Image Conversion Device Pixel Value Compression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image data compression technologies face challenges in increasing compression rates for high-speed data transfer and reducing communication load, making it difficult to modify or expand existing compression functions in devices like printers to improve image data compression efficiency.
Innovation Solution
An image conversion device performs processing on image data before compression, designating pixels in a raster line, calculating evaluation values based on pixel differences, and converting pixel values into representative values when the evaluation exceeds a threshold, reducing the number of colors in the data for improved compression rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If compression processing is performed on image data with high compression rate, then data transfer speed and communication efficiency are improved, but image quality degradation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing conversion processing on the image data before compression. The conversion unit converts pixel values to representative values (such as average values or mode values) of adjacent pixels with similar characteristics, creating a pre-processed data structure that enables higher compression rates while preserving essential image information, thereby allowing aggressive compression without severe quality loss
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter representation by converting individual pixel values to representative values that characterize groups of pixels. This parameter transformation allows the compression algorithm to achieve higher compression ratios by encoding representative values instead of individual pixel values, while the human visual system perceives minimal quality loss due to the representative nature of the converted values
2Productivity
If existing compression functions are modified to improve compression rate, then device complexity and development difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image processing function into two distinct units: a conversion unit that performs pixel value conversion to representative values, and an existing compression unit that handles compression. This segmentation allows the conversion function to be added as a separate module without modifying the existing compression function, thereby improving compression rate while keeping the overall system complexity manageable through functional separation
Solution Approach 2:
The conversion unit acts as an intermediary between the original image data and the compression unit. It transforms the input image data into a format with representative values that is more suitable for compression, enabling the existing compression unit to achieve higher compression rates without any modification to its internal logic or structure
Data Source
AI summary
An image conversion device that performs conversion processing on image data before compression processing is performed includes: a pixel designation unit that sequentially designate, as a second pixel, pixels in a raster line that forms the image data in a direction away from a first pixel, which is a pixel included in the raster line, starting from a pixel adjacent to the first pixel in the raster line as a start point of the designation; an evaluation value calculation unit that calculates, as an evaluation value, an absolute value of a difference between pixel values of the first pixel and the second pixel or a square value of the difference; a determination unit that determines whether or not the evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold value; and a conversion unit that calculates a representative value of pixel values from the first pixel to a third pixel that is a pixel adjacent to the second pixel at a side of the first pixel and converts the pixel values from the first pixel to the third pixel into the representative value, at a timing at which the evaluation value is determined to exceed the threshold value.