Method and apparatus for compressing and scaling thumbnails

Apparatus for displaying a representation of a plurality of images concurrently on a display device, said apparatus comprising:

• means for storing each said image, having being encoded in a hierarchical compressed format, said hierarchical compressed format adapted to provide, without substantially compromising compression efficiency, a decoding of each said encoded image into one or more of a plurality of predetermined sizes, each size definable by a number of pixels;
• and
• means for decoding each encoded image of said plurality of images into at least one of said plurality of predetermined sizes, wherein a decode time for each encoded image at each one of said predetermined sizes is substantially proportional to the number of pixels of each decoded image;
• and
• means for displaying each decoded image of said plurality of images concurrently on said display device.

An image-based computerized file browsing system comprising:

• a storage device for retaining a plurality of images at least group of which are stored in an encoded, hierarchical compressed format, said hierarchical compressed format adapted to provide, without substantially compromising compression efficiency, a decoding of each said image into one or more of a plurality of predetermined sizes, each size comprising a number of pixels,
• a processor for running an operating system incorporating a file management arrangement wherein true images retained in said storage device are depicted as thumbnail representations when viewed via said file management system,
• characterised by
• an image manipulation arrangement whereby said images are decoded into at least one of said plurality of sizes, wherein a decode time for each image at each of said predetermined sizes is substantially proportional to the number of pixels of each decoded image.

A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having a computer program recorded thereon for displaying a representation of a plurality of images concurrently on a display device, said computer program product comprising:

• means for storing said plurality of images having been encoded in a hierarchical compressed format, said hierarchical compressed format adapted to provide, without substantially compromising compression efficiency, a decoding of each said image into one or more of a plurality of predetermined sizes, each size comprising a number of pixels;
• means for decoding each of said images into at least one of said plurality of sizes, wherein a decode time for each image at each of said predetermined sizes is substantially proportional to the number of pixels of each decoded image;
• and
• means for displaying each decoded image of said plurality of images concurrently on the display device.