A fast pixel mapping algorithm using principal component analysis

Pixel mapping is one of the basic processes in color quantization. In this paper, we shall propose a new algorithm using principal component analysis as a faster approach to pixel mapping. Within much shorter search time, our new scheme can find the nearest color which is identical to the one found using a full search. The idea behind the proposed method is quite simple. First, we compute two principal component directions (PCDs) for the palette. Then, the projected values on PCDs are computed for each color in palette. Finally, the projected values, following the triangular inequality principle, can help us reduce the computation time for finding the nearest color. The experimental results reveal that the proposed scheme is more efficient than the previous work.