8.3. Constructing a Quadtree   

 

 
(a)first division (b)second division (c)third division (e)entire image divided
Fig. 8.3 : (a)first division (b)second division (c)third division (e)entire image divided
Before a quadtree can be constructed the image must be broken up into maximal blocks. Each quadrant of this image is then assigned one of the following values

Enclosing figure 8.1a the image in a block produces the first level of our quad tree. This can be seen in figure 8.4 where the entire square is represented by Level 3. The square is then sub-divided into four equal sized quadrants (hence the name quadtrees). This is shown in figure 8.3a. In this particular case the NW quadrant is a white square while all the rest of the quadrants are grey circles as shown by level 2 in figure 8.4. The grey are again subdivided into quadrants (in this example I have chosen to only use the SW quadrant for simplicity sake). In figure 8.3b we see that the SW quadrant now consists of 2 white, 1 black and a grey quadrant. This is represented by the second group on level 1 of figure 8.4. The grey quadrant is again subdivided. This is our final division because their are no more greys left. We now have 1 white and 3 black quadrants. This is, of course, done for the whole image. The final quadtree can be seen in figure 8.4.  


 
Final quadtree showing levels
Fig. 8.4 : Final quadtree showing levels