Method for digital compression of color images
First Claim
1. A method for digital compression of an image such as an identification photograph for storage of the image, said image containing image data consisting of a plurality of scan lines of pixels with scalar values, comprising the steps of:
- filtering the image data by evaluating the scalar values of individual pixels in the image with respect to neighboring pixels by evaluating each said individual pixel as a target pixel in a sequence of five pixels, including two pixels on either side of the target pixel and the target pixel itself, for each said target pixel to determine an output value for the target pixel, wherein said step of filtering comprises determining an average of the data for a window of the pixels immediately surrounding the target pixel for those pixels surrounding the target pixel that are within a specified range of values, according to the following protocol;
if all five pixels are within the specified range, the output target pixel is determined to be the average of the four pixels in a raster line, two on each side of the target pixel;
if the two pixels on either side are within a specified range and both sides themselves are within the range, the filtered output target pixel data is determined to be the average of the two pixels on each side of the target pixel;
if the two pixels on either side of the target pixel and the target pixel itself are within a specified range, and the other two pixels on the other side are not within the specified range, the output target pixel is determined to be the average of the two neighboring pixels closest in value to the target pixel values and that fall within the specified range;
if the five pixels are all increasing or decreasing, or are within a specified range, the output target pixel is determined to be the average of two pixels on whichever side of the target pixel is closest in value to the target pixel; and
if the five pixels in the window do not fit into any of the prior cases, the output target pixel is unchanged; and
statistically encoding the image data by dividing the image into an array of blocks of pixels, and encoding each block of pixels into a fixed number of bits that represent the pixels in the block.
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Abstract
The method for digital compression of color images digitally compresses color identification photographs into 512 to 2,048 bytes for storage of rectangular images in smart cards and databases. The method operates in the YCrCb color space and includes a novel color space conversion method for converting digital image data from a 15- or 24-bit RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color space to the YCrCb (Luminance-Chrominance) color space. The compression method uses a lookup table for color space conversion. A unique chromakey method is used to replace the background with a solid color to increase the visual quality of the compressed image, and to automate and simplify the chromakey process.
36 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for digital compression of an image such as an identification photograph for storage of the image, said image containing image data consisting of a plurality of scan lines of pixels with scalar values, comprising the steps of:
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filtering the image data by evaluating the scalar values of individual pixels in the image with respect to neighboring pixels by evaluating each said individual pixel as a target pixel in a sequence of five pixels, including two pixels on either side of the target pixel and the target pixel itself, for each said target pixel to determine an output value for the target pixel, wherein said step of filtering comprises determining an average of the data for a window of the pixels immediately surrounding the target pixel for those pixels surrounding the target pixel that are within a specified range of values, according to the following protocol;
if all five pixels are within the specified range, the output target pixel is determined to be the average of the four pixels in a raster line, two on each side of the target pixel;
if the two pixels on either side are within a specified range and both sides themselves are within the range, the filtered output target pixel data is determined to be the average of the two pixels on each side of the target pixel;
if the two pixels on either side of the target pixel and the target pixel itself are within a specified range, and the other two pixels on the other side are not within the specified range, the output target pixel is determined to be the average of the two neighboring pixels closest in value to the target pixel values and that fall within the specified range;
if the five pixels are all increasing or decreasing, or are within a specified range, the output target pixel is determined to be the average of two pixels on whichever side of the target pixel is closest in value to the target pixel; and
if the five pixels in the window do not fit into any of the prior cases, the output target pixel is unchanged; and
statistically encoding the image data by dividing the image into an array of blocks of pixels, and encoding each block of pixels into a fixed number of bits that represent the pixels in the block.
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2. A method for digital compression of an image such as an identification photograph for storage of the image, said image containing image data consisting of a plurality of scan lines of pixels with scalar values, comprising the steps of:
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filtering the image data by evaluating the scalar values of individual pixels in the image with respect to neighboring pixels;
replacing background in the image being compressed with a scalar value, in order to reduce noise in the image, and to increase the visual quality of the compressed image, by calibrating an initial chromakey value and background scalar value, wherein said step of calibrating comprises capturing at least one calibration image of the background prior to capturing an image without a subject of interest in place, consisting substantially of background pixels, and determining the average and standard deviation of said at least one calibration image to set at least an initial chromakey scalar value and range; and
statistically encoding the image data by dividing the image into an array of blocks of pixels, and encoding each block of pixels into a fixed number of bits that represent the pixels in the block.
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3. A method for digital compression of an image such as an identification photograph for storage of the image, said image containing image data consisting of a plurality of scan lines of pixels with scalar values, comprising the steps of:
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filtering the image data by evaluating the scalar values of individual pixels in the image with respect to neighboring pixels;
replacing background in the image being compressed with a scalar value, in order to reduce noise in the image, and to increase the visual quality of the compressed image, by calibrating an initial chromakey value and background scalar value, wherein said step of calibrating comprises capturing an image with a subject of interest in place, and beginning in the upper-left and upper-right comers of said at least one calibration image, collecting pixels down and towards the center of said image until an edge or image boundary is encountered, and determining the average and standard deviation of those pixels to set at least an initial chromakey value and range; and
statistically encoding the image data by dividing the image into an array of blocks of pixels, and encoding each block of pixels into a fixed number of bits that represent the pixels in the block.
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4. A method for digital compression of an image such as an identification photograph for storage of the image, said image containing image data consisting of a plurality of scan lines of pixels with scalar values, comprising the steps of:
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filtering the image data by evaluating the scalar values of individual pixels in the image with respect to neighboring pixels;
replacing background in the image being compressed with a scalar value, in order to reduce noise in the image, and to increase the visual quality of the compressed image, by calibrating an initial chromakey value and background scalar value, wherein said step of calibrating comprises manually specifying an initial chromakey value and range without respect to the properties of an individual image being captured prior to image capture; and
statistically encoding the image data by dividing the image into an array of blocks of pixels, and encoding each block of pixels into a fixed number of bits that represent the pixels in the block.
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5. A method for digital compression of a color image such as a color identification photograph for storage of the color image, said color image containing color image data consisting of a plurality of scan lines of pixels with color values, comprising the steps of:
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filtering the color image data by evaluating the color values of individual pixels in the color image with respect to neighboring pixels; and
statistically encoding the color image data by dividing the color image into an array of blocks of pixels, and encoding each block of pixels into a fixed number of bits that represent the pixels in the block, wherein said step of statistically encoding the color image data comprises classifying each said block according to a plurality of categories, quantifying each said block, and compressing each said block by codebook compression using minimum redundancy, variable-length bit codes, wherein said step of classifying each said block comprises classifying each of said the blocks in one of four categories;
null blocks exhibiting little or no change from the higher level or previous frame, uniform blocks having a standard deviation less than a predetermined threshold, uniform chroma blocks having a significant luminance component to the standard deviation, but little chrominance deviation, and pattern blocks having significant data in both luminance and chrominance standard deviations.- View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification