The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 16, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 24, 1997
James P Hoddie, Mountain View, CA (US);
Ian D Ritchie, Boulder Creek, CA (US);
Apple Computer, Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
A method of compressing data representing a plurality of pixels consecutively arranged along a line of an image to be displayed on a computer controlled display is described. The method includes the step of determining color of an initial pixel of the plurality of pixels. The value of a pixel count is then incremented. The value of the pixel count indicates the number of pixels in that color. The color of an adjacent pixel of the initial pixel is then determined. If the color of the adjacent pixel is identical to the color of the initial pixel, then the adjacent pixel is caused to be the initial pixel and the step of incrementing the value of the pixel count is performed. The method then moves to determine the color of the next pixel. If the color of the adjacent pixel is different from the color of the initial pixel, then a datum indicating the color of the initial pixel and the value of the pixel count is generated. A method of using the compressed data of the image to blend the image onto another image is also described.