Methods and apparatus for communicating and displaying compressed image data
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatus are provided for creating one or more compressed image tiles based on a compressed file that describes a digital image. In particular, the compressed image tiles are created without fully decompressing the compressed file. Each compressed image tile includes data corresponding to a portion of the digital image, and is independent of other compressed image tiles (i.e., may be decompressed without decompressing any other tile). In response to requests to display a desired portion of the digital image at a specific resolution, the compressed image tiles corresponding to the desired portion and the specified resolution are communicated via a band limited communication channel. In this regard, the portions of the digital image may be quickly communicated and displayed, without having to wait for the entire compressed file to be communicated over the band limited channel.
1. A server-based, distributed networked-computer system for processing a compressed image file that describes an image that is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, the system comprising:
a tile server having a network interface for receiving at least one image from an image source and for sending an entirely compressed image to a client computer, wherein said tile server is configured to:
create an entirely compressed image file from an image, wherein the entirely compressed image is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, and wherein the tile server is further adapted to create one or more compressed image tiles comprising an image block with the predetermined number of pixels of the compressed image file, without fully decompressing the entirely compressed image file, the compressed image tile describing a portion of the image represented by said image block; and
modify said pixels contained in said image block to eliminate intra-tile dependencies by scanning said pixels contained in said image block row by row; and
a client computer having a network interface for receiving an entirely compressed image, wherein said client computer is configured to decompress the compressed image tile and display the portion of the image, without fully decompressing the entirely compressed image file.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the tile server resides on a print server.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the entirely compressed image file comprises data compressed according to a block compression standard.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the block compression standard comprises a Joint Photographic Experts Group compression standard.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the compressed image tile comprises image data at a first resolution.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the first resolution comprises full resolution.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the tile server is configured to create a first compressed image tile and at least one additional compressed image tile based on the entirely compressed image file without fully decompressing the entirely compressed image file, the first compressed image tile describing a first portion of the image, and the at least one additional compressed image tile describing at least one additional portion of the image.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first compressed image tile comprises image data at a first resolution, and the at least one additional compressed image tile comprises image data at a second resolution.
9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first compressed image tile may be decompressed without decompressing the at least one additional compressed image tile.
10. A system for processing a compressed image file that describes an image that is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, the system comprising:
a print server including:
a network interface for receiving at least one image from an image source and for sending an entirely compressed image to a client computer; and
a tile server configured to:
create an entirely compressed image file from an image, wherein the entirely compressed image is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, and wherein the tile server is further adapted to create one or more compressed image tiles comprising an image block with the predetermined number of pixels of the compressed image file, without fully decompressing the entirely compressed image file, the compressed image tile describing a portion of the image represented by said image block; and
modify said pixels contained in said image block to eliminate intra-tile dependencies by scanning said pixels contained in said image block row by row; and
a client computer coupled to the print server via a communication channel, the client computer adapted to receive the compressed image tile from the print server via the communication channel, decompress the compressed image tile and display the portion of the image.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the entirely compressed image file comprises data compressed according to a block compression standard.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the block compression standard comprises a Joint Photographic Experts Group compression standard.
13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the compressed image tile comprises image data at a first resolution.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the first resolution comprises full resolution.
15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the print server is configured to create first compressed image tile and at least one additional compressed image tile based on the entirely compressed image file without fully decompressing the entirely compressed image file, the first compressed image tile describing a first portion of the image, and the at least one additional compressed image tile describing at least one additional portion of the image.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first compressed image tile comprises image data at a first resolution, and the at least one additional compressed image tile comprises image data at a second resolution.
17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first compressed image tile may be decompressed without decompressing the at least one additional compressed image tile.
18. A system for processing a compressed image file that describes an image that is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, the system comprising:
a first computer configured to:
create an entirely compressed image file from an image, wherein the compressed image is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, and wherein the first computer is further adapted to create one or more plurality of compressed image tiles comprising an image block with the predetermined number of pixels of the compressed image file, without fully decompressing the entirely compressed image file, each compressed image tile describing a corresponding portion of the image represented by said image block; and
modify said pixels contained in said image block to eliminate intra-tile dependencies by scanning said pixels contained in said image block row by row; and
a second computer configured to decompress the compressed image tiles and display the portions of the image.
19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the first computer comprises a print server.
20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the second computer comprises a client computer.
21. The system Of claim 18 , wherein the first and second computer comprise the same computer.
22. The system of claim 18 , wherein the entirely compressed image file comprises data compressed according to a block compression standard.
23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the block compression standard comprises a Joint Photographic Experts Group compression standard.
24. The system of claim 18 , wherein the compressed image tiles comprise image data at a first resolution.
25. The system of claim 24 , wherein the first resolution comprises full resolution.
26. A computer implemented method for processing a compressed image file, stored in a computer memory, that describes an image that is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, the method comprising the computer implemented steps of:
a first computer creating an entirely compressed image file from an image, wherein the compressed image is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, and wherein the first computer is further configured to:
create one or more compressed image tiles comprising an image block with the predetermined number of pixels of the compressed image file, without fully decompressing the entirely compressed image file, the compressed image tile describing a portion of the image represented by said image block; and
modify said pixels contained in said image block to eliminate intra-tile dependencies by scanning said pixels contained in said image block row by row; and
a second computer decompressing the compressed image tile and displaying the portion of the image.
27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the compressed image file comprises data compressed according to a block compression standard.
28. The method of claim 26 , wherein the block compression standard comprises a Joint Photographic Experts Group compression standard.
29. The method of claim 26 , wherein the compressed image tile comprises image data at a first resolution.
30. The method of claim 29 , wherein the first resolution comprises full resolution.
31. The method of claim 26 , wherein creating further comprises creating first compressed image tile and at least one additional compressed image tile based on the entirely compressed image file without fully decompressing the entirely compressed image file, the first compressed image tile describing a first portion of the image, and the at least one additional compressed image tile describing a second portion of the image.
32. The method of claim 30 , wherein the first compressed image tile comprises image data at a first resolution, and the at least one additional compressed image tile comprises image data at a second resolution.
33. The system of claim 30 , wherein the first compressed image tile may be decompressed without decompressing the at least one additional compressed image tile.
34. A computer implemented method for processing a compressed image file, stored in a computer memory, that describes an image that is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, the method comprising the computer implemented steps of:
a first computer configured to create an entirely compressed image file from an image, wherein the compressed image is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, and wherein the first computer is further adapted to:
create one or more a compressed image tiles comprising an image block with the predetermined number of pixels of the compressed image file, without fully decompressing the entirely compressed image file, the compressed image tile describing a portion of the image represented by said image block; and
modify said pixels contained in said image block to eliminate intra-tile dependencies by scanning said pixels contained in said image block row by row; and
a second computer decompressing the compressed image tiles and display the portions of the image.
35. The method of claim 34 , wherein the entirely compressed image file comprises data compressed according to a block compression standard.
36. The method of claim 35 , wherein the block compression standard comprises a Joint Photographic Experts Group compression standard.
37. The method of claim 34 , wherein the compressed image tiles comprise image data at a first resolution.
38. The method of claim 37 , wherein the first resolution comprises full resolution.
39. The system of claim 1 , said image block comprising block data, said tile server modifying said block data to eliminate intra-tile dependencies.
40. The system of claim 10 , said image block comprising block data, said tile server modifying said block data to eliminate intra-tile dependencies.
41. The system of claim 18 , said image block comprising block data, said first computer modifying said block data to eliminate intra-tile dependencies.
42. The method of claim 26 , said image block comprising block data, said first computer modifying said block data to eliminate intra-tile dependencies.
43. The method of claim 34 , said image block comprising block data, said first computer modifying said block data to eliminate intra-tile dependencies.
44. A system for processing a compressed image file that describes an image that is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, the system comprising:
a print server configured to create an entirely compressed image file from an image, wherein the compressed image is grouped into blocks, where each block comprises a predetermined number of pixels, and wherein the print server is further adapted to:
create a first and at least one additional compressed image tiles comprising an image block with the predetermined number of pixels of the entirely compressed image file, without fully decompressing the compressed image file, the first compressed image tile describing a first portion of the image represented by said image block, and the at least one additional compressed image tile describing at least one additional portion of the image represented by said image block, wherein the first compressed image tile may be decompressed without decompressing the second compressed image tile, and
modify said pixels contained in said image block to eliminate intra-tile dependencies by scanning said pixels contained in said image block row by row; and
a second computer configured to decompress the compressed image tile and display the first portion of the image, wherein the print server sends the first compressed image tile to the second computer, and wherein the second computer decompresses and displays the first portion of the image;
wherein after the second computer displays first compressed image tile, the print server sends the at least one additional compressed image file to the second computer, wherein the at least one additional compressed image file comprises a block that borders the first compressed image file.