Bit Plane Slicing

[Laboratory]

Given an X-bit per pixel image, slicing the image at different planes (bit-planes) plays an important role in image processing. An application of this technique is data compression. In general, 8-bit per pixel images are processed. We can slice an image into the following bit-planes. Zero is the least significant bit (LSB) and 7 is the most significant bit (MSB):

1. 0 which results in a binary image, i.e, odd and even pixels are displayed
2. 1 which displays all pixels with bit 1 set: 0000.0010
3. 2 which displays all pixels with bit 2 set: 0000.0100
4. 3 which displays all pixels with bit 3 set: 0000.1000
5. 4 which displays all pixels with bit 4 set: 0001.0000
6. 5 which displays all pixels with bit 5 set: 0010.0000
7. 6 which displays all pixels with bit 6 set: 0100.0000
8. 7 which displays all pixels with bit 7 set: 1000.0000

Shown below is an 8-bit per pixel image and the different bit-planes after slicing.

Original image

a)Bit-slice 0; b)Bit-slice 1

a)	b)

a)Bit-slice 2; b)Bit-slice 3

a)	b)

a)Bit-slice 4; b)Bit-slice 5

a)	b)

a)Bit-slice 6; b)Bit-slice 7

a)	b)

• Lab: Bit Plane Slicing