Method and system for compressing, storing, and retrieving image data

• US 20050129322A1
• Filed: 10/06/2004
• Published: 06/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Purdue Research Foundation (Purdue University)
• Original Assignee: Purdue Research Foundation (Purdue University)
• Inventors: Olin, Mark, Bouman, Charles A., Turek, John J.
• Application Number:
  US10/960,382
• Publication Number:
  US 20050129322A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/240
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/162 User input
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/17 the unit being an image region, e.g. an object
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/63 using sub-band based transform, e.g. wavelets
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/645 by grouping of coefficients into blocks after the transform

Abstract

A method and system for compressing, storing, and retrieving image data includes precoding a number of images, recoding a selection of image data, and decoding the image data to form an image. The precoding step includes decomposing the image into a tiered decomposition and partitioning each tier into a number of tiles. The recoding step includes restreaming the image data based on region of interest, resolution, and/or quality. The decoder may retrieve image data over a network.

Claims

1. A method of compressing an image, the method comprising

decomposing the image into a number of tiers;

and

partitioning at least one tier into a wavelet tile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the decomposing step comprises performing a number of wavelet transforms on the image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the number of tiers comprises a predetermined number of wavelet decompositions of the image.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a region of interest of the image.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the decomposing step comprises decomposing the image into a number of tiers based on the region of interest.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the partitioning step comprises determining a spatial orientation tree of the at least one tier.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the spatial orientation tree has a root in the highest decomposition level of the at least one tier.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising compressing the wavelet tile.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the compressing step comprises zero tree compressing the wavelet tile.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing the wavelet tile after the compression step.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the storing step comprises storing the wavelet tile after the compression step based on the region of interest.

12. A method of distributing image data to a user, the method comprising

determining a region of interest of an image supplied by the user;

determining a resolution of the image supplied by the user;

determining a quality level of the image supplied by the user;

transmitting image data to the user, the image data being based on the region of interest, resolution, and quality level.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the transmitting step comprises transmitting the data over a network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the network comprises the Internet

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the transmitting step comprises transmitting image data from a server to a client.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the method includes compressing an image to form the image data.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the compressing step includes storing the image data in a database.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising decompressing the image data to form an image.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying the image to the user.

20. A system for distributing images, the system comprising:

a precoder configured to compress and store an image;

a recoder configured to select and reorganize a portion of the image based on a region of interest value, a resolution value, and a quality level value, the recoder transmitting the portion of the image as a bit stream;

a decoder configured to receive the bit stream and convert the bit stream to an image.