1. A data processing system, implemented as programming on a suitably-programmed device, for energy-based wavelet thresholding, the system, comprising: a data input module that supplies a data input; and a wavelet transformation and compression module coupled to the data input module, wherein the wavelet transformation and compression module receives a representation of the input data, the wavelet transformation and compression module comprising: an input module comprising a wavelet basis function, a wavelet coefficient generator that computes a plurality of wavelet coefficients based on the wavelet basis function and the representation of the input data, a ranking module that orders the plurality of wavelet coefficients, a coefficient multiplier that computes an energy value for each wavelet coefficient, an adder that iteratively computes cumulative energy as a function of the number of coefficients, and a comparator that compares total energy of the data input to the iterative, cumulative energy and selects a number of coefficients whose cumulative energy is substantially invariant with additional coefficients, wherein the selected number of coefficients results in compression of the data input.