Patent ID: 7148996

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for compressing a digital multi-spectral image represented by a first color space, the method comprising the steps of: a) dividing a first set of first color space components into first and second paths; b-1) compressing the first color space components on the first path; b-2) dividing the compressed color space components into two paths; b-3) inputting one path of the compressed first color space components into an output function; b-4) reconstructing the other path of compressed first color space components; and b-5) transforming the reconstructed first color space components into a first set of second color space components using a first bounded-loss color space transformation; c) transforming the second set of first color space components on the second path into a second set of second color space components using a second bounded-loss color space transformation; d) inputting the differences between each of the first set of second color space components and the second set of second color space components into a difference function whereby the differences are bound by a predetermined range of values; e) compressing the output of the differences; and f) inputting the compressed differences into the output function.