Google patents method to compress high-quality images on phones
This filing describes a way to shrink large, high-detail photos taken by a camera without losing too much quality. It uses a specific math process to adjust how the image data is packed, allowing the phone's processor to handle files that are normally too big for its standard compression limits.
In the filing’s own words
An example method includes receiving, in a frame buffer of a computing device, an image captured by an image capturing device of the computing device. The image comprises a first number of bits. The method includes applying, based on the first number of bits, a linear transform to the received image. The linear transform comprises: (i) a color transform, and (ii) a discrete cosine transform (DCT), to generate a frequency spectrum comprising one or more frequency components. The method includes quantizing respective amplitudes of the one or more frequency components. A number of quantization steps to be applied is configured to reduce error in the one or more frequency components. The method includes generating, by an image processor and based on the quantizing, a compressed image comprising a second number of bits. The second number of bits is larger than a bit capacity for compression associated with the image processor.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A computer-implemented image compression method, comprising: receiving, in a frame buffer of a computing device, an image captured by an image capturing device of the computing device, wherein the image comprises a first number of bits; applying, based on the first number of bits, a linear transform to the received image, wherein the linear transform comprises: (i) a color transform, and (ii) a discrete cosine transform (DCT), to generate a frequency spectrum comprising one or more frequency components; quantizing respective amplitudes of the one or more frequency components, wherein a number of quantization steps to be applied is configured to reduce error in the one or more frequency components; and generating, by an image processor and based on the quantizing, a compressed image comprising a second number of bits, wherein the second number of bits is larger than a bit capacity for compression associated with the image processor.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Google LLC)
- Official title
- Methods and Systems for High Bit Depth and High Dynamic Range Image Compression
- Publication number
- US20260261674A1
- Application number
- 18846529
- Filed
- Mar 15, 2022
- Published
- Sep 3, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 23
Classified under
H04N 19/124 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/132 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/136 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/184 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/186 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/625 Electricity & electronicsMore from Google in Cameras & imaging
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.