System and method for merging line work objects using tokenization and selective compression

A system for merging display items in an encoded format, comprising:

• means for examining a plurality of display items to be merged on the basis of item priority, the display items compressed according to an encode format;
• means for defining a target item having a target area;
• and
• means for merging the display items in the target area according to item priority to produce the target item, the target item representative of the merged plurality of display items.

An information bearing medium comprising processor-readable instructions for merging display items in an encoded format, the processor-readable instructions causing a processor to perform the steps of:

• providing, in the encoded format, a plurality of display items to be merged;
• examining the display items on the basis of item priority;
• defining a target item having a target area;
• and
• merging the display items in the target area according to item priority to produce the target item, the target item representative of the merged plurality of display items.