Patent ID: 6522790
Filing Date: 2003-02-18
Classification: G06T,H04N

Abstract:
A method of merging images comprising the steps of:providing a compressed representation of at least two images, each compressed representation including a plurality of index numbers, one or more positions in each image associated with the index numbers, and a group symbol for each index number; forming an indexed image for each image, each indexed image comprising a pattern of index numbers at their associated positions in the image; comparing the patterns of index numbers in a first indexed image with the patterns of index numbers in a second indexed image to determine whether there is correlation between the patterns of index numbers in at least parts of the first and second indexed images; merging the first and second indexed images when there is a sufficient correlation, such that the parts that correlate overlap each other to provide a merged indexed image; and replacing the index numbers in the merged indexed image by the corresponding group symbol to provide a merged image.