Sequential digital image compression

1. A method of compressing a sequence of digital images comprising:

a) comparing at least a first portion of a reference image of the sequence of digital images to at least a corresponding first portion of a subsequent image of the sequence of digital images;

b) in response to the first portions of the reference and subsequent images being the same within a predetermined threshold, 1) incrementing a count of a number of first portions discarded, 2) discarding the first portion of the subsequent image, and 3) repeating step a) with at least a corresponding first portion of a next subsequent image; and

c) in response to the first portion of the reference and subsequent images not being within the predetermined threshold, 1) initializing the count and 2) repeating step a) using the first portion of the subsequent image as the reference image.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first portion is a fraction of each image.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2 , further including performing steps a)–c) with at least a second portion of each image.

4. The method as set forth in claim 3 , further including:

performing steps a)–c) for the second portion of each image concurrently with steps a)–c) for the first portion of each image.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein each image has a single portion such that the first portion is a full image.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 , further including:

storing at least the first portion of each reference image and the count of the number of first portions discarded.

7. The method as set forth in claim 6 , further including:

retrieving the stored first portions and the counts;

displaying at least each first reference portion on a human viewable display;

repeating the displaying of each first portion a number of times corresponding to the count of the number of first portions discarded between the displayed reference image and a next subsequent reference image.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1 , further including:

communicating at least the first portion of each reference image and the count of the number of first portions discarded.

9. The method as set forth in claim 8 , further including:

displaying at least each first reference portion on a human viewable display;

repeating the displaying of each first portion a number of times corresponding to the count of the number of first portions discarded between the displayed reference image and a next subsequent reference image.

10. The method as set forth in claim 1 further including:

in step a), concurrently comparing at least a portion of a second reference image with a corresponding portion of another subsequent image.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10 , further including:

storing at least the first portion of each reference image and the count of the number of first portions discarded.

12. The method as set forth in claim 11 , further including:

retrieving the stored first portions and the counts;

displaying at least each first reference portion on a human viewable display;

repeating the displaying of each first portion a number of times corresponding to the count of the number of first portions discarded between the displayed reference image and a next subsequent reference image.

13. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

in step a), the subsequent image is spaced I images from the reference image where I is an integer number;

in step b), the count is incremented by I and the next subsequent image is spaced I from the current subsequent image; and

in step c), the subsequent image used as the reference is spaced A images from the current reference image when repeating step a) where A is an integer number.

14. The method as set forth in claim 13 wherein the values for A and I are equal.

15. The method as set forth in claim 13 wherein the value for A is less than the value for I.

16. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first portion is a 1/K fraction of each image where K is an integer number of portions per image.

17. The method as set forth in claim 16 further including performing steps a)–c) for each 1/K portion of each image.

18. The method as set forth in claim 17 , further including:

performing steps a)–c) for each 1/K portion of each image concurrently.

19. A digital image processing system for compressing a sequence of digital images, comprising:

a) a means for comparing at least a first portion of a reference image of the sequence of digital images to at least a corresponding first portion of a subsequent image of the sequence of digital images;

b) a counter means for counting discarded image portions;

c) a means for:

in response to the first portions of the reference and subsequent images being the same within a predetermined threshold, 1) incrementing the counter means, 2) discarding the first portion of the subsequent image, and 3) causing the comparing means to compare with at least a corresponding first portion of a next subsequent image to the reference image first portion; and

in response to the first portion of the reference and subsequent images not being within the predetermined threshold, 1) initializing the counter means and 2) causing the comparing means to use the first portion of the subsequent image as the reference image in subsequent comparisons.

20. A digital image processing system for compressing a sequence of digital images, comprising:

a) a comparator which compares at least a reference image portion of the sequence of digital images with corresponding subsequent image portions of the sequence of digital images;

b) a counter which is incremented each time a subsequent image portion matches the reference image portion within a predetermined threshold, in response to a subsequent image portion not matching within the predetermined threshold, the non-matching subsequent response portion becoming the reference image portion and the counter being initialized; and

c) a storage buffer which stores each reference and the count from the counter of a number of matching subsequent image portions following each reference image portion.