Method and system for storing statistical data of an image

1. A method for determining statistical data for pixels of an image, the pixels having a higher bit depth per band, wherein the higher bit depth per band comprises greater than 8 bits per band, the method being implemented by a computer system that includes one or more processors configured to execute computer program modules, the method comprising:

dividing, by the one or more processors, the image having pixels with the higher bit depth per band into a plurality of image sections, each image section in the plurality of image sections having a polygonal shape and including substantially homogenous features, wherein at least two image sections in the plurality of image sections have different polygonal shapes defining different area sizes, each image section comprising a plurality of pixels and each pixel having a plurality of bands and a bit depth greater than 8 bits per band;

computing, by the one or more processors, statistical data for pixels within each polygonal image section, the statistical data comprising histograms of each band of each pixel within each polygonal section;

storing, by the one or more processors, data of each polygonal image section with the image in a storage medium; and

storing, by the one or more processors, the statistical data for pixels within each polygonal image section with the data of each corresponding polygonal image section in the storage medium.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein storing the data of each polygonal image section comprises storing, by the one or more processors, coordinates of each polygonal image section in the storage medium.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein storing the data of each polygonal image section comprises storing, by the one or more processors, a time when each polygonal image section is stored in the storage medium.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the substantially homogenous features in each polygonal image section are determined based on a perception of a user.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the substantially homogenous features in each polygonal image section are determined by a computer algorithm.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of polygonal image sections comprise one or more of triangular image sections, quadrilateral image sections, pentagonal image sections, or hexagonal image sections, or any combination of two or more thereof.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

computing, by the one or more processors, minimum value, maximum value, standard deviation, mean, median, mode, skew, or kurtosis, or any combination of two or more thereof, of each pixel in each band for each polygonal image section within the image.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising reading, by the one or more processors, pixel data of the image having the higher-bit depth per band, wherein the pixel data of the image is stored in a new universal image (NUI) file.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the statistical data is stored with the image in the NUI file.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting, by the one or more processors, a first image within the image having pixels with the higher bit depth per band, the first image corresponding to an area of interest (AOI) from the image having pixels with the higher bit depth per band;

determining, by the one or more processors, for each pixel with the higher bit depth per band within the first image, to which polygonal image section in the plurality of polygonal image sections each pixel belongs to; and

converting, by the one or more processors, each pixel with the higher bit depth per band within the first image into a corresponding pixel of a lower bit depth per band using statistical data of a polygonal image section to which the pixel with the higher bit depth per band belongs to, wherein the lower bit depth per band comprises 8 or less bits per band, to obtain a second image having pixels of the lower bit depth per band.

11. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising: displaying, by the one or more processors, the second image having pixels of the lower bit depth per band on a display device.

12. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon when executed by a computer system performs the method recited in claim 1 .

13. A system for determining statistical data for pixels of an image, the pixels having a higher-bit depth per band, wherein the higher bit depth per band comprises greater than 8 bits per band, the system comprising:

a processor configured to:

divide the image having pixels with the higher bit depth per band into a plurality of image sections, each image section in the plurality of image sections having a polygonal shape and including substantially homogenous features, wherein at least two image sections in the plurality of image sections have different polygonal shapes defining different area sizes, each image section comprising a plurality of pixels and each pixel having a plurality of bands and a bit depth greater than 8 bits per band;

compute statistical data for pixels within each polygonal image section; the statistical data comprising histograms of each band of each pixel within each polygonal section;

store data of each polygonal image section with the image in a storage medium; and

store the statistical data for pixels within each polygonal image section with the data of each corresponding polygonal image section in the storage medium.

14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the data corresponding to each polygonal image section comprises coordinates of each polygonal image section.

15. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the data corresponding to each polygonal image section comprises a time when each polygonal image section is stored in the storage medium.

16. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to compute minimum value, maximum value, standard deviation, mean, median, mode, skew, or kurtosis, or any combination of two or more thereof, of each band of each pixel within each polygonal section.

17. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to compute look up tables for the pixels using the histograms.

18. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the storage medium is configured to store pixel data of the image in a new universal image (NUI) file.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the statistical data is stored with the image in the NUI file.

20. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

select a first image within the image having pixels with the higher bit depth per band, the first image corresponding to a viewport from the image having pixels with the higher bit depth per band;

determine, for each pixel of the higher bit depth per band within the first image, to which polygonal image section in the plurality of polygonal image sections each pixel belongs to; and

convert each pixel with the higher bit depth per band within the first image into a corresponding pixel with a lower bit depth per band using the statistical data of a polygonal image section to which the pixel with the higher bit depth per band belongs to, wherein the lower bit depth per band comprises 8 or less bits per band to obtain a second image having pixels of the lower bit depth per band.

21. The system according to claim 20 , further comprising: a display device in communication with the processor, the display device configured to display the second image having the lower bit depth per band.