
0.99116
0.98111
0.94605

[1]

[2]

[3]

TABLE 11
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (B)
0.999593
1
1
0.96159
0.9313
0.90156
0.96351
0.94547
0.91134
0.95958
0.93281
0.85629

[4]

[5]

[6]

TABLE 12
THE ASSESSMENT MATRIX OF (C)
0.98859
1
1
0.90137
0.84121
0.81146
0.92446
0.89967
0.82032
0.911
0.84283
0.74458

[7]

[8]

It is easy to see that the assessment result of every

experiment is consistent with the peak signals to noise ratios
from TABLE 1 to TABLE 12. Of course, the results are
accordant with human visual system. Moreover, the order of
the image quality among Fig. 5(a), Fig. 6(a), Fig. 7(a) and
Fig. 8(a) is Fig. 6(a), Fig. 5(a), Fig. 7(a) and Fig. 8(a) based on
peak signals to noise ratio. But we can get different results
based on the textual method. The image quality can be
assessed from the general picture quality, horizontal detail
quality, vertical detail quality and diagonal detail quality in
the textual method. It is easy to see that the assessment results
based on the textual method are more accordant with human
visual system from Fig. 5(a), Fig. 8(a), Fig. 7(a) and Fig. 6(a).

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

VI. CONCLUSION
In the field of image processing, image quality assessment
is a fundamental and challenging problem with many
interests in a variety of applications, such as dynamic

594

Wang, Z., Bovik, A., Sheikh, H. R., Simoncelli, E. P. Image quality

assessment: from error visibility to structural similarity. IEEE Trans.
Image Processing, vol. 13, no. 4, Apr, pp. 600-612, 2004.
Jianxin Pang, Rong Zhang, Lu Lu, Zhengkai Liu, Image Quality
Assessment Based on Energy of Structural Distortion, Lecture Notes
in Computer Science, vol. 4810, pp. 785-793, 2007.
Liang Zhai, Xinming Tang, Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method
and its application in subjective quality assessment for compressed
remote sensing images, Proceedings - Fourth International Conference
on Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery, FSKD 2007, vol. 1, pp.
145-148, Jan. 2007.
Paolo Gastaldo, Giovanni Parodi, Judith Redi, Rodolfo Zunino,
No-Reference Quality Assessment of JPEG Images by Using CBP
Neural Networks, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Artificial
Neural Networks ICANN 2007, vol. 4669, pp. 564-572, 2007.
Yanwei Yu, Zhengding Lu, Hefei Ling, Fuhao Zou, Lecture Notes in
Computer Science, Advances in Neural Networks - ISNN 2006, vol.
3972, pp. 638-645, 2006.
Wang, Z, Sabir, M.F., Bovik, A.C, A statistical evaluation of recent
full reference image quality assessment algorithm, IEEE Trans. Image
Processing, vol. 15, pp. 3441-3452, 2006.
Sheikh, Hamid R, Sabir, Muhammad F, Bovik, Alan Conrad, A
statistical evaluation of recent full reference image quality assessment
algorithms, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 15, no. 11,
pp. 3440-3451, Nov. 2006.
Russo, F, De Angelis, A, A vector approach to quality assessment of
color images, 2008 IEEE International Instrumentation and
Measurement Technology Conference Proceedings, I2MTC, pp.
814-818, Apr. 2008.
Zhao, Wu-Feng, Shen, Hai-Bin, Yan, Xiao-Lang, Structural similarity
measurement based on dual-tree complex wavelet, Journal of Zhejiang
University (Engineering Science), vol. 42, no. 8, pp. 1385-1388, Aug.
2008.
Starck, J, Kilner, J, Hilton, A, Objective quality assessment in
free-viewpoint video production, 2008 3DTV-Conference: The True
Vision - Capture, Transmission and Display of 3D Video, 3DTV-CON
2008 Proceedings, pp. 225-228, 2008.
Yang Bo, Lei Liang; Yang Junling, HVS-based structural image
quality assessment model, Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on
Intelligent Control and Automation, WCICA'08, pp. 8492-8496, Apr.
2008.2008.
Wei Wu, An image quality assessment method based on HVS,
Annual IEEE International Carnahan
Proceedings 2007 41st
Conference on Security Technology, ICCST, pp. 320-324, 2008.
Kong Yueping, Zeng Ping, Jiang Nan, Image quality assessment and
visualization of color difference for color inverse halftoning using
HVS, Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology
(Natural Science Edition), vol. 36, no. 8, pp. 21-23, Aug. 2008.