A progressive encoding technique for binary images

A major problem with modern document processing systems which incorporate high resolution workstations for displaying images is that the resolution of the stored image is often far greater than the resolution at which it is to be displayed. In contemporary systems an image must be fully decompressed and then have its resolution transformed in order to be displayed as required. The authors present a novel technique for performing compression of binary images which uses progressive encoding. The compression is noiseless, and the progressive encoding allows a low resolution rendition of an image to be reconstructed at a minimal complexity