Compressed image virtual editing system

A method for handling a portion of a compressed image for editing, wherein the image is divided into blocks, each block being represented by digital data, including at least one relative value, wherein an absolute value is determined for a block by reference to relative values for other blocks, the method comprising the steps of:

• selecting blocks from the image to define a virtual image corresponding to the portion of the compressed image;
• determining an absolute value for each of a plurality of blocks adjacent to an edge of said virtual image;
• creating an edge table for holding said absolute values;
• and
• using said edge table to determine absolute values for blocks decompressed and added to said virtual image.

An apparatus for handling a portion of a compressed image for editing, wherein the image is divided into blocks, each block comprising pixel data representing the digitized image at points corresponding to each pixel in each block, and wherein the image is stored as minimum coded units in a compressed image data packet, the compressed image data packet, wherein each minimum coded unit corresponds to one block, the apparatus comprising:

• a pointer array, where each pointer of said pointer array points to a minimum coded unit, said pointer array collectively pointing to the compressed image data packet;
• a compressed data memory for holding the compressed image data packet;
• a virtual image memory for holding blocks corresponding to a virtual image;
• an edited data memory for holding edited minimum coded units corresponding to edited blocks of said virtual image;
• and
• means for modifying a pointer in said pointer array corresponding to an edited block, said means for modifying modifying said pointer to point to an edited minimum coded unit corresponding to said edited block.