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:
May. 20, 2008
Filed:
Aug. 16, 2006
Patrice Y. Simard, Iii, Bellevue, WA (US);
Erin L. Renshaw, Kirkland, WA (US);
James Russell Rinker, Kirkland, WA (US);
Henrique Malvar, Sammamish, WA (US);
Patrice Y. Simard, III, Bellevue, WA (US);
Erin L. Renshaw, Kirkland, WA (US);
James Russell Rinker, Kirkland, WA (US);
Henrique Malvar, Sammamish, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, CA (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods for encoding and decoding document images are disclosed. Document images are segmented into multiple layers according to a mask. The multiple layers are non-binary. The respective layers can then be processed and compressed separately in order to achieve better compression of the document image overall. A mask is generated from a document image. The mask is generated so as to reduce an estimate of compression for the combined size of the mask and multiple layers of the document image. The mask is then employed to segment the document image into the multiple layers. The mask determines or allocates pixels of the document image into respective layers. The mask and the multiple layers are processed and encoded separately so as to improve compression of the document image overall and to improve the speed of so doing. The multiple layers are non-binary images and can, for example, comprise a foreground image and a background image.