Systems and methods for processing image data prior to compression

• US 20060023960A1
• Filed: 07/29/2004
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Eschbach, Reiner, Rainero, Emil V.
• Granted Patent: US 7,539,341 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/239
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6027 Correction or control of colour gradation or colour contrast H04N1/6058 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/64 Systems for the transmission or the storage of the colour picture signal; Details therefor, e.g. coding or decoding means therefor H04N19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/127 Prioritisation of hardware or computational resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/85 using pre-processing or post-processing specially adapted for video compression

Abstract

Systems and methods provide data processing before data compression. The data processing includes contrast enhancement and/or custom color mapping.

Claims

14. A system for processing an image for compression and transmission, the image having data associated therewith, the data having one or more data values and color levels, the data being subsequently compressed and transmitted, the system comprising:

a parameter selecting circuit, routine or application that determines one or more parameters for processing data associated with the image, the parameters associated with at least one of data compression and data transmission of the image; and

a data enhancing circuit, routine or application that enhances a contrast of the data values based on the one or more parameters determined.

15. The system according to claim 14, the data enhancing circuit, routine or application reduces a number of color levels of the data values having enhanced contrast.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the parameter selecting circuit, routine or application determines at least one of a bandwidth of a network for subsequent data transmission, a transmission speed of the network, a data compression, a data display zoom level, and a compressed image size.

17. The system according to claim 14, wherein the parameter selecting circuit, routine or application determines the one or more parameters dynamically.

18. The system according to claim 15, wherein the data enhancing circuit, routine or application processes losslessly compressed color mapped data.

19. The system according to claim 18, the losslessly compressed color mapped data being graphics interchange format (GIF) data.

20. The system according to claim 14, further comprises a controller that transmits the compressed data associated with the image via a wireless network.

21. The system according to claim 14, wherein the data enhancing circuit, routine or application processes the data associated with the image using tonal reproduction curves to enhance the contrast of the data values.

22. The system according to claim 15, wherein the data enhancing circuit, routine or application processes the data associated with the image using color mapping to reduce the number of the color levels.

23. The system according to claim 15, wherein the data enhancing circuit, routine or application increases a number of correlated entries in the data associated with the image to increase a data compression ratio in subsequent data compression.

24. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions for processing an image for compression and transmission, the image having data associated therewith, the data having one or more data values and color levels, the instructions, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to perform operations comprising:

determining one or more parameters associated with at least one of data compression and data transmission of the image; and

processing data associated with the image by enhancing a contrast of the data values based on the one or more parameters determined.

1. A method for processing an image for compression and transmission, the image having data associated therewith, the data having one or more data values and color levels, the method comprising:

determining one or more parameters associated with at least one of data compression and data transmission of the image; and

processing data associated with the image by enhancing a contrast of the data values based on the one or more parameters determined.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising reducing a number of the color levels of the processed data with enhanced data values contrast.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more parameters comprises determining at least one of a bandwidth of a network for subsequent data transmission, a transmission speed of the network, a data compression, a data display zoom level, and a compressed image size.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more parameters comprises determining the one or more parameters dynamically.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein reducing the number of the color levels comprises processing losslessly compressed color mapped data.

6. The method of claim 5, the losslessly compressed color mapped data being graphics interchange format (GIF) data.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

compressing the processed data associated with the image; and

displaying the compressed data associated with the image on a display device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein displaying the compressed data associated with the image on a display device comprises displaying the compressed data associated with the image on a handheld computing device or a mobile computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the compressed data associated with the image between a computing device and at least a display device.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting the compressed data associated with the image comprises transmitting the compressed data associated with the image via a wireless network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the data associated with the image comprises using tonal reproduction curves to enhance the contrast of the data values.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein reducing the number of the color levels comprises performing color mapping to reduce the number of the color levels.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the data comprises increasing a number of correlated entries in the data to increase a data compression ratio in subsequent data compression.

25. The machine-readable medium according to claim 24, the operations further comprising reducing the number of color levels of the data values having enhanced contrast.

26. The machine-readable medium according to claim 24, wherein determining one or more parameters comprises determining at least one of a bandwidth of a network for subsequent data transmission, a transmission speed of the network, a data compression, a data display zoom level, and a compressed image size.

27. The machine-readable medium according to claim 24, wherein determining one or more parameters comprises determining the one or more parameters dynamically.

28. The machine-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein reducing the number of the color levels comprises processing losslessly compressed color mapped data.

29. The machine-readable medium according to claim 28, the losslessly compressed color mapped data being graphics interchange format (GIF) data.

30. The machine-readable medium according to claim 24, the operations further comprising transmitting the compressed data associated with the image from a computing device to at least a display device.

31. The machine-readable medium according to claim 30, the operations further comprising transmitting the compressed data associated with the image via a wireless network.

32. The machine-readable medium according to claim 24, wherein processing the data associated with the image comprises using tonal reproduction curves to enhance the contrast of the data values.

34. The machine-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein reducing the number of the color levels comprises increasing a number of correlated entries in the data to increase a data compression ratio in subsequent data compression.

31-1. The machine-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein reducing the number of the color levels comprises performing color mapping to reduce the number of the color levels.