CA2368890A1

CA2368890A1 - Improved recognition of a pre-defined region on a transmitted image

Info

Publication number: CA2368890A1
Application number: CA002368890A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Joseph M. Mosley; Tracy A. Tindall
Original assignee: The Delfin Project, Inc.; Joseph M. Mosley; Tracy A. Tindall
Current assignee: Delfin Project Inc
Priority date: 1999-04-13
Filing date: 2000-04-11
Publication date: 2000-10-19
Also published as: WO2000062553A1; GB2363932A; AU4227800A; WO2000062553A9; GB0122761D0

Abstract

A method to display an image comprising the steps of: partitioning an image into a series of row, column partitions; locating at least one focus point on the image; displaying a first partition in the region defined by at least one focus point; and displaying successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition. In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a method to create an image for subsequent display comprising the steps of: partitioning an image into a series of row, column partitions; locating at least one focus point on the image; and reordering the partitions so that a first partition in the region defined by at least one focus point is displayed first and partitions that form a spiral pattern around the first partition are displayed subsequently therefrom. Compression algorithms and profile compression may be applied to the reordered partitions.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, an information processing system and computer readable medium is disclosed for carrying out the above method. In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a method to create a video image for subsequent display comprising the steps of: selecting a first area on an image, defining a second area on the image where the second area does not include the first area; transmitting the first area a rate higher of transmission higher than the rate of transmission for the second area.

Description

IMPROVED RECOGNITION OF A PRE-DEFINED REGION
ON A TRANSMITTED IMAGE
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention The invention disclosed broadly relates to the field of network computing, and more particularly relates to the field of image distribution and image displaying over networks and other finite communication channels.

2. Description of the Related Art The use of networks and network computers continues to grow. One recent development is the Internet and of the World Wide Web ("Web"). The Web has become immensely popular largely because of the ease of finding information and the user-friendliness of today's browsers. A feature known as hypertext allows a user to access information from one Web page to another Web page by simply pointing with a mouse or equivalent pointing device at the hypertext and clicking. Another feature that makes the Web attractive is having the ability to process the information in remote Web pages without the requirement of having a specialized application program for each kind of content accessed. Thus, the same content is viewed across different platforms.
Browsertechnology has evolved to enable the running of applications that manipulate this content across a wide variety of different platforms. Networks using Web browser servers and technologies for use inside organizations and corporations, called Intranets have also grown in use.
The ease of use of Intranets, Internet, and other networks has made the delivery of images, video and sound very easy. However, this explosive growth in communications over networks in general and the Web in particular has not been with out its shortcomings.
One shortcoming is the amount of time a user must wait to receive an image for viewing.
The length of time a user waits to view an image is based upon two factors:
(i) the limited

3 PCT/US00/09603 bandwidth of the a network (Note that even if the bandwidth is large it is stn nmited.); and (ii) the amount of network traffic or congestions. As more and more users demand more graphical images and larger graphical images, the response time of the networks continues to be reduced.
One solution to decrease the amount of time for image transmission has been the use of compression and decompression techniques and open standards for Internet communications. Popular compression and decompression techniques such as JPEG
(Joint Photographic Experts Group) are known in the art. There are two main reasons for compression. One is to reduce the storage requirements for the file. The state of the art of compression is about 20 to 1 for JPEG, with the resulting change in image quality seldom noticeable. The second reason for image compression is to increase, the transmission speed. Typically, the compression levels and compression types are selected to be uniform across the image and to provide image quality at the most demanding locations within the image, such as the details of the face. These image compression methods display the image but do not assist in identifying the image's key elements of intended central message which is often open to interpretation.
More information of compression algorithms and in particular JPEG and GIF
(Graphical Interchange Format) are described the book entitled "GIFs JPEGs & BMPs:
Handling Internet Graphics" by Judi N. Fernandez published by MIS press (1997). Turning now to FIG. 1 there is shown an illustration of an image being displayed using three known graphics standards. The three graphic standards are GIF, Interlaced GIF and JPEG. Note that in all three cases the image is displayed from the top to the bottom of the screen.
More particularly in the sequence for JPEG 114,116,118 and GIF 102, 104, 106, the image is displayed line by line, from left to right, from the top left hand corner of the screen to the bottom right hand corner. In the Interlaced GIF, the image is rendered from top to bottom several times increasing the image resolution making the image more and more crisp through each successive pass. More specifically in the interlaced GIF of also known as the progressive GIF, the image is rendered using the "DC" image values. This results in the first image to be a very blocky image, 108. Next the mid-range values are sent, resulting in a better image, 110. Finally the high frequency information is sent and the resulting image is much sharper 112. In all these examples of graphical standards shown, the compression used is uniform and selected to assure picture quality at the most demanding locations within the image.

Although the use of compression has overcome several or the problems of congestion and limited bandwidth for the transmission of images and graphics, there are still problems. One problem even with the use of image compression techniques, is that the amount of image and graphic information on the Web continues to grow. It is not uncommon for a Web page to contain several drawings or even a full page drawing that takes thirty seconds or more to display. While compression is an improvement over non-compressed images, the user has to wait to understand the picture as it is being drawn from the top down to the bottom. Many times the information in the image that is of interest is in the middle of the image or towards the bottom and the user must wait until most of the image is displayed. Accordingly, a need exists for a method and system to display the areas of interest first in an image that is compressed using standard industry techniques.
Still, another problem with use of standard image compression techniques is that many areas of detail are confused or not clearly displayed first. An image presented from the top to the bottom provides the user little or no information on what area within the image is being highlighted by the provider or author. In other words, the user is not lead to focus on a particular area of the image as it is being drawn, but rather watches the image being drawn from top to bottom. This is especially true in advertising where the advertiser may desire that the promoted product be displayed first and the surrounding scene be filled in later. Therefore, a need exists to provide a method and system to direct the user's focus to a desired portion of an image as it is being displayed.
Still another problem with the use of standard compression techniques and display techniques is the pixel "adjacency" For raster type compression techniques using difference encoding of adjacent pixels an adjacency problem occurs when the next pixel in a sequence is at the opposite side of the image. Many times the information on one side of an image is very different than the information on the opposite side of the image.
This large difference in information causes more information to be stored in these difference compression techniques. This large difference leads to poor compression and a loss image quality. Accordingly, a need exists for a method and system to provide better adjacency effects for images compressed using difference encoding.
Still, another problem with compression techniques today is the uniformity of compression. All lossy compression involved the reduction of image quality including sharpness, resolution, color depth and more. Compression techniques such as JPEG and GIF strive to reduce the degradation of image quality while minimizing file size. The image

-4-quality is generally reduced uniformly across the entire image. This unitorm degradation in many applications is not desirable. A provider of an image may desire to show one area of an image in greater detail, such as a face, over other areas such as the background scene. The use of uniform compression algorithms does not allow for the ability to select which areas of an image may have higher image quality as compared with another area of the image. Accordingly, a need exists for method and system to overcome this problem.
Still, another problem with methods to display images today there is no ability to embed multimedia tags at specific locations within the image that have been compressed to trigger other events to be synchronized. One example is the desire to trigger a sound, such as a splashing sound when a scene is drawn depicting a diver such as sound files.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method and system to provide embedded multimedia tags in an image for event synchronization.
Yet, still another problem is the need for providing video images over low bandwidth transmissions with out the need of costly video compression hardware or fast microprocessor. The video industry is built on all sorts of standards and methods for displaying the illusion of detail and motion. Broadcast standards in the television include NTSC and PAL. These television standards are based on supplying 25 or 30 frames a second. All of the information such as audio, text and video is sent in each frame. More recently, there is HDTV. (High Definition TV) This is based on DVB, MPEG-2.
(Digital Video Broadcasting, Moving Picture Experts Group). These standards are based upon certain assumptions that involve methods and means to send a frame with all information and then to send only information about the next frames that are different.
This gets to be very complicated as there are motion vectors involved and there are predictive frames to let the decompressor know that for example there is a seen change. In addition the compression method requires very significant processing power. This is of particular importance if real-time is required. In summary these standard techniques will work well if there is sufficient bandwidth to and reasonable processing power at the receiver.
Another standard is H323 for video conferencing. In a similar fashion it relies on reasonable processing power. It is difficult to implement these standards in a low bandwidth device with limited processing power, such as a cellular phone.
Accordingly, there exists a need to provide symmetrical video solutions over low bandwidth transmission without the need for image compression.

-5-SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly, in accordance with the present invention, a method to display an image comprising the steps of: partitioning an image into a series of row, column partitions;
locating at least one focus point on the image; displaying a first partition in the region defined by at least one focus point; and displaying successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a method to create an image for subsequent display comprising the steps of: partitioning an image into a series of row, column partitions; locating at least one focus point on the image; and reordering the partitions so that a first partition in the region defined by at least one focus point is displayed first and partitions that form an spiral pattern around the first partition are displayed subsequently therefrom. Compression algorithms and profile compression may be applied to the reordered partitions.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, an information processing system and computer readable medium is disclosed for carrying out the above method.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a method to create a video image for subsequent display comprising the steps of: selecting a first area on an image; defining a second area on the image where the second area does not include the first area; transmitting the first area a rate higher of transmission higher than the rate of transmission for the second area.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an illustration of an image being displayed using three known graphics standards.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a typical data processing system for hosting Web applications according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the major electrical components of the Web server of FIG. 2 according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the software hierarchy for the Web server of FIG. 3 according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is an image array of the prior art raster scan serial transmission and display of the image of FIG. 1 over a network.

-6-FIG. 6 is a plot of one embodiment of the display sequence a~cUlUlng io me present invention.
FIG. 7 is an image array illustrating the display sequence for an image in a portrait orientation, according to the present invention.
FIG. 8 is an image array illustrating the serial transmission sequence of FIG.

according to the present invention.
FIG. 9 is an illustration of an image showing the comparison over an identical network between the image display using a raster scan display sequence and the image display sequence according to the present invention.
FIG. 10 is an illustration of an image for an alternative embodiment using a selectable starting point or selectable sweet spot according to the present invention.
FIG. 11 is an illustration of an image for an alternate embodiment illustrating multiple sweet spots or multiple starting points according to the present invention.
FIG. 12 is an illustration of an image of an alternate embodiment illustrating the use of multimedia tags embedded in the transmission sequence according to the present invention.
FIG. 13 is a flow chart of the interaction between the client and the server of FIG.
2 according to the present invention.
FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating the plug-ins of client software application of FIG. 4 according to the present invention.
FIG. 15 is a representative graphical user interface illustrating a tool for selected a sweet spot or starting point on an image.
FIG. 16 is an image array illustrating the possible second pixel locations, according to the present invention.
FIG. 17 is an image array illustrating the two possible directions for constructing the spiral image display sequence according to the present invention.
FIG. 18 is an image array for an alternate embodiment, illustrating the display sequence using an interlaced spiral display sequence according to the present invention.
FIG. 19 is an image array for an alternate embodiment, illustrating the display sequence using a skipped spiral display sequence according to the present invention.
FIG. 20 is an image array for an alternate embodiment, illustrating the display sequence using a progressive pallet display according to the present invention.

FIG. 21 is an illustration of an image being displayed using me present invention using embodiments of FIGs. 18-20 as compared with interlace GIF according to the present invention.
FIG. 22 is an illustration of an example image being displayed using real-time video.
FIG. 23 is a block diagram of the video frame sequence being transmitted for FIG.
22.
FIG. 24 is a block diagram ofthe video frame sequence being transmitted according to the present invention.
FIG. 25 is an illustration of the video frame sequence being transmitted for the image of FIG. 22 according to the present invention.
FIG. 26 is a flow diagram of the capture and transmission of the video frame sequence of FIG. 25 according to the present invention.
FIG. 27 is a flow diagram of the reception and display of the video frame sequence of FIG. 26 according to the present invention.
FIG. 28 is an image array illustrating the comparison of block adjacency during differential compression on a raster scan image as compared with differential compression on an image reordered according to the present invention.
FIG. 29 is a series plots illustrating the variety of compression profiles possible according to the present invention.
FIG. 30 is a illustration of an image under a compression profile of FIG. 29 according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT
This embodiment is broken in five distinct area as follows: (1) FIGs. 2-4 illustrate the hardware and software platform in which the present invention operates;
(2) FIGs. 5-12 illustrate the overall concept behind the present invention as seen by the end user or client information system receiving the image transfer and display sequence. (3) FIGs. 13-21 illustrate the details of the transfer and still image display sequence may be constructed at the network server; (4) FIGs. 22-27 illustrates the details of video constructed at the network server and displayed on the client information processing system; and (5) FIGs.
28-30 disclose how present and future compression technologies may be applied.
1. Hardware and Software Platforms _g_ Referring now in more detail to the drawings in which like numera~s rerer to iiKe parts throughout several views, in FIG. 2 there is shown a functional block diagram of a typical data processing system for hosting Web applications 208. A Web server 202 with a Web server application 204. The Web server 202 is connected to the Internet 206.
An client information processing system 208 with a client application 210 such as a Web browser is connected to the Internet 206. Examples of Web browser clients include Netscape Navigator, Sun Hot Java Browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer or equivalent.
Web server 202 is a Server such as Sun Sparc Server, IBM's PC Server, IBM AS/400, IBM

or equivalent server hardware platforms capable of hosting Web applications.
These client-server systems can be implemented on a wide variety of hardware and software platforms.
Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a block diagram of the major electrical components of the Web server 202 in accordance with this invention. The electrical components include: a central processing unit (CPU) 302, an Input/output (I/O) Controller 304, a system power and clock source 306; display driver 308; RAM 310; ROM 312;
ASIC
(application specific integrated circuit) 314 and a hard disk drive 318. A
keyboard 316 with a mouse 332 receives the user input. These are representative components of a computer. The operation of a computer comprising these elements is well understood. Network interface 320 provides connection to a computer network such as Ethernet, TCP/I P or other popular protocol network interfaces. Optional components for interfacing to external peripherals include: a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) port 322 for attaching peripherals; a PCMCIAsIot 324; and serial port 326. An optional diskette drive 328 is shown for loading or saving code to removable diskettes 330 or equivalent computer readable media. The Web server 202 may be implemented by combination of hardware and software. Moreover, the functionality required for using the invention may be embodied in computer-readable media (such as 3.5 inch diskette 330) to be used in programming an information-processing apparatus (e.g., a personal computer) to perform in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the software hierarchy for the Web sever 202 of FIG. 3 according to the present invention. BIOS (Basic Input Output System) 404 is a set of low level of computer hardware instructions, usually stored in ROM 312, for communications between an operating system 408, device drivers) 406 and hardware 402. Device drivers 406 are hardware specific code used to communicate between and operating system 408 and hardware peripherals such as a mouse 332, CD ROM
drive or printer. Applications 210 are software applications written in C/C++, Java, assembler or equivalent and include client applications 210 such as a Web browser.
operating system 408 is the master program that loads after BIOS 404 initializes, that controls and runs the hardware 402. Examples of operating systems include DOS, Windows 3.1/95/98/NT, Unix, Macintosh, OS/2 and equivalent.
2. Reception And Display Of An Still Image On Client S sty ems Turning now to FIG. 5, shown is an image array of the prior art raster scan serial transmission and display of the image of FIG. 1 over the Internet or other networks. Note that as the client information processing system 208 receives the serial data as it is being displayed by the client application 210. The image is partitioned into a vector of ordered pixel elements in row, column format. In this example, the image is shown to be partitioned into a 5 row by 7 column array. This 5 by 7 array is chosen for simplicity and other higher resolution partitions common in the industry such as 600 x 800 known as SVGA and 1024 x 768 known as XGA are within the true scope and spirit of the present invention. The first line Y1 of pixels are sent: (1,1 ) (2,1 ) (3,1 ) (4,1 ) (5,1 ). Then the next line Y2 of pixels are sent: (1,2) (2,2) (3,2) (4,2) (5,2). This continues until the last line Y7 of pixels are sent: (1,7) (2,7) (3,7) (4,7) (5,7). It is assumed that the picture's main sub-image or "sweet spot" or area of particular interests is in the center. Using a center sweet spot, the image is not recognizable until perhaps 30% to 50% of the image is displayed as illustrated in sequence 502.
FIG. 6 is a plot of one embodiment of the display sequence according to the present invention. Notice that the display sequence 602 or track starts at a predefined starting point 604. The predefined starting point 604 or "sweet spot" is the area to be display first.
The starting point 604 or sweet spot does not need to be in the center and other locations are described below. After the predefined starting point 604 is displayed, a spiral track around the starting point 604 in a clock-wise or counter-clockwise direction.
The image is displayed from the starting point spiraling outwards. The track 602 comprises a series of passes around the starting point 604 as designated 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The track 602 is displayed on client application 208 such as a Web browser. For embodiments where current image compression standards are employed such as GIF or JPEG on the re-ordered pixels, a special Web browser plug-in is implemented to decompress and display the image. Details on this plug-in are covered in the Section 5 "Compression Technologies" below.

In many images, such as that shown in FIG. 6, the height ana wiatn of the image are not equal, in other words the image is not square. The relationship between height and width is called the aspect ratio. The image in FIG. 6 has an aspect ration of about 1.4 1.0 (height to width). The vertical and horizontal spiral dimension can be alter according to the present invention to handle different aspect ratios, for example landscape versus portrait. The image is displayed from the sweet spot 604 until the width is completed.
Thereafter only the top and bottom rows are added continuing the "spiral" or "circular"
build. Note that no processing or transmission time is lost while outside the frame.
Variable vertical and horizontal spiral track 604 dimensions are matched to the different aspect ratios according to the present invention. Tracks 602 are added so as to match the aspect ratio of the image. One example of an image with a portrait aspect ratio is illustrated in FIG. 7. In this example, the size of the image array is 5 by 9.
The display sequence 604 starts at location (3,5) and then moves to location (4,5) (4,6).
Next, two tracks 604 are transmitted and displayed along the short side. This is vector (4,6) (3,6) (2,6) and (4,7) (3,7) (2,7). A single vector is built along the long side (2,5) (2,4). This technique continues wherein more vectors are placed along the short side on top and bottom than on the long side. Two vectors are added in the vertical direction to only one in the horizontal. This technique allows for a display sequence 602 to be matched to the 5 to 9 aspect ratio. Other aspect ratios can be displayed using this technique. For very wide images, such as Internet Banners, even wider build rates can be implemented.
FIG. 8 show an image array illustrating the serial transmission sequence of FIG. 6 according to the present invention. Note that the transfer sequence 800 contains an image header 802 and a trailer 804. The header 802 contains such attributes as the size of the image, the location of the sweet spot or starting point, and other important displaying tags, such as multimedia tags such as audio wave files described in FIG. 12 below. The trailer 804 contains such tags as a check sum for data verification, and other end of file messages. It should be understood that the present invention permits very rapid recognition of the focus or sweet spot 604 for the image. The starting point 604 is the center of the image. To calculate the starting point 604 for the center in this embodiment, the total number of columns is divided by 2 and the total number of lines is divided by 2.
If the division results in an odd number, the results are rounded up or down as desired.
For example in the 5 by 7 array and measuring from the top left corner the starting point for X is 5/2 = 2.5 and rounding up yields 3. The starting point for Y is 7/2 =
3.5. and rounding up yields 4. This results in a starting point at location (3,4).

FIG. 9 is a plot of a comparison over an identical limitea transmission network between a raster scan image display sequence and the display sequence according to the present invention. In the raster scan sequence 902, approximately 1/4 of the image is transmitted and displayed by the time the top portion of the head of the image is viewable.
Continuing further, almost 50% the image of the raster scan transfer and image sequence 902 must be displayed prior to recognizing the face. Contrasting the raster scan transfer and display sequence 902 with the transfer and display sequence 904, the face is recognized only after about 1/4 of the image is transmitted. Furthermore, at about 50%
of the transfer and display sequence according to the present invention, the entire portrait of the person is displayed. Even though in both cases the time to completely display the image is the same. The method of displaying the present invention from the sweet spot 604 out rather than top down results in the image being recognized faster.
In another embodiment, the sweet spot or starting point 604 can be selected to be other areas on the image besides the center as illustrated in FIG. 10. The default starting point 604 or sweet spot is the center of the image 1002. The sweet spot or starting point 604 is selected by the provider of the image at the Web server 202 (or standalone authoring station) to be at the elbow 1004. In an alternate embodiment, the starting point 604 can be selected using a stand alone software package where the image array is reordered and accessible by the Web server 202. Here the person viewing the image on the client information processing system 208 is drawn to the intended focus of the elbow as defined by the author. This concept of a selectable starting point or sweet spot allows advertisers to place the primacy on the part of the advertisement that is most important, for example, the initial display of a brand of soda with a can being held by an actor that is displayed subsequently.
In another embodiment, multiple sweet spots or multiple starting points are used as illustrated in FIG. 11 according to the present invention. Many times there may be more than one spot on an image that a provider would like to focus the viewer's attention.
Here both an airplane 1102 and a package 1104 are chosen. The pixels surrounding each starting point 1102 and 1104 are filled-in an alternating manner, where-in each area is transmitted and filled-in a spiraling or circular manner as taught for the single sweet spot embodiment in FIG. 6 above.
In another embodiment, the use of multimedia tags embedded in the transmission sequence 800 is illustrated in FIG. 12, according to the present invention. In the example given an image contains a cartoon figure and an explosion. The sweet spot 604 is the cartoon figure and is displayed first, 1202. As the build continues nair or what will be the cloud of an explosion is displayed 1204. The author select a particular pixel and when this pixel is displayed, a sound effect is triggered. The "kablam" is heard as the balance of the image is displayed 1206. Other examples include a soft drink jingle played when the bottle of soda is displayed as it is held by an actor. Two examples to embed the multimedia tags are discussed. Other methods are possible within the true scope and spirit of this invention.. In the first method the use of HTML (Hyper-Text-Markup-Language) tags allows standard Web browsers to play a sound or trigger an event on an client system 208.
In another embodiment, a special Web browser plug-in is provided to parse the transmitted sequence 800 and trigger events such as playing sound on the client's information processing system 208. It may by desirable to transmit the multimedia sound file first prior to the display of the image to enable even more complex and longer triggered events such as sound to be played while the image is being displayed. In an alternate embodiment, the sound effect is chosen to be an operating system 408 file such as any of the wave files that ship with Microsoft Windows 3.1/98/NT. Once completed the image can contain all of the normal HTML tags or "hot spots" or other such labels.
FIG. 13 is a flow chart of the interaction between the client and the Web server of FIG. 2 according to the present invention. The process begins with step 1302, where the Web server 202 accesses the stored the files. These stored files are the re-ordered images of the present invention and the associated HTML tags. In step 1304, if during a connected session the client selects a file of the subject invention the requested file is made available for down loading. If the client has the proper plug-in the image is displayed using the spiraling display method of the present invention as described in FIGs.
6-12 above, step 1308. If the client does not have the proper plug-in controls the browser toggles to an auto download the proper plug-in, step 1310. Once the download is completed the real-time displaying and viewing of the requested image is completed, step 1308. This auto down load is required only the first time and there after is available for all future image viewing using the subject invention.
FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating the plug-in of client software application of FIG. 4 according to the present invention. The browser application 210 provides for a level of customization and adaptation by allowing for plug-in software. These include certain standard file handling modules such as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), JPEG, GIF and others, 1402. It is into this space that new and improved plug-ins are placed 1404. One such plug-in is the display application 1412 for receiving and displaying the re-ordered sequence 800 as described in FIGs. 6-12 above.
3. Still Imac~,e Construction On A Server The image constructed on the Web server 202 according to the present invention is accomplish taking a image stored in a raster scan format and reordering the transferred pixels as described in one of several alternate embodiments as described herein. .The images can be converted dynamically on the Web server 202 by an application 204 when an image is sent to a client information processing system 208. In another embodiment, the images can be converted and stored in the Web server 202 in the re-ordered sequence. The construction of the image to be transferred from Web server 202 is now described. FIG. 15 is a representative graphical user interface illustrating a software tool for selected a sweet spot or starting point on an image. The software authoring 1510 tool can be a standalone software application 210 or server application 204. This would allow the viewing, and optimization of images. In the window is a picture of a boat against a shoreline. This software authoring tool 1510 will allow the normal viewing of any of the standard image compression formats such as JPEG, GIF, PNG, and more or alternatively if no compression is used at all such as with BMP files. Given a view of the picture the author can select a sweet spot. This is indicated by the cross-hairs 1502 in the lower center. Once the author moves the cross-hairs 1502 over the desired sweet spot or starting point 604 and clicks the mouse the location is taken to be the sweet spot. Now if the mouse selects the button icon 1504 just below the Help in the upper left of the window the image is converted to the subject invention format. It is important to note that the compression scheme is the same, it is just the order of the pixels that has been changed. Once this image is saved it can be viewed with this software authoring tool 1510 and as displayed it would start at the sweet spot 604. If no sweet spot 604 was chosen then saving a file with the subject invention's technology will cause the center to be used as the sweet spot 604. The build of the image from the sweet spot can be accomplished at the original compression ratio. However the author can select additional compression as the image is assembled out and away from the sweet spot 604 as described in FIG. 29 below. After the image is assembled the author can look at the quality of the image as a function of the location on the image. For an area of high image detail such as a person's face very little compression can be allowed. On the outer edges of an image less quality may not only be allowable but desirable. The software tool described in FIG.
15 has the ability to simulate a connection to a network. Under View operation and during the displaying of an image a given "connection" speed is selected. They are such as 14.4K, 28.8K, 33K 56K and higher bps (bits per second). The author experiences what a remote viewer would see.
In another embodiment, this software authoring tool 1510 can be used within digital cameras. Using some of the functionality of this software authoring tool 1510 on a digital camera, the photographer can select the sweet spot 604 and the compression profile as described in FIG. 29 below. That is as a picture is taken and viewed in complete detail the author can save it as is or it can be compressed.
As discussed above, at least one starting point 604 or sweet spot is chosen for an image to be transferred from server 202. For the simplicity, a lafger array of

7 by 9 image array is described with the starting point 604 or sweet spot is the center unless otherwise specified. As illustrated in FIG. 16, once the first point to be displayed is chosen, there are eight second pixel choices possible. After the provider of the image chooses the sweet spot 604, an software authoring tool 1510 running on the Web server 204 suggests possible second pixels to be selected by the provider of the image. In the absence of a selection by the provider of the image the nearest center pixel is chosen to be the focus.
In this example the sweet spot is chosen to be the center at location (4,5).
The possible eight second pixel choices are at locations: (3,4) (4,4) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6) (4,6) (3,6) or (3;5).
Once the sweet spot 604 of the first pixel displayed is chosen and the second pixel to be displayed is chosen, a direction to fill-in the subsequent pixel is chosen. FIG. 17 is an image array illustrating the two possible directions for constructing the spiral image display sequence according to the present invention. The clockwise direction as denoted by the solid line 1702 proceeds as: (4,5) (5,5) (5,6) (4,6) (3,6) (3,5) (3,4) and so on. The counter clockwise direction as denoted by the dash line 1704 and proceeds as:
(4,5) (5,5) (5,4) (4,4) (3,4). In alternative embodiments, the next pixel in the spiral may not border or be immediately adjacent to the previously drawn pixels. These alternate embodiments are shown in FIGs. 18-20 and described in the following paragraphs.
FIG. 18 is an image array for an alternate embodiment, illustrating the display sequence using an interlaced spiral display sequence according to the present invention.
A first spiral vector or track 1802 as denoted by a solid line starts at location (4,5) and spirals outward to fill-in the remaining pixel elements in such a fashion so as to create an "interior" spiral. This "interior" spiral is a second track 1804 as denoted by a dash line and starts at location (4,6). The first trace 1802 is transmitted and displays half of the image.

The second trace 1804 is transmitted and displays the second halt orme image.
Although a two pass interlaced transmission and display is shown here, other interlace designs such as three or more passes are possible using this technique and depending on, the resolution of the pixel elements being displayed.
FIG. 19 is an image array for an alternate embodiment, illustrating the display sequence using a skipped spiral display sequence according to the present invention. The transmitted and displayed trace of vector 1902 displays a first pixel at location (4,5) and then continued to display the next adjacent pixel in a spiral pattern as shown in FIG. 17 above. However unlike in FIG. 17 where each pixel along the trace or vector 1702 is displayed, in this embodiment only pixels that are labeled "A" are displayed on the first pass. Like in FIG. 18, half of the image is displayed in a skipped manner and not in an interlaced manner. In the first pass, the last pixel displayed is at location (6,1). Next, the second pass starts at location (5,5) and begins to fill-in the pixel locations left blank by the first pass. These second pass pixels are labeled "B" and the second pass ends at location (7,1). Although was is illustrated is a two pass skipped spiral transmission and display.
Other number of passes including 3 or more are possible.
FIG. 20 is an image array for an alternate embodiment, illustrating the display sequence using a progressive pallet display according to the present invention. The image is displayed during a first pass with a reduced pallet. For example, the reduced palate could be a 6 bit gray scale. These 6 bits are in fact comprised from the two most significant bits from a normal 24 bit RGB register. Once the gray scale image is transmitted and displayed for each pixel using of a reduce palate the first pass is complete.
During the second pass, the same spiral is traversed again but during the second pass the rest of the palette is filled in. To reconstruct the normal 24 bit RGB from a 6 bit gray scale, the remaining 18 bits are transmitted and displayed for each pixel location.
More specifically for the three groups of 2 bits that were originally transmitted are combined with the three groups of 6 bits as originally received. Accordingly each pixel is converted from 6 bit gray scale to 24 bit color. It should be understood that this progressive pallet technique allows the image to be transmitted and displayed quickly in gray scale during the first pass and during the second transmission the display of color is added. Although this is a two pass pallet method, other number of passes are possible depending on the pallet type and the amount of gray scale desired to be transmitted during the first pass.
FIG. 21 is an illustration of an image being displayed using the present invention using embodiments of FIGs. 18-20 as compared with interlace GIF according to the present invention. On the left is the interlaced GIF method, 2102, ~ ~ u~+, ana zn un of the prior art systems. This is used within limited bandwidth networks to allow earlier recognition of an image. The top image of series 2102 illustrate the first pass image that is blocky that was sent using only the "DC" values of the pixels. The second image 2104, the center view is displayed when the mid-frequency values of the image are received.
Lastly the high frequency values are sent and the image is displayed completely 2106.
Note that high detail around the sweet spot in the center is not available until perhaps 60 to 80% of the file is transmitted. Next, three image transmission techniques are illustrated from FIGs. 18-20. The interlaced spiral 2108, 2110, and 2112, the skipped spiral sequence spiral, 2114, 2116 and 2118 and finally the progressive pallet, 2120, 2122 and 2124. In these examples it is important to note that while none of these images are displayed faster in their entirety, the early transmission of the sweet spot is recognizable earlier in the display.
4. Video Construction and Reception FIG. 22 is an illustration of an example image 2200 being displayed using real-time video. Note that the background of the walls 2202 do not move. The table 2204 in the foreground also does not move. To a certain extent the students 2206 around the table may or may not move but they are deemed to be of less importance that the region around the teacher and the board 2208.
FIG. 23 is a block diagram of the video frame sequence being transmitted for FIG.
22. A first frame is presented, then the second frame , third frame and finally the fourth frame. For this example there is an assumption that the bandwidth is sufficient to send 4 frames a second. In real-time video typically 25 to 30 are considered optimal. At around 7 frames a second the viewer's experience is that the motion is very chopped and jerky.
It is assumed in this example that the teacher and the writing on the board are the sweet spot 604 of the video. In the spatial domain the important part of an image is to be sent first for early recognition and for attention. The teacher and the board 2208 are the focus point of the video stream and receive a higher frame rate. This enables a higher temporal value. It should be understood that these assumptions will not work if the scene is being panned, or zoomed or if there is a "cut" to and entirely different scene or if there is a tremendous amount of action throughout the field of the scene.
Turning now to FIG. 24 is a block diagram of the video frame sequence being transmitted according to the present invention. The first frame 2400 is sent as in FIG. 23.

The bandwidth for the second frame is allocated by sending 4 addiuonai sub-trames 2402 of reduced size. More specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 24 the second frame is split into 4 sub-frames and then sent using the upper left 2404, upper right 2406 then the lower left 2408 and then the lower right 2410. FIG. 24 illustrates that the available bandwidth, but the actual transmission is sent as follows. As a default the center 25% of the image is chosen as the sweet spot and this is sent in each case. The displaying of motion at the sweet spot is much higher. Next the third frame is sent in its entirety. Then as before the bandwidth for the fourth frame is used to send out 4 additional sub-frames 2302 of the sweet spot 2208. Note that with respect to the sweet spot the frame rate has moved from 4 frames to 10 per second.
FIG. 25 is an illustration of the video frame sequence being transmitted for the image of FIG. 22 according to the present invention. Video stream sent 2502 illustrates the first 5 frames. The first frame 2400 is sent completely. For the next 4 frames only the center 25% is captured and transmitted. It is important to note that there is very little processing occurring on either the transmission or receiving side. The pixels out side the sweet spot are not transmitted. At the beginning of the transmission the size and the location of the sweet spot is chosen and the broad cast platform and the receiving platform are synchronized. The selection of the sweet spot 2208 may be by the camera person or by the viewer at a remote location. At the receiving location, 2504 the first frame is received and displayed full time. After this the pixels in the sweet spot 2208 of the full frame are replaced by the next four sub-frames 2404, 2406, 2408, and 2410 as they are received. This gives the viewer a perception of high bandwidth video displaying at the point of interest, or sweet spot 2208. Further, it is also noted that the size of the sweet spot can be adjusted so as to balance the number of frames against the size of the sweet spot 2208. Using this sub-frame approach there is a tradeoff for either detail or~ non blurred motion. For an example, if an automobile moves by a camera a high detail still frame of the car's license plate is more important for identification than "smooth video".
However if the frame rate is too slow an automobile may pass by and not be captured between frames. Accordingly, the tradeoff between sub-frame size and rate is application specific.
FIG. 26 is a flow diagram of the capture and transmission of the video frame sequence of FIG. 25 according to the present invention. A video stream, 2602 is transmitted in a digital fashion, frame by frame. Block 2604 illustrates the binary image map. The frame, 2604 is presented in a raster scan serial fashion. If this is a full frame, 2608 then it is transmitted, 2612. This is defined by the allowable panawiatn, size of a full frame, and the number, location and size of the sub-frame. The definition may be controlled at the Web server 202 or by the client 208. This definition may also contain the order method. It may be the raster scan or it may be converted to the present invention, technique of sending the frame starting from the defined sweet spot 2208. If the presented frame is defined to be a sub-frame, 2608 then the image content, of sub-frame is Boolean combined, 2618 with the sub frame definition, 2616. This results in a sub frame that contains the image content that is deemed to be of temporal value. This Boolean method is illustrative and is not intended to limit the teaching and scope of the present invention.
Other methods of defining the sub-frame area are possible such as using x, y position techniques. Variations of this include using the upper left and lower right to define a rectangular area, defining the center-point and horizontal and vertical radiuses, and defining the center and a pixel or similar count. It may be the raster scan, or it may be converted to the present invention using the spiraling method with the technique of sending the frame starting from the defined sweet spot 2208. If the presented frame is defined to be a sub-frame, 2608 then the raster scan of the frame is boolean "ANDed", 2618 with the definition of the sub frame, 2616. The sub-frame results, 2620 that is presented to the boolean "OR" block, 2610 for transmission.
FIG. 27 is a flow diagram of the reception and display of the video frame sequence of FIG. 26 according to the present invention. This transmission, is illustrated by block, 2704. It is comprised of a full frame and one or more sub-frames, the location and size of is defined. When the image frames are received and are labeled as a full frame, 2706 then they are displayed on the display, 2710. If the frame is a sub-frame, 2714 then the sub frame is used to over write the positionally correct pixels of the full frame, 2720 as defined by the sub-frame map, 2716. This assembled frame is then presented to the display stream, 2708 for displaying on the display, 2710. If the size and number of sub-frames is selectable and in the extreme may include no full frames. If the transmission and receiving platforms have sufficient processor power then some level of compression may be applied on top of the present invention video technique.
5. Compression Technologies The present invention as described above can be summarized in the following steps:
~ digitizing the image into an array of pixels selecting a first pixel to display (along with direction of spiral, aspect ratio, number of pixels to skip, number of spirals interlaced and number of pallet passes and more) ~ reordering the pixels stored at Web server 202 and sending the pixels over the Internet 206 in the reordered sequence to the client information processing device 208.
receiving the reordered pixels and display the pixels in the reordered pixels.
The use of third party compression algorithms can be incorporated to the above steps.
The incorporation of a third party compression algorithm is as follows:
~ digitizing the image into an array of pixels ~ selecting a first pixel to display (along with direction of spiral, aspect ratio, number of pixels to skip, number of spirals interlaced and number of pallet passes and more) reordering the pixels and applying compression to the reordered pixels for images stored at Web server 202 sending the reordered, compressed pixels over the Internet 306 to a client information processing device 208.
receiving the reordered pixels and applying a corresponding de-compression algorithm ~ displaying the reordering the pixels.
Turning now to FIG. 28, shown is an image array illustrating the comparison of block adjacency during differential compression on a raster scan image as compared with differential compression on an image reordered according to the present invention.
Differential compressions is compression used in JPEG where the difference of neighboring pixels is calculated. Simply stated, difference encoding or compression is based on the principle that the less difference in the region of an image, the less information that needs to used to represent this region and therefore the image representation is compressed. Accordingly the more similarity in adjacent pixels the better the compression. In most pictures the information on one edge of an image is very different than the information on an opposite side. As shown FIG. 28, the raster scan pixel ordered image 2802, when the compression algorithm hits an edge such as right hand block 4, the compression algorithm must re-start back on the left hand block 5. In addition for raster type of compression schemes the compression method is disconnected when the "next" pixel must be taken from the opposite side of the image. In other words, after reaching the right most pixel, the compression method jumps to the iert most, to continue the raster scan. Examples of edge transitions are 4 to 5, 8 to 9, and 12 to 13. Therefore the adjacency between the blocks is poor and the difference calculated during encoding very large. Large encoding difference result in the loss of picture quality that is perceivable. Turning to the reordered pixels of the present invention as shown in 2804 for a simple spiral. Notice that there is more block adjacency as the trace for compression 2804 illustrates. The present invention's method spiral method allows for excellent "adjacency". Stated differently, the pixels are always next to one another.
There are no jumps and the "next" pixel is always "next" to the previous. This adjacency is interrupted when the pixel stream reaches the edge of the image and must jump from one line over the completed center to the next line. For reasonable aspect ratios this happens only when the image is nearing completion. There is little similarity between these block in most images.
FIG. 29 is a series plots illustrating the variety of compression profiles possible according to the present invention. Assuming the default sweet spot 604 is the center of the image 2902, several possible compression profiles are shown half-round 2902, bell curve 2904, triangular 2906 and stair-step 2908. The higher the peak in each profile 2902, 2904, 2906 and 2908 the less the compression. Here the amount of compression is varied so as to maximize the quality at the sweet spot 604 or point of interest in the image. The use of graduated image compression profiles enables the image to be transmitted even quicker and thereby displayed quicker on a client system 208.
Each image can be optimized by the provider or author to profiles desired. It is important to note, that these compression technique can be incorporated into digital cameras to enable the use of compression during the capture of the image to be directed by the digital camera user. ' FIG. 30 is a illustration of an image under a compression profile of FIG. 29 according to the present invention. The author or provider can select the focus or sweet spot for a viewing. A prior art raster scan of an image of a castle and sheep 3002 is shown. Upon the completion of the raster scan image 3002 being displayed, it is not readily apparent which area or feature of the image 3002 the author of the image desires to direct user's focus. In contrast to the raster scan image 3002 an image with a compression profile that has been applied is shown 3004. The pixel array is reordered according to the present invention and applying the straight line 2906 compression profile of FIG. 29. The resulting image 3004 is drawn using variable compression combined with the pixel reordering of the present invention. It is readily apparent tnat the desired focus is one of the Iambs, 3006. This focus point is displayed rapidly first. The viewer is able to view the image faster, because of the variable compression. The image 3004 continues to build more and more compression is used. This allows for faster completion of the image displaying as shown in 3008.
Another example of the application of a compressions profile is in advertisement.
In an advertisement a sweet spot is selected to be a bottle of soda. The soda is crystal clear. However the bottle is on the beach with water in the background and a partly cloudy sky is over head. The setting for the soda can be compressed to a very high degree and it can be unnoticeable. In another example if someone were holding the soda in a crowd, high compression away from the sweet spot would cause the other people in the crowd to be fuzzy and pixilated. This has the desired effect of causing the viewer to focus in on the soda. In all cases the author will be viewing the image and looking at the file size and in an artistic way balancing the different parameters, such as sweet spot location, build technique, and compression profile and amount.
Alternatively, if the author would like to improve the viewing of the image by making it bigger 3010, the size of the image would be chosen so as to have the transfer time to the same as the normal size raster scan image, 3002.
It should be understood that any of the still image construction techniques describe in this Section 3 "Still Image Construction On A Server" or Section 2 "Reception And Display Of An Still Image On Client Systems" or Section 4 "Video Construction and Reception" or Section 5 "Compression Technologies" are building blocks. Each building block can be combined with other building blocks in numerous useful combinations. For example the progressive pallets technique can be combined with the skipping every pixel technique can be combined with an interlacing spiral technique for an image of a given aspect ratio. Likewise, the location of the sweet spot, the type and profile of the compression, the number of sweet spots, the direction of the spiral, and the number of multimedia links can be combined.
Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it will be understood by those having skill in the art that changes can be made to this specific embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is not to be restricted, therefore, to the specific embodiment, and it is intended that the appended claims cover any and all such applications, modifications, and embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method to display an image comprising the steps of:
partitioning an image into a series of row, column partitions;
locating at least one focus point on the image;
displaying a first partition in a region defined by the at least one focus point; and displaying successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying successive partitions includes displaying successive partitions so that each successive partition displayed borders the partition that was displayed immediately prior hereto.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying successive partitions includes the sub-steps of:
displaying n successive partitions that comprise a new of partitions; and displaying m successive partitions that comprise a column of partition so that value of integers n and m can be adjusted to fill a pre-defined aspect ratio in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying successive partitions includes the sub-steps of:
displaying a first set of successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition; and displaying at least one successive set of partitions in a substantially spiral pattern interlaced within a previously displayed set of successive partitions.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying successive partitions includes the sub-steps of:
displaying a first set of successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition wherein at least one of the successive partitions to be displayed is skipped; and displaying at least one successive set of partitions along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions so as to display at least one of the partitions to be displayed that was skipped in the first set.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying successive partitions includes the sub-steps of:
displaying a first set of successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition wherein the first set of successive partitions are displayed from a reduced pallet; and displaying at least one successive set of partitions along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions wherein the successive set of partitions are displayed from a portion of the pallet not previously displayed.

7. A method to create an image for subsequent display comprising the steps of:
partitioning an image into a series of row, column partitions;
locating at least one focus point un the image; and reordering the partitions so that a first partition in the region defined by the at least one focus paint is displayed first and partitions that form a spiral pattern around the first partition are displayed subsequently therefrom.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of:
applying a compression algorithm to the reordered partitions.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of:
applying a predefined compression profile to the reordered partitions.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of reordering the partitions includes reordering the partitions so that each successive partition is displayed so as to border the partition that was displayed immediately prier hereto.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of reordering the partitions includes the sub-steps of:
reordering n successive partitions that comprise a new of partitions; and reordering m successive partitions that comprise a column of partitions so that a value of integers n end m can be adjusted to fill a pre-defined aspect ratio in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition when displayed.

12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of reordering the partitions includes the sub-steps of:
reordering a first set of successive partitions so as to be displayed in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition wherein at least one of the successive partitions to be displayed is skipped; and reordering at feast one successive set of partitions so as to be displayed along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions so as to permit the display of at least one of the partitions to be displayed that was skipped in the first set.

13. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of reordering the partitions includes the sub-steps of:
reordering a first set of successive partitions so as to be displayed in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition, wherein the first set of successive partitions are displayed from a reduced pallet; and reordering at least one successive set of partitions to be displayed along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions, wherein the successive set of partitions are displayed from a portion of the pallet not previously displayed.

14. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of:
associating a teg with at least once partition so as to cause a multimedia event to be rendered when the partition is displayed.

15. The method according to claim 14 further comprising the step of:
associating a tag with at least one partition so as to cause an audio track to be played when the partition is displayed.

16. A method to create a video image for subsequent display comprising the steps of:
selecting a first area on an image;
defining a second area on the image where the second area does nit include the first area; and transmitting the first area at a rate of transmission higher than the rate of transmission for the second area.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the steps of:
transmitting n frames of the first area; and transmitting the second area every modulo n frames, wherein n represents the difference in transmission speeds between the first area and the second area.

18. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the steps of:
receiving the first area;
receiving the second area; and displaying a composite of the first area with the second area so as to display the area defined by the first area and second area.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein in the step of displaying further comprises the sub-steps of:
displaying a composite of the first area that has been boolean combined with the second area so as to display the area defined by the first and second area;
receiving the second area; and displaying a composite of the first area with the second area so as to display the area defined by the first area and second area.

20. A method to create a video image for subsequent display comprising the steps of:
selecting an area of an entire image;
transmitting the entire image including the area of the image selected; and transmitting the area of the image selected at a rate of transmission higher than the rate of transmission for the entire image.

21. The method according to claim 21, further comprising the steps of:
receiving the entire image;
receiving the selected area; and displaying a composite of the entire image overlaying the selected area as the selected area is received.

22. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for displaying an image comprising the instructions of:

partitioning an image into a series of row, column partitions;
locating at least one focus point on the image;
displaying a first partition in the region defined by the at least one focus point; and displaying successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition.

23. The computer readable medium according to claim 23, wherein the step of displaying successive partitions includes displaying successive partitions so that each successive partition displayed borders the partition that was displayed immediately prior hereto.

24. The computer readable medium according to claim 23, wherein the instruction of displaying successive partitions includes the instructions of:
displaying n successive partitions that comprise a row of partitions; and displaying m successive partitions that comprise a column of partitions so that a value of integers n and m can be adjusted to fail a pre-defined aspect ratio in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition.

25. The computer readable medium according to claim 23, wherein the instruction of displaying successive partitions includes the instructions of:
displaying a first set of successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition: and displaying at least one successive set, partitions in a substantially spiral pattern interlaced within a previously displayed set of successive partitions,

26. The computer readable medium according to claim 23, wherein the instruction of displaying successive partitions includes the instructions of:
displaying a first set of successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition wherein at least one of the successive partitions to be displayed is skipped; and displaying at least one successive set of partitions along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions so as to display at least one of the partitions to be displayed that was skipped in the first set.

27. The computer readable medium according to claim 23, wherein the instruction of displaying successive partitions includes the instructions of:
displaying a first set of successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition wherein the first set of successive partitions are displayed from a reduced pallet; and displaying at least one successive set of partitions along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions wherein the successive get of partitions are displayed from a portion of the pallet not previously displayed.

28. A computer readable medium to create an image for subsequent display comprising the instructions of:
partitioning an image into a series of row, column partitions; and locating at least one focus point on the image; and reordering the partitions so that a first partition in the region defined by the at least one focus point is displayed first and partitions that form a spiral pattern around the first partition are displayed subsequently therefrom.

29. The computer readable medium according to claim 28, further comprising the instructions of;
applying a compression algorithm to the reordered partitions.

30. The computer readable medium according to claim 28, further comprising the instructions of:
applying a predefinite compression profile to the reordered partitions.

31. The computer readable medium according to claim 28, wherein the instruction of reordering the partitions includes reordering the partitions so that each successive partition is displayed so as to border the partition that was displayed immediately prior hereto.

32. The computer readable medium according to claim 28, wherein the instruction of reordering the partitions includes tho instructions of:
reordering n successive partitions that comprise a row of partitions; and reordering m successive partitions that comprise a column of partitions so that a value of integers n and m can be adjusted to fill a pre-defined aspect ratio in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition when displayed.

33. The computer readable medium according to claim 28, wherein the instruction of reordering the partitions includes the instructions of:
reordering a first set of successive partitions so as to be displayed in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition; and reordering at least one successive set of partitions so as to be displayed in a substantially spiral pattern interlaced within a previously displayed set of successive partitions.

34. The computer readable medium according to claim 28, wherein the instruction of reordering the partitions includes the instructions of:
reordering a first set of successive partitions so as to be displayed in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition, wherein at least one of the successive partitions to be displayed is skipped; and reordering at least one successive set of partitions so as to be displayed along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions so as to permit the display of at least one of the partitions to be displayed that was stripped in the first set.

35. The computer readable medium according to claim 28, wherein the instruction of reordering the partitions includes the instructions of:
reordering a first set of successive partitions so as to be displayed in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition, wherein the first set of successive partitions are displayed from a reduced pallet; and reordering at least one successive set of partitions to be displayed along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions, wherein the successive set of partitions are displayed from a portion of the pallet not previously displayed.

36. The computer readable medium according to claim 28, further comprising the instruction of:
associating a tag with at least one partition so as to cause a multimedia event to be rendered when the partition is displayed.

37. The computer readable medium according to claim 28, further comprising the instruction of:
associating a tag with at least one partition so as to cause an audio track to be played when the partition is displayed.

38. A computer readable medium to create a video image for subsequent display comprising the instructions of:

selecting a first area on an image;
defining a second area on the image where the second area does not include the first area; and transmitting the first area at a rate of transmission higher than the rate of transmission for the second area.

39. The computer readable medium according to claim 38, further comprising the instructions of:
transmitting n frames of the first area; end transmitting the second area every modulo n frames, wherein n represents the difference in transmission speeds between the first area and the second area.

40. The computer readable medium according to claim 38, further comprising the instructions of:
receiving the first area;
receiving the second area; and displaying a composite of the first area with the second area so as to display the area defined by the first area and second area.

41. The computer readable medium according to claim 38, wherein in the instruction of displaying further comprising the instructions of:
displaying a composite of the first area that has been boolean combined with the second area so as to display the area defined by the first and second area;
receiving the second area; and displaying a composite of the first area with the second area so as to display the area defined by the first area and second area.

42. A computer readable medium to create a video image for subsequent display comprising the instructions of:
selecting an area of an image;
transmitting the entire image; and transmitting the area of the image selected at a rate of transmission higher than the rate of transmission for the entire image.

43. The computer readable medium according to claim 42, further comprising the instructions of:
receiving the entire image;
receiving the selected area; and displaying a composite of the entire image overlaying the selected area as the selected area is received.

44. A system for displaying an image comprising:

means for partitioning an image into a series of row, column partitions;
means for locating at least one focus point on the image; and an interface to a display for displaying a first partition in the region defined by the at least one focus point, and wherein the interface displays successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition.

45. The system according to claim 44, wherein the interface includes displaying successive partitions so that each successive partition displayed borders the partition that was displayed immediately prior hereto.

46. The system according to claim 44, wherein the interface further comprises:
means for displaying n successive partitions that comprise a row of partitions; and means for displaying m successive partitions that comprise a column of partitions so that a value of integers n and m can be adjusted to fill a pre-defined aspect ratio in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition.

47. The system according to claim 44, wherein the interface further composes:
a means for displaying a first set of successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition: and a means for displaying at (east one successive set of partitions in a substantially spiral pattern interlaced within a previously displayed set of successive partitions.

48. The system according to claim 44, wherein the interface further comprises:
means for displaying a first set of successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition wherein at least one of the successive partitions to be displayed is skipped; and means for displaying at least are successive set of partitions along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions so as to display at least one of the partitions to be displayed that was skipped in the first set.

49. The system according to claim 44, wherein the interface further comprises:
moans for displaying a first set of successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition, wherein the first set of successive partitions are displayed from a reduced pallet; and means for displaying at least one successive set of partitions along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions, wherein the successive set of partitions are displayed from a portion of the pallet not previously displayed.

50. The system according to claim 48, wherein the interface further comprises:
means for displaying a first set of successive partitions in a substantially spiral pattern around the first partition, wherein the first set of successive partitions are displayed from a reduced pallet: and means for displaying at least one successive set of partitions along the path defined by the first set of successive partitions, wherein the successive set of partitions are displayed from a portion of the pallet not previously displayed.