GRAPHIC IMAGE COMPRESSION AND STORAGE SYSTEM

A method of creating image palm prints is provided that comprises storing image data as a metafile within a clipboard storage facility (20). The metafile is then transferred to a memory device context (18). A portion of the image is then extracted using a boundary scan to discard background image data. The image is then converted into a device independent bit map and the device independent bit map is compressed to a predetermined size. The image palm print is then created by associating the compressed device independent bit map with the dimension data and palette information.