Patent ID: 6246797
Filing Date: 2001-06-12
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
Image processing apparatus, for use in conjunction with an image capture mechanism, the image processing apparatus comprising:a memory device for storing a plurality of image data structures that each represent a respective image, each image data structure having an associated image quality level corresponding to a quality level at which the corresponding image has been encoded in the image data structure; the image quality level of each image data structure being a member of predefined range of image quality levels that range from a highest quality level to a lowest quality level and that include at least two distinct quality levels;image management logic, including data processing circuitry and state machines for storing and processing image data received from the image capture mechanism, the data processing circuitry and state machines including:image processing circuitry for applying a predefined transform to image data received from the image capture mechanism to generate transform image data and for applying a data compression method to the transform image data so as to generate a new image data structure having an associated image quality level selected from the predefined range of image quality levels; the new image data structure being stored in the memory device;image size reduction circuitry for extracting a subset of the data in a first specified one of the image data structures stored in the memory device, and forming a lower quality version of the first specified image data structure that occupies less space in the memory device than was previously occupied by the first specified image data structure; andimage reconstruction circuitry for successively applying a data decompression method and an inverse transform to any specified one of the image data structures so as to generate a reconstructed image suitable for display on an image viewer;wherein the amount of space occupied by images stored in the form of image data structures in the memory device can be reduced so as to make room for the storage of additional image data structures in the memory device.