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Claims  |
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What is claimed is:
1. An electronic greeting card communication system, comprising:
a first personal communicator for transmitting and receiving electronic
greeting cards, comprising:
a memory for storing the electronic greeting cards available from an
electronic greeting card supplier;
a receiver for receiving a user selection of an electronic greeting card
from said memory of the first personal communicator;
a controller for generating a request message for requesting the selection
of the electronic greeting card to be transmitted to a second personal
communicator; and
a transmitter for transmitting the request message corresponding to the
selection of the electronic greeting card, the request message including
at least an electronic greeting card identifier and a destination
identifier;
an electronic mail server, coupled to the electronic greeting card
supplier, for receiving the request message from the first personal
communicator, and for processing the request message and wireless
transmitting the electronic greeting card corresponding to the selection
of the electronic greeting card to the second personal communicator; the
electronic mail server updating billing information associated with an
account of the first personal communicator in response to the electronic
greeting card being transmitted for billing the user of the first personal
communicator; and
the second personal communicator comprising:
a selective call receiver for receiving the wireless transmitted electronic
greeting card; and
means for presenting coupled to the selective call receiver for presenting
the electronic greeting card including an electronic greeting card image
corresponding to the representation thereof to a user of the second
personal communicator.
2. The electronic greeting card communication system of claim 1, wherein
the electronic mail server further comprises:
means for updating the billing information associated with the account of
the first personal communicator by electronically debiting the account of
the user of the first personal communicator with a price corresponding to
the electronic greeting card; and
means for updating the selection of greeting cards available from the
electronic greeting card supplier.
3. The electronic greeting card communication system of claim 2, wherein
the electronic mail server, in response to transmitting the electronic
greeting card, further updates the billing information by crediting the
account of the electronic greeting card supplier for paying the electronic
greeting card supplier with a fee corresponding to the transmitted
electronic greeting card.
4. The electronic greeting card communication system of claim 1, wherein
the representation of an electronic greeting card image is a digital
representation thereof, and wherein the first personal communicator
comprises:
a browsing memory for storing a collection of digital representations of
electronic greeting card images, each one of the digital representations
being identified by a respective electronic greeting card identifier;
a controller coupled to the browsing memory for controlling the selection
process in the first personal communicator for selection of the electronic
greeting card by a user;
a display coupled to the controller for displaying at least one electronic
greeting card image corresponding to the digital representation thereof
for viewing by the user of the first personal communicator as part of the
selection process; and
a user input device coupled to the controller for accepting user input to
make the selection of one of the electronic greeting card images being
part of the collection stored in the browsing memory.
5. The electronic greeting card communication system of claim 4, wherein
each one of the collection of digital representations of electronic
greeting card images is stored in the browsing memory in a compressed
format that can be expanded for retrieving the digital representation of
the electronic greeting card image therefrom.
6. The electronic greeting card communication system of claim 5, wherein
compression format utilizes asymmetric image compression/expansion
techniques.
7. The electronic greeting card communication system of claim 5, wherein
the compression format utilizes fractal compression/expansion techniques.
8. The electronic greeting card communication system of claim 5, wherein
the electronic greeting card images being stored in the browsing memory as
a collection of digital representations thereof are low quality resolution
electronic greeting card images sufficient for viewing by the user of the
first personal communicator during the selection process, and wherein the
electronic greeting card image corresponding to the representation thereof
included with the electronic greeting card message is a high quality
resolution electronic greeting card image for viewing by the user of the
second personal communicator.
9. A method in a communication system, comprising the steps of:
selecting an electronic greeting card by a user having a first personal
communicator, the step of selecting further comprises:
displaying the electronic greeting cards stored from a memory of the first
personal communicator of available electronic greeting cards of an
electronic greeting card supplier; and
receiving a user selection of the electronic greeting card;
generating a request message for requesting the selection of the electronic
greeting card to be transmitted to a user of a second personal
communicator;
transmitting the request message corresponding to the selection of the
electronic greeting card, the request message including at least an
electronic greeting card identifier and a destination identifier;
receiving the request message at an electronic mail server at the
electronic greeting card supplier;
processing the request message to determine the electronic greeting card
corresponding to the selection;
transmitting an electronic greeting card message corresponding to the
selection of the electronic greeting card to the second personal
communicator including a destination identifier for identifying the second
personal communicator;
updating billing information associated with an account in response to the
electronic greeting card being transmitted for debiting the user of the
first personal communicator and crediting the account of and updating the
selection of electronic greeting cards available from the electronic
greeting card supplier for the price of the greeting card;
receiving the transmitted electronic greeting card by the second personal
communicator; and
presenting the electronic greeting card the user of the second personal
communicator.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:
adding a digital representation of a personalized message to the request
message;
transferring the digital representation of the personalized message from
the received request message to the electronic greeting card for
transmitting therewith; and
presenting a personalized message corresponding to the digital
representation thereof along with the electronic greeting card to the user
of the second personal communicator.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the personalized message is a voice
message.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the personalized message is a
handwritten message.
13. An electronic greeting card communication system, comprising:
a first personal communicator for transmitting and receiving electronic
greeting cards, comprising:
a browsing memory for storing the electronic greeting cards available from
an electronic greeting card supplier;
a receiver for receiving a user selection of an electronic greeting card
from said memory of the first personal communicator;
wireless transmitting a request message corresponding to the selection of
the electronic greeting card, the request message including at least an
electronic greeting card identifier and a destination identifier, the
first personal communicator further comprising:
the browsing memory of the first personal communicator stores a collection
of digital representations of electronic greeting card images, each one of
the digital representations being identified by a respective one
electronic greeting card identifier;
a controller coupled to the browsing memory for controlling a selection
process in the first personal communicator for selection of an electronic
greeting card by a user;
a graphical liquid crystal display coupled to the controller for displaying
at least one electronic greeting card image corresponding to the digital
representation thereof for viewing by the user of the first personal
communicator as part of the selection process;
a keyboard coupled to the controller and the receiver for receiving the
user input to make the selection of one of the electronic greeting card
images being part of the collection stored in the browsing memory;
a personalized message input means for capturing a digital representation
of a personalized message from the user of the first personal communicator
and for adding the digital representation of the personalized message to
the request message; and
a wireless transmitter coupled to the controller for wireless transmitting
the request message; and
an electronic mail server, coupled to the electronic greeting card
supplier, for receiving the request message from the first personal
communicator and for processing the request message and transferring the
digital representation of the personalized message from the received
request message to an electronic greeting card and then wireless
transmitting the electronic greeting card to a second personal
communicator; the second personal communicator being identified by the
destination identifier, the electronic mail server updating billing
information by debiting an account of the first personal communicator in
response to the electronic greeting card message being transmitted for
billing the user of the first personal communicator therefor, and further
comprises means for updating billing information by crediting an account
of the electronic greeting card supplier for paying the electronic
greeting card supplier with a fee corresponding to the transmitted
electronic greeting card, and updating the selection of electronic
greeting cards available from the electronic greeting card supplier; and
the second personal communicator comprising:
a selective call receiver for receiving the wireless transmitted electronic
greeting card; and
means for presenting coupled to the selective call receiver for presenting
to a user of the second personal communicator the electronic greeting card
including an electronic greeting card image corresponding to the
representation of the personalized message. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to electronic mail communication systems,
and more particularly to a method in a personal communicator for a user of
the personal communicator to select and pay for an electronic greeting
card and to send it to another personal communicator for presentation to a
user thereof.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In today's ever increasing mobile society portable personal communicators
are becoming a standard carry item for members of society. Besides
including a computing device a personal communicator may include a
communication receiver, such as a radio frequency receiver, for receiving
transmitted wireless messages. A personal communicator therefore may
operate as a selective call receiver to receive messages and to present
the messages to a user of the personal communicator such as by displaying
the messages on a display.
Additionally, it is customary for many different occasions for individuals
to give each other greeting cards with messages for particular occasions.
Typically, an individual would go to a store and select a greeting card
that is made from a paper product with an image and a message printed
thereon. The individual would pay the cashier a predetermined amount of
money and then take possession of the greeting card. Subsequently, the
individual may hand write a personal message on the card and then give the
card to a receiving party. The process described above can be inconvenient
for a purchaser and sender of the card because it requires the individual
to physically go to the store, manually search through many cards located
on shelves, pay a cashier with money carried on ones person, physically
write a personal message on the card, and then possibly send the card to a
receiving party such as by air mail with all the costs and delays involved
therewith.
Furthermore, customers of electronic shopping services can access the
service by calling a dial up telephone line and accessing an electronic
data base describing different products for sale. The consumer could
browse through the data base while being on line with the electronic
shopping service computer system. Once a product is selected by the
consumer, such as by entering a selection into the electronic shopping
service computer system, the purchase demand is logged in the central
computer system for subsequent processing and delivery of the product to
the consumer. The consumer would be subsequently billed for the purchase
along with the delivery of the product. This type of on line shopping
service is much like dialing one of the conventionally available 800
telephone lines to request purchase of a product. But, by using an
electronic data base as opposed to talking to a human operator answering
an 800 telephone line, it allows the consumer to browse on line through
the data base and make a selection. Unfortunately, this type of service
requires a caller to be connected on line with the service while browsing
and making the purchase selections. This takes significant amounts of
resources at a centralized computing system to handle the incoming calls,
browsing over available products, and logging customer selections for
subsequent delivery to the customers.
Additionally, electronic mail networks are becoming commonly available to
network users with a proper hardware and software. Typically, a user of
the electronic mail (E-mail) system can down load custom forms from a
central E-mail distribution center and then can select and modify one of
the forms with a personal message. The individual can then send out the
personalized form as an electronic mail message to a receiving party on
the network. Regrettably, once an individual has down loaded into their
computer any type of custom forms, such as by electronic communication or
by a medium such as a floppy diskette, the individual can duplicate the
custom form and utilize the product as many times as desired without a
mechanism for compensating the person who did the original artwork and
creative work on the custom form. Hence, there is no mechanism for the
sellers of the custom form to get paid for their work according to the
number of copies that are utilized by a consumer.
Therefore, with the increasing popularity of personal communicators and the
availability of an electronic mail networks, there is a need for allowing
consumers of greeting cards to more easily shop for the greeting cards,
add personal messages to the greeting cards, and deliver the greeting
cards to a receiving party, while allowing the original artist to be more
fairly compensated for the products that they distribute to consumers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In carrying out one form of this invention, there is provided an electronic
greeting card communication system and a method therefor, the electronic
greeting card communication system comprising a first personal
communicator, an electronic mail server, and a second personal
communicator.
The first personal communicator accepts off-line selection of an electronic
greeting card from a user, and then transmits a request message
corresponding to the off-line selection of the electronic greeting card,
the request message including at least an electronic greeting card
identifier and a destination identifier. The electronic mail server
receives the request message, and processes the request message by
wireless transmission of an electronic greeting card message to the second
personal communicator. The electronic greeting card includes a
representation of an electronic greeting card image being identified by
the electronic greeting card identifier. The second personal communicator
is also identified by the destination identifier included with the request
message. The electronic mail server updates billing information associated
with an account of the first personal communicator in response to the
electronic greeting card message being transmitted for billing the user of
the first personal communicator therefor.
The second personal communicator comprises a selective call receiver for
receiving the wireless transmitted electronic greeting card message. The
second personal communicator presents the electronic greeting card
message, including an electronic greeting card image corresponding to the
representation thereof included with the electronic greeting card message,
to a user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system according to the
preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram of a personal communicator according
to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a timing diagram illustrating an exemplary message format
according to the preferred embodiment of present invention.
FIG. 4 is a status table utilized in the preferred embodiment of the
present invention.
FIG. 5 low diagram illustrating an operational sequence for a personal
communicator according to the preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an operational sequence for the
communications system of FIG. 1 according to the preferred embodiment of
the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an operational sequence for receiving
a message in a personal communicator according to the preferred embodiment
of the present invention.
FIGS. 8 and 9 comprise a flow diagram illustrating an operational sequence
for presenting a message to a user of a personal communicator according to
the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system 100 according to the preferred
embodiment of the present invention. A personal communicator 102 is
preferably a portable device which can be carried by a person while freely
roaming over a geographic area. The personal communicator 102 can
communicate through wireless transmissions with a central electronic mail
communications system. Specifically, the personal communicator 102 can
transmit messages to the central system and can receive messages from the
central system. The communication is preferably effected by using radio
transmissions between the personal communicator 102 and the central
system. However, other means of wireless communication are contemplated
within the scope of the present invention, including microwave
communication, satellite communication, infrared communication, ultra
sound communication, and other forms of wireless communication which allow
the personal communicator 102 to freely roam while communicating with the
central system. Of course, wire line communication, including utilizing
dial-up telephone lines through the public switched telephone network
(PSTN), may also be utilized for communicating messages between the
personal communicator 102 and the central system. In this latter case, the
personal communicator 102 may utilize modem communication to communicate
messages with the central system.
The personal communicator 102 comprises a controller 104 for controlling
the functions of the personal communicator 102, which is coupled to a
memory 106 for storing information as necessary by the controller 104.
Additionally, a browsing memory 108, preferably a non volatile memory,
stores one or more data bases of information for the personal communicator
102 as will be discussed below. The browsing memory 108 preferably is a
large non-volatile memory device, such as a hard disk unit, a CD-ROM unit,
or other large storage device. The controller 104 is coupled to the
browsing memory 108 for accessing the information stored in the one or
more data bases located in the browsing memory 108. The controller 104 is
coupled to a radio transmitter 112 for transmitting messages to the
central communication system, and it is coupled to a radio receiver 110
for receiving messages from the central communication system. Further, the
personal communicator 102 preferably includes one or more input devices
114 which are coupled to the controller 104 for receiving input from a
user of the personal communicator 102. For example, user input can be
received by means of a keyboard 118 which is coupled to the controller
104. Also, a digitizing tablet and stylist may constitute a hand writing
input means 120 which is coupled to the controller 104 for receiving hand
written information from a user of the personal communicator 102. Further,
the users voice may be received through a microphone and voice digitizing
module 122 which is coupled to the controller 104 for receiving voice
messages from the user of the personal communicator 102.
The personal communicator 102 includes one or more output devices 116
coupled to the controller 104 for presenting information to the user of
the personal communicator 102. For example, a high resolution printer 124
can be coupled to the controller 104 for printing hard copy to communicate
information to the user of the personal communicator 102. Also, a high
resolution liquid crystal display 126 can be coupled to the controller 104
for displaying information on the display to be read by the user of the
personal communicator 102. Furthermore, a sound output device 128, such as
a speaker and speaker driving circuitry can be coupled to the controller
104 for providing audible information for the user of the personal
communicator 102. For example, the controller 104 may couple digitized
voice message information through the voice output device 128 to present a
voice message to the user of the personal communicator 102, as will be
discussed below.
A paging system 130 is coupled to one or more transmitter sites 132 for
transmitting messages to the personal communicator 102. Further, the
paging system 130 can be coupled to one or more receiver sites 134 for
receiving messages transmitted by the personal communicator 102. A paging
system of the general type for transmitting messages to personal
communicators 102 and for receiving message therefrom is more fully
discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,311 by Weinberg entitled, "Communication
System Having Adaptable Message Information Formats" which is assigned to
the same assignee as the present invention and is incorporated herein by
reference. Additionally, exemplary communication systems for sending
messages to communication receivers and for receiving messages therefrom
are more fully discussed in the following copending U.S. patent
applications:
1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/963,370, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,537
by Robert J. Schwendeman, entitled "Reliable Message Delivery System";
2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/954,634, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,560
by John Richard Kane, entitled "Nationwide Satellite Message Delivery
System";
3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/954,106, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,635
by Kane et al., entitled "Reliable Message Communication System"; and
4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/954,179,now abandoned by John
Richard Kane, entitled "Electronic Mail Message Delivery System"; and
which are all commonly assigned to the same assignee as the present
invention and the teaching of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The paging system 130 is coupled to a central electronic mail server 136
which preferably includes a computer data base for maintaining an
accounting system 138 to keep track of, for example, billing information
for individual users of personal communicators 102 associated with the
electronic mail communication system. Additionally, the accounting system
data base 138 can maintain a separate sub data base for keeping track of
electronic greeting cards (E/G cards) which are available to consumers
that are associated with the electronic mail communication system. This
data base may comprise information for each electronic greeting card that
identifies the originating source of the greeting card, the most recent
pricing information available for the greeting card, and possibly a low
resolution digital representation of the greeting card as well as other
information for identifying the electronic greeting card in the electronic
mail communications system such as a catalog ID. The electronic mail
server 136 also includes an electronic greeting card selection gateway 140
which incorporates an interface for communicating with one or more
electronic greeting card stores 142. The gateway 140 preferably also
includes a computer data base identifying interfacing information for
accessing the one or more electronic greeting card stores 142 through the
interface. Additionally, in the preferred embodiment, the accounting
system 138 also maintains a high quality digital representation of the
individual electronic greeting cards which will be available to send
through the paging system 130 to the personal communicators 102 as will be
more fully discussed below. Each electronic greeting card store 142 may
comprise a computer data base system for keeping track of pricing
information, such as in a price list 144, which is associated with
electronic greeting card format information 146 for each of the electronic
greeting cards available from that particular greeting card store 142.
Periodically, the electronic mail server 136 can communicate with the
electronic greeting card store 142, such as by the electronic greeting
card selection gateway 140 accessing the electronic greeting card store
142 through a computer or telephone dial-up interface. Once the electronic
mail server 136 is communicating with the electronic greeting card store
142 updated information from the electronic greeting card store 142 can be
down loaded to the accounting system 138 and the electronic greeting card
selection gateway 140 in the electronic mail server 136. This updated
information may include pricing information from the price list 144 and
electronic greeting card format information 146 from the computer data
base at the electronic greeting card store which represents possibly new
selections of electronic greeting cards available from that electronic
greeting card store 142 or a change in pricing information. In this way,
the central electronic mail server 136 can maintain current information
regarding electronic greeting cards available to consumers which are
subscribers of the electronic mail communication system. Typically, these
consumers would be users of personal communicators 102 that can transmit
and receive messages in the electronic mail communications system 100. As
new providers of an electronic greeting card become members of the
electronic mail communication system 100 they can establish electronic
greeting card stores 142 with their own digital representations of
electronic greeting cards available to consumers. Preferably, each
electronic greeting card representation from the electronic greeting card
store includes a low resolution digital representation of the electronic
greeting card image and a separate high resolution representation image
which is the final product. This information is stored in the computer
data base maintaining the electronic greeting card format codes 146 for
the electronic greeting card store 142. Other identifying information,
such as a product identification and vendor number may also be maintained
with the electronic greeting card format codes 146. Also, pricing
information associated with each electronic greeting card is maintained in
a price list 144 in the computer data base for the electronic greeting
card store 142. This collection of information representing an individual
electronic greeting card available from an electronic greeting card store
142 is communicated through the computer interface to the electronic mail
server 136 and stored in the corresponding data base 138 to make the
product available to consumers subscribing to the electronic mail
communication system 100.
An electronic greeting card preferably is a digital representation of a
graphical image which communicates a message to a user of the personal
communicator 102 when, for example, displayed on a viewing display or when
printed as hard copy. The graphical image may include text information to
be ready by the recipient of the message. Further, the graphical
information may optionally be represented as a hologram image to the final
recipient of the message which gives a three dimensional effect to the
image for providing a realistic appearance to the image as viewed by the
recipient of the message.
A person can send an electronic greeting card to another person where both
persons have their own personal communicator 102 and subscribe to the
electronic mail communication system 100. According to the present
invention, the sending parties personal communicator 102 includes the
browsing memory 108 coupled to the controller 104. The browsing memory 108
preferably contains a collection of electronic greeting cards organized in
a data base. By entering user input, such as through the keyboard 118, the
sending party can browse through the available electronic greeting cards
in the browsing memory 108 and make a selection of one electronic greeting
card for sending to the receiving party. For example, user input accepted
through the keyboard 118 can step through, or browse through, the
available electronic greeting cards in the browsing memory 108 by having
the controller 104 sequentially send the digitized pattern of the
electronic greeting card to an output device, such as the display 126.
Once the user viewing the display 126 selects an electronic greeting card
being displayed, such as by entering user input at the keyboard 118, the
personal communicator 102 may prompt the user to additionally enter a
personal message to the selected electronic greeting card to create a
personalized electronic greeting card for sending to a receiving party.
The personalized message can be, for example, a type written message
entered through the keyboard 118. Alternatively, the personalized message
can be hand written using the stylist and electronic tablet 120 for
digitizing the handwritten message for coupling with the electronic
greeting card. A third alternative allows the user to enter a voice
message through the voice input device 122 which is digitized and coupled
to the electronic greeting card in memory 106. These are just examples of
personal messages that a user can attach to the electronic greeting card,
and other types of input devices 114 may be used to enter a personal
message which is coupled with the electronic greeting card for sending to
a receiving party.
Once the electronic greeting card has been personalized with a personal
message entered by the user, user input at the keyboard 118 can instruct
the personal communicator 102 to send a request to the electronic mail
server 136 for sending the electronic greeting card to a receiving party.
The format of this request message and the protocol used for communicating
between the personal communicator 102 and the electronic mail server 136
is discussed below. After the electronic mail server 136 receives the
request it processes the request by updating billing information in the
accounting system 138 for the sending parties account and then can prepare
to send the final high quality electronic greeting card to a receiving
party who is also equipped with a personal communicator 102. The
electronic mail server 136 can send one or more messages to a receiving
personal communicator 102 through the paging system 130 to deliver the
electronic greeting card with the personal message to the requested
destination. The receiving personal communicator 102 would receive the
message (or messages) to store the received electronic greeting card in
memory 106 once the personal communicator 102 has received the electronic
greeting card and has stored it in memory 106 it may alert the user of the
receiving personal communicator 102 that a message has been received. The
receiving party may then enter user input, such as via the keyboard 118,
to instruct the personal communicator 102 to present the electronic
greeting card with the personal message through the output device 116,
e.g., the display 126, the printer 124, or the voice output device 128.
The receiving personal communicator 102 is not necessarily equipped with a
browsing memory 108. The received electronic greeting card is stored in
memory 106 in its high resolution format and no local data base of
electronic greeting cards is required.
The graphics image and other associated information of the received
electronic greeting card preferably is in a compressed format, such as by
using fractal compression techniques. A compression approach more
efficiently utilizes the communication medium between the electronic mail
server 136 and the personal communicator 102 by requiring less data to be
transmitted with the message to completely represent the graphics image
and other associated information when the electronic greeting card is
expanded for presentation to a user of the personal communicator 102. The
compression approach also requires less memory 106 to store the electronic
greeting card in the receiving personal communicator 102. A compression
approach suitable for use in compressing and expanding graphical images is
disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,447, entitled "Method And Apparatus For
Processing Digital Data", by Barnsley et al.
Preferably, high resolution images for the electronic greeting cards can be
stored in advance in a compressed form and organized in a library for easy
access and retrieval, which is preferably located at the central
electronic mail server 136. The compressed image of an electronic greeting
card is transmitted along with the electronic greeting card. Then, at the
receiving personal communicator 102 the image is decompressed (expanded)
to its full information content which can be displayed as a high
resolution image. Since the compression is done in advance, it is more
suitable to use an asymmetric image compression/expansion technique. That
is, the compression process of the techniques is more complex than the
expansion process. The preferred technique for this compression/expansion
approach involves using a fractal transform based image
compression/expansion technique. In this technique the compression part is
computationally expensive (requires a lot of computer processing power)
while the image decompression (expansion) is very simple and can be done
by the personal communicator 102 in real time. Another advantage of using
fractal techniques is that certain images lend themselves naturally to
fractal representation such that the compression | | |
