Patent Document ID: 4222076
Application ID: 05942599
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. An image transmission system (FIG. 1) including a scanning device (10), an addressable memory (11) for gray-scale light-intensity values corresponding to each picture element of an image to be transmitted, a transmission channel (15) for such image and an image display device (20) at the opposite terminal of such channel CHARACTERIZED IN THAT numerical gray-scale values of discrete picture elements obtained in such scanning device (10) are taken from said addressable memory (11) in successive pairs and transformed by interaction with the contents of said addressable memory in a processor (13) into a hierarchical array of integral values according to their approximate averages from individual-element pairs to the entire image, integral values are transmitted from said addressable memory (11) in words of uniform length level-by-level of the hierarchical array from the topmost level downward to elemental level over said channel, (15) and the transmitted image is progressively reconstructed (16, 17, 18 and 19) in successively finer detail in said image display device (20) at the opposite terminal of said channel adaptably to having transmission stopped at any hierarchical level up to the transmission of final detail.