Patent ID: 7603383

Claim:
An image communication system comprising a server that stores hierarchically encoded JPEG 2000 image data in a storage unit, and a client configured to download image data from the server and to display an image based on downloaded image data, wherein the server: receives a thumbnail request or a Region Of Interest (ROI) acquisition request from the client that has no knowledge about an encoding condition of target JPEG2000 image data; determines based on the received request whether a specific command, which designates the target JPEG 2000 image data, a size of reduced image data to be returned, and an encoding format of the reduced image data, is requested; when the specific command is requested, generates new image data by decoding the designated JPEG 2000 image data stored in the storage unit, resizing the decoded image data to the designated size, and converting the resized decoded image data into the designated encoding format; extracts a JPEG 2000 main header, which includes the encoding condition of the designated JPEG 2000 image data, from the designated JPEG 2000 image data; generates return data including the new image data and the JPEG 2000 main header, wherein the return data excludes encoded data in the designated JPEG 2000 image data; and transmits the return data to the client.