Patent ID: 7119813

Claim:
A storage medium storing plural image data elements that together are used to display a visually perceptive image, said storage medium storing said image data elements comprised of plural instances of a stored data element format, all said instances having the same predetermined bit count, each instance representing a portion of said image, each said stored data element instance comprising: a flag indicating whether said instance provides a multi-bit alpha component field storing multi-bit semi-transparency information that may or may not be present in said instance of said format; and a color component portion setting forth at least one color component, said color component portion having a first length if said flag indicates said instance provides said multi-bit alpha component field and having a second length greater than said first length if said flag indicates said instance does not provide said multi-bit alpha component field, wherein the color component portion uses the bit count otherwise available for the multi-bit alpha component field to provide increased color resolution of said instance of said stored data element format when the multi-bit alpha component field is not present, different ones of said stored plural image data elements for said image providing different color resolution precisions.