Enhanced JBIG-based compression for satisfying objectives of engineering document management system

The main objectives of an engineering document management (EDM) system are outlined. Existing image compression algorithms [e.g., Group 4 (G4) and Joint Bilevel Image Experts Group (JBIG)] offer efficient solutions to the storage problem but do not sufficiently support other objectives such as spatial access and fast decoding. We propose a novel method based on JBIG in which the other objectives are also met. The compression performance of the proposed method is only 10% worse than that of JBIG, and at the same time, spatial access to a compressed file is achieved. The method is also 2.5 times faster in decompression than JBIG. This speedup is comparable to the G4 standard, but with better compression performance. The proposed method is applicable not only to engineering drawings but to binary images in any document imaging system. (C) 1998 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. [S0091-3286(98)02705-6].