International Journal of Wavelets, Multiresolution

and Information Processing

Vol. 11, No. 1 (2013) 1350010 (9 pages)

c World Scientific Publishing Company
DOI: 10.1142/S0219691313500100

FINITE IMPULSE RESPONSE DOUBLE DENSITY FILTER

BANKS AND FRAMELETS
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ASHOKA JAYAWARDENA∗ and PAUL KWAN†

School of Science and Technology
University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia
∗ashoka@turing.une.edu.au
†paul.kwan@une.edu.au

Received 6 November 2012

Revised 9 December 2012
Published 13 February 2013

In this paper, we focus on the design of oversampled filter banks and the resulting
framelets. The framelets obtained exhibit improved shift invariant properties over dec-
imated wavelet transform. Shift invariance has applications in many areas, particularly
denoising, coding and compression. Our contribution here is on filter bank completion.
In addition, we propose novel factorization methods to design wavelet filters from given
scaling filters.

Keywords: Wavelets; filter banks; double density filter banks.

AMS Subject Classification: 65T60, 42C40, 93E11

1. Introduction
Double density wavelet transforms have shown to be useful in number of applica-
tions, in particular denoising.3,9 These filter banks are popular in denoising applica-
tions due to greater shift invariance performance of such filter banks. These filters
can also designed to have improved regularization properties for the same size of
filters.
We investigate a special class of framelets from the filter bank perspective, in
that we design double density filter banks (DDFB’s) as shown in Fig. 1. We denote
the z-transform of a sequence h(·) as H(z) and its Fourier transform as H f (ω).
Now, for the perfect reconstruction, i.e. Y (z) = X(z), it must be necessary that

H0 (z)H̃0 (z) + H1 (z)H̃1 (z) + H2 (z)H̃2 (z) = 2, (1.1)

H0 (z)H̃0 (−z) + H1 (z)H̃1 (−z) + H2 (z)H̃2 (−z) = 0. (1.2)

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Fig. 1. The double density filter bank.

Alternatively, we can write the above perfect reconstruction conditions in the

polyphase domain. Given the following polyphase matrices:

H̃00 (z) H̃01 (z)
 
H00 (z) H01 (z)


H̃(z) =  H̃10 (z) H̃11 (z)  , H(z) =  H10 (z) H11 (z) , (1.3)
   

H̃20 (z) H̃21 (z) H20 (z) H21 (z)

where H̃(z) is the Type 1 analysis polyphase matrix, and H(z) the Type 2 synthesis
polyphase matrix, we can write the perfect reconstruction conditions as

[H(z)]T H̃(z) = I. (1.4)

2. Necessary Conditions for Perfect Reconstruction

In the two-band maximally decimated filter banks, for perfect reconstruction it
is necessary that the scaling filters, H0 (z) and H̃0 (z), satisfy the bi-orthogonality
constraint,4,1,5

H0 (z)H̃0 (z)[↓ 2] = 1. (2.1)

In the design of double density filter banks, no longer do we have the bi-
orthogonality constraint. Thus, strictly speaking we do not have bi-orthogonal or
orthogonal double density filter banks. However, we can design pseudo-orthogonal
double density filter banks by enforcing the following constraint between analysis
and synthesis filters:

H̃i (z) = Hi (z −1 ) for i ∈ {0, 1, 2}. (2.2)

When the filter bank is not pseudo-orthogonal, we term it as pseudo-bi-

orthogonal. We can select scaling filters as we prefer, and complete the filter bank so
that it satisfies the perfect reconstruction conditions. However, vanishing moments
for the wavelet filters do impose constraints on the design of scaling filters.2

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 Finite Impulse Response Double Density Filter Banks and Framelets

3. Design of the Scaling Filter

In this section, we will discuss a technique due to Ref. 6. In that paper, Selesnick
describes a maximally flat symmetric FIR filter which was originally described by
Herrman.7 Let P0 (z) be the product filter which satisfies the constraints P0f (0) = 2,
(i) (i)
P0f (0) = 0 for i ∈ {1 · · · 2Kc }, P0f (π) = 0 for i ∈ {0 · · · 2K0 }, and P0 (z) is
symmetric, then the product filter is given by
 K0 Kc −1   n
z + 2 + z −1 K0 + n − 1 −z + 2 − z −1
P0 (z) = 2 . (3.1)
4 n=0
n 4
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From this, pseudo-orthogonal scaling filters can be obtained by spectral fac-

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torization of the product filter while pseudo-bi-orthogonal scaling filters can be

obtained by polynomial factorization and appropriate regrouping of the factors.

4. Pseudo-Bi-Orthogonal Ad-Hoc Constructions

Let us assume that scaling filters have regularity Kl and wavelet filters have regu-
larity Kh such that:
K
1 + z −1 l

H0 (z) = A0 (z),
2
 K
1+z l
H̃0 (z) = Ã0 (z),
2
K
1 − z −1 h

H1 (z) = A1 (z),
2
 K (4.1)
1−z h
H̃1 (z) = Ã1 (z),
2
K
1 − z −1 h

H2 (z) = A2 (z),
2
 K
1−z h
H̃2 (z) = Ã2 (z).
2

Then, the perfect reconstruction conditions can be written as follows:

K  K
1 − z −1 h 1 − z h

(A1 (z)Ã1 (z) + A2 (z)Ã2 (z))
2 2
K  K
1 + z −1 l 1 + z l

=2− A0 (z)Ã0 (z),
2 2
K  K (4.2)
1 − z −1 h 1 + z h

(A1 (z)Ã1 (−z) + A2 (z)Ã2 (−z))
2 2
K  K
1 + z −1 l 1 − z l

=− A0 (z)Ã0 (−z).
2 2
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 A. Jayawardena & P. Kwan

When scaling filters are appropriately designed, we can divide the RHS of each
of the above equations by ( 1−z2 )Kh ( 1−z Kh
and ( 1−z2 )Kh ( 1+z Kh
−1 −1

2 ) 2 ) respectively.
From this, we obtain the following system of equations:

A1 (z)Ã1 (z) + A2 (z)Ã2 (z) = B(z),

(4.3)
A1 (z)Ã1 (−z) + A2 (z)Ã2 (−z) = C(z).

The solution of this system can be written as

1
A1 (z) = (Ã2 (−z)B(z) − Ã2 (z)C(z)),
∆(z)
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(4.4)
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1
A2 (z) = (−Ã1 (−z)B(z) + Ã1 (z)C(z)).
∆(z)
where ∆(z) is the determinant of the system.

Example 1. In this example, we will design a double density system with Kl = 2

and Kh = 1. The smallest low-pass
√ √ product filter is given by
√ H 0 (z)H̃0 (z) =
1+z −1 2 1+z 2
2( z+2+z 2
−1

4 ) such that H 0 (z) = 2( 2 ) and H̃ 0 (z) = 2( 2 ) .√ We set

one of the analysis high-pass filters as the Haar filter such that Ã1 (z) = 2. We
set ∆(z) = −4z. This gives us the minimum length analysis √ wavelet filter as the
unit time advanced of the Haar filter such that Ã2 (z) = 2z. The table of Fig. 2
summarizes the filter system.

Both the analysis and synthesis filters are second-order splines while the analysis
wavelet filters are Haar filters. All the filters are symmetric except for synthesis
wavelet filters.

Example 2. In this example, we will design a double density system with Kl = 4

and Kh = 2. The smallest low-pass product filter
√ √ is given by H0 (z)H̃0 (z) =
1+z −1 4
2( z+2+z 4
−1

4√ ) (−z + 3 − z −1
) such that H 0 (z) = 2( 2 ) (−z + 3 − z −1 ) and
1+z 4
H̃0 (z) = 2( 2 ) . We set one of the √ analysis high-pass filters√as the second-order
high-pass spline such that H̃1 (z) = 2( 1−z 2 ) 2
. We set Ã1 (z) = 2 and ∆(z) = −4z.
This gives us the minimum length analysis wavelet filter as the √ unit time advanced
of the second-order high-pass spline filter such that Ã2 (z) = 2z. The filter system
is summarized in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2. A (2, 1) double density filter bank.

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 Finite Impulse Response Double Density Filter Banks and Framelets

Fig. 3. A (4, 2) double density filter bank.

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The two example designs illustrated above construct a class of double density
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filters where the analysis filters are delays of each other. Thus, the wavelet coef-
ficients can be obtained by filtering by a single filter and without the need for
down-sampling.

5. A Polyphase-Based Design Approach

As with many problems in signal processing, polyphase constructions substantially
simplify constraints. It is the same with double density filter banks. Let the analysis
and synthesis wavelet filters be of the form
H̃1 (z) = (1 − z)K̃h Ã1 (z), H̃2 (z) = (1 − z)K̃h Ã2 (z),
(5.1)
H1 (z) = (1 − z −1 )Kh A1 (z), H2 (z) = (1 − z −1 )Kh A2 (z).
Let the Type 1 polyphase matrix of analysis wavelet filters and Type 2 polyphase
matrix of synthesis wavelet filters be given by
H̃10 (z) H̃11 (z) H10 (z) H11 (z)
H̃h (z) = , Hh (z) = .
H̃20 (z) H̃21 (z) H20 (z) H21 (z)
From Eq. (1.4) it is easy to see that
H00 (z)
HhT (z)H̃h (z) = I − H̃00 (z) H̃01 (z) . (5.2)
H01 (z)
We can obtain a simplified expression for both H̃h (z) and Hh (z). Note that the
 
Type 1 polyphase vector of (1 − z)S(z) can be written as −z1 −11 Sp (z) where
S (z) is the Type 1 polyphase vector of S(z). Thus the Type 1 polyphase vector
p 
H̃10 (z)
H̃11 (z)
can be written in the following form:
K̃h
H̃10 (z) 1 −1
= B̃1 (z).
H̃11 (z) −z 1
Similarly
K̃h
H̃20 (z) 1 −1
= B̃2 (z).
H̃21 (z) −z 1

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 A. Jayawardena & P. Kwan

Thus
K̃h
1 −z
H̃h (z) = Ã(z) , (5.3)
−1 1
B̃1T (z)
 
where Ã(z) = . Similarly
B̃2T (z)
Kh
1 −z −1
Hh (z) = A(z) . (5.4)
−1 1
Let
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Kh K̃h
1 1 H00 (z) 1 z
P (z) = I− H̃00 (z) H̃01 (z) · (5.5)
z −1 1 H01 (z) 1 1
1
and Q(z) = P (z). Since
(1−z −1 )Kh (1−z)K̃h

1 −z 1 z 1−z 0
= ,
−1 1 1 1 0 1−z
(5.6)
    
1 1 1 −1 1 − z −1 0
= ,
z −1 1 −z −1 1 0 1 − z −1
we obtain
AT (z)Ã(z) = Q(z). (5.7)
Many factorization methods of Laurent polynomial matrices are crucially depen-
dent on the determinant of the matrix. Fortunately, for a good subclass of dou-
ble density filter banks, we have a simplified result for the determinant of Q(z).
We assume that the number of vanishing moments of the analysis high-pass fil-
ters and the synthesis high-pass filters are equal, i.e. Kh = K̃h = M . It can be
seen that the determinant of HhT (z)H̃h (z) is given by D(z) = 1 − H00 (z)H̃00 (z) −
 M  M
H01 (z)H̃01 (z). Since Q(z) is FIR and both −11 −z1 and −z1−1 −11 are fac-
tors of HhT (z)H̃h (z), it must be that (1 − z)M (1 − z −1 )M is a factor of D(z). We
have the following lemma.
Lemma 1. Let the high-pass filters have M number of vanishing moments each
and the low-pass filters, H0 and H̃0 , have the equal regularity, K, and given by
 K M−1   n
z + 2 + z −1 K +n−1 −z + 2 − z −1
H0 (z)H̃0 (z) = 2 . (5.8)
4 n
n=0
4
Then, the determinant of Q(z) is a real number when,
 
K +M −1
M= . (5.9)
2

Proof. Please refer to Ref. 2.

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 Finite Impulse Response Double Density Filter Banks and Framelets

The above lemma covers some useful number of double density filter banks
irrespective of whether they are pseudo-orthogonal or pseudo-bi-orthogonal, such
as (K, M ) = (2, 1), (3, 1), (3, 2), (4, 2), (4, 3), (5, 3), (5, 4), (6, 4), (6, 5) etc.

5.1. Factorizations for pseudo-orthogonal DDFB’s

Note that the polyphase matrix of the pseudo-orthogonal DDFB is a 2 × 3 lossless
system.8 Selesnick6 designs the high-pass filters indirectly by first designing a 3 × 3
lossless system and then extracting only the first two rows to form a 2 × 3 lossless
system. We provide a more direct method for a class of DDFB’s by factorizing Q(z)
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when det(Q(z)) is a real number (as in Lemma 1).

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Lemma 2. Let
T k T
Q0 (z) = P0,k z + P0,k−1 z k−1 + · · · + P0,0 + · · · + P0,k−1 z −(k−1) + P0,k z −k
and assume that det(Q0 (z)) is a nonzero real number. Let
T k̃ T k̃−1
0 (z) = R0,k̃ z + R0,k̃−1 z
Q−1 + · · · + R0,0 + · · · + R0,k̃−1 z −(k̃−1) + R0,k̃ z −k̃
T
and A0 (z) = R0,k̃ + zR0, k̃
and A0 (z) is nonsingular. Then for some Q1 (z),

Q0 (z) = [A0 (z −1 )]−T Q1 (z)[A0 (z)]−1 , (5.10)

where
T
Q1 (z) = P1,k−1 z k−1 + P1,k−2
T
z k−2 + · · · + P1,0 + · · · + P1,k−2 z −(k−2) + P1,k−1 z −(k−1) .

Proof. Please refer to Ref. 2.

Assuming that each degree reduction step is invertible, repeating the process
given in Lemma 2, we could write
ATk (z −1 ) · · · AT0 (z −1 )Q0 (z)A0 (z) · · · Ak (z) = Qk+1 , (5.11)
where Qk+1 is a constant symmetric matrix (i.e. Qk+1 = Then Qk+1 is QTk+1 ).
T
orthogonally diagonalizable and let Qk+1 = Ak+1 Ak+1 . However, we require the
eigenvalues of Qk+1 be positive. Then, we could write
AT (z) = A−T
0 (z
−1
) · · · A−T
k (z
−1
)ATk+1 . (5.12)
√ 1+z 2
Example 3. Consider the (2,1) pseudo-orthogonalDDFB with H0 (z) = 2( 2 )
√ 1+z−1 2
 3 z
8 8
and H̃0 (z) = 2( 2 ) . We get Q(z) = z−1 3
which leads to
8 8

1 1
 
−T √
0 0 0 −1 2 2 2
AT (z) = + z −1 
1
.
−1 0 0 0 −1 
√
2 2 2

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 A. Jayawardena & P. Kwan

1
 −1

The synthesis high-pass filters are given by HhT (z) = −z −1
1
AT (z). This gives
√ √ √
1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
H1 (z) = 2 − 12 z 2 and H2 (z) = 4 − 2 z + 4 z .

Clearly, Lemma 2 is not always applicable since there is no guarantee that

the degree reduction step is invertible. However, so far in all the examples we
have computed, this problem has not happened. Furthermore, when we generalize
the double density to the multiple density case, the invertibility problem has not
happened. A thorough investigation into the potential of this problem will be one
area of our future work.
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6. Parametrizations
We have one degree of freedom in the factorization as given by

cos θ −sin θ
AT (z) = A−T
0 (z
−1
k (z
) · · · A−T −1
)ATk+1 . (6.1)
sin θ cos θ

Such parametrization is also used by Selesnick6 to achieve near shift invariance

among the wavelet functions.

7. Conclusion and Further Research

In this paper, we have developed a novel factorization approach to obtain double
density wavelet filters for a special case where the determinant of the transfer
polyphase matrix is a real number. We have analytically obtained example filters
for cases with a small number of filter coefficients. However, the optimization of
such double density wavelet filters will require further investigation. We anticipate
that it can be accomplished similarly as in Selesnick’s work.6

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 Finite Impulse Response Double Density Filter Banks and Framelets

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