EFFICIENT IMAGE COMPRESSION SCHEME TO MINIMIZE STORAGE AND BUS BANDWIDTH REQUIREMENTS

A method of encoding receives an image and tiles the image into a set of tiles. Each tile includes a set of pixels. The method selects a first tile and determines a first set of values for the pixels in the first tile. The method separates the determined values of each pixel in the first tile into several streams. For a first stream, the method determines a bias value, and subtracts the bias value from each value within the stream, thereby generating a set of subtracted values. Typically, the subtracted values have one or more leading zeros, and the method preferably removes one or more of the leading zeros, thereby reducing the number of bits required to represent the subtracted values within the first stream. Thus, one or more of the values within the first stream is advantageously represented with fewer bits. Additional embodiments include an encoder for encoding data by using a reduced number of bits, and a system, and decoder, for transmission, reception, display, storage and/or retrieval.