Compression of Bayer color filter array data

Consumer digital color cameras use a single sensor with a color filter array to capture images. The captured data is first interpolated into a full color image, which is then compressed in many applications. The color interpolation process before compression introduces redundancy in the data. This paper outlines transformation methods before compression that remove this redundancy. The transformations described, maintain the same data size as the sensor data. The transformed data is compressed by JPEG to ensure retention of system simplicity by using standard technology and algorithms. Experiments demonstrate that substantial improvement in image quality is achievable using the proposed methods.