Patent ID: 7263237

Claim:
A method of processing an image for compression comprising: examining pixels of a color image, wherein examining the pixels comprises: determining a first distance measure between a pixel (n) and an immediately preceding pixel (n−1); determining a second distance measure between the pixel (n) and an immediately succeeding pixel (n+1); and comparing the first distance measure and the second distance measure with a threshold value; if both the first distance measure and the second distance measure are less than the threshold value, replacing the pixel (n) with the immediately preceding pixel (n−1) where the first distance measure is less than the second distance measure or replacing the pixel (n) with the immediately succeeding pixel (n+1) where the first distance measure is more than the second distance measure, thereby extending lengths of sequences of the pixels that have a uniform color such that the sequences become self-compressible, thus increasing compressibility of the image for a compression technique while introducing minimal visual distortion.