Methods and systems for remotely visualizing images

1. A method for remotely visualizing an image on a client, the method comprising steps of:

rendering a 2D image from image data on a server;

applying a 2D wavelet transform to the 2D image on the server to generate a plurality of sub-bands;

identifying code blocks of the sub-bands that correspond to a region of interest in the 2D image on the server;

compressing a number of bit planes of each code block using one of a plurality of coding techniques on the server based on the number of bit planes to generate compressed codes;

sending the compressed codes from the server to the client; and

visualizing a new 2D image on the client using the received compressed codes,

wherein a processor performs the steps.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the number of bit planes is 1, the chosen coding technique includes identifying positions of significant bits in the bit plane of the code block and coding the identified positions.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the number of bit planes is 2, the chosen coding technique includes performing a Run-value coding on the two bit planes.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the number of bit planes is 3, the chosen coding technique includes performing a Quad-comma coding on the three bit planes.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the number of bit planes is greater than 3, the chosen coding technique includes performing a quad-comma coding on only the upper three bit planes and coding raw bits of the remaining bit planes.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visualizing comprises:

decoding the compressed codes to generated decoded codes;

performing an inverse 2D wavelet transform on the decoded codes to generate the new 2D image; and

displaying the new 2D image.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server renders the 2D image based on viewpoint information received from the client.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein compressing the number of bit planes of each code block comprises:

determining a number M of most significant bit (MSB) planes and a number L of least significant bit (LSB) planes of the code block based on an importance of the sub-band of the code block; and

compressing the M MSB bit planes as first codes using the chosen coding technique and coding raw bits of the L MSB bit planes as second codes,

wherein M and L are positive integers that sum to a total bit plane count of the code block.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the sending of the compressed codes comprises sending the first codes to the client during a user interaction between the client and the server.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the visualizing comprises visualizing a less detailed version of the new 2D image from the first codes during the user interaction.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprises sending the second codes to the client and visualizing a more detailed version of the new 2D image from both the first codes and the second codes after the user interaction has ended.

12. A system for performing remote visualization of an image, the system comprising:

a server workstation;

a client workstation;

a client display; and

a network,

wherein the server workstation renders a 2D image from image data, performs a 2D wavelet transform on the rendered image to generate sub-bands having code blocks, compresses a number of most significant bit planes of each code block based on a sub-band importance of the code block's sub-band to generate codes, and sends the codes across the network and, wherein the client workstation receives the codes from the network, decode the codes, performs an inverse wavelet transform on the decoded codes to generate a new 2D image, and displays the new 2D image on the client display.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the server workstation comprises a hardware accelerated rendering engine to render the 2D image.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the client workstation further comprises a graphical processing unit (GPU) to perform the inverse wavelet transform.

15. The system of claim 12 , further comprising a client input device to select a desired viewpoint, wherein the client workstation sends data including the selected viewpoint across the network to the server workstation and the server workstation renders the 2D image based on the received data.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to perform method steps for visualizing an image, the method comprising:

applying a 2D wavelet transform to a 2D image to generate a plurality of sub-bands; identifying code blocks of the sub-bands that correspond to a region of interest in the 2D image;

generating first codes from a number M of most significant bit (MSB) planes of each code block and second codes from a number L of least significant bit (LSB) planes of each code block based on an importance of the sub-band of the code block;

visualizing a less detailed 2D image from the first codes during a user interaction between a client and server; and

visualizing a more detailed 2D image from the first and second codes after he user interaction has ended, wherein M and L are positive integers.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein when M is 1, the generating of first codes comprises identifying positions of significant bits in the bit plane and coding the identified positions.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein when M is 2, the generating of first codes comprises performing a run value coding on the two bit planes.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein when M is 3, the generating of first codes comprises performing a quad-comma coding on the three bit planes.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein when M is greater than 3, the generating of first codes comprises performing a quad-coding on the upper three bit planes and coding raw bits of the remaining bit planes.