Picsel ePAGE Bitmap Image file format support Picsel Image File Format Support Page 2 Copyright Copyright © Picsel 2002 Neither the whole nor any part of the information contained in, or the product described in, this document may be used, sold, transferred, adapted or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or form or in any media except with the prior written permission of the copyright holder. The product described in this document is subject to continuous development and improvement. All particulars of the product and its use contained in this document are given by Picsel in good faith. However, the content of this document is provided "as is", without warranties of any kind with regard to its accuracy or reliability, and specifically excluding all implied warranties, for example of merchantability, fitness for purpose, title and non-infringement. In no event shall Picsel be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use of this document. Picsel reserves the right to revise the document or withdraw it at any time without prior notice. No licence is granted (nor any rights of whatsoever nature granted), express or implied, to any intellectual property by this document. Throughout this document, the trade names and trademarks of some companies and products have been used. No such uses are intended to convey endorsement of or other affiliations with the document. Document number PICSEL-ESF0005B April 2002 http://www.picsel.com/ Picsel Image File Format Support Page 3 Introduction On handheld computers, traditional applications typically rely on synchronization with a PC to convert content from the original document format into a simpler format used by the device. This creates at least three problems. Firstly, some visual integrity is inevitably lost in the conversion process from a rich format to a simpler one, resulting in documents that do not look exactly like the original. Secondly, the reliance on a PC for synchronization means that direct network access is difficult, and the device is severely hampered when untethered from the PC. Thirdly, traditional applications take a monolithic approach, converting only a single format so that separate applications are needed for each different document type. Picsel's ePAGE applications present a new concept in document viewing software. Unlike traditional approaches, the viewer can access native files, so synchronisation is not necessary and files can be grabbed straight off PC filing systems, flash cards and networks/internet without the need for pre-conversion. ePAGE deals directly with the original document in its native format, and aims to faithfully represent all of the features of the original. Moreover, the novel software architecture based on Picsel's ePAGE technology enables multiple format types to be richly supported in a single application. ePAGE achieves a breakthrough in its ability to interpret and render complex file formats. Many apparently straightforward formats have in the past encountered difficulties even when used in their original application software on a different platform, for example when going from a PC to a Macintosh. Sometimes these files assume characteristics of the computer on which they are used, such as the screen size or byte order, and such assumptions have to be unravelled when using them on a different device. To compound the challenge, some formats may contain proprietary features which are not revealed to the public, and which even have been forgotten within the originating company. Others, such as HTML, have written standards yet are still subject to differing interpretations as evidenced by the varying treatment of web pages in proprietary browsers. Picsel Image File Format Support Page 4 ePAGE supports the most popular global file formats. The formats interpreted by ePAGE are richly expressive, containing not just text but sophisticated layout and rendering features, rich fonts, colour, images, tables, graphics and many other document features. Picsel is continuously developing its file format support to eventually cover every feature of the native file. With such a wealth of features across many document types, this is inevitably an ongoing process, with milestone releases of new functionality planned at periodic intervals. The approach involves researching the feature set most commonly found in real documents, building support early for the most frequently used elements, and ensuring these features are reproduced with total faithfulness to the original. The emphasis of ePAGE is on displaying rich content rather than on reproducing the document creation facilities of the original application. This document describes the features supported in ePAGE. This level of support already covers the vast majority of characteristics that occur in day to day documents of this type, and the specific features are described with notes where appropriate. Those features planned for future implementation are also described, for completeness. Bitmap Images A bitmap image is a picture made up of a grid of pixels (dots), as compared to a vector path which is made up of lines between coordinates. There are a number of file formats popular for storing bitmap images, each with benefits and drawbacks to consider. The main image formats supported by ePAGE are JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP. Many document formats, such as HTML and Word, allow bitmap images to be included in various other formats, and do not directly define them. This is convenient as it allows specialists (such as the Joint Photographic Experts Group) in image compression and other areas to define the image formats separately from the document formats, although the extra network delay of requesting a separate file may become an issue. Picsel Image File Format Support Page 5 JPEG JPEG is a format defined by the ISO Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is well suited to efficient compression of photographs, which it does by deleting unimportant content according to the kind of detail that people notice; in particular, it removes more chrominance (colour) information than luminance (brightness), since the human eye is more sensitive to luminance. Although JPEG is less well suited to cartoon or diagram images, ePAGE will of course render the image data optimally. ePAGE's support for JPEG includes exactly the same features of JPEG as those allowed by almost all other software. JPEG also supports progressive rendering for more satisfying network downloading. Feature JFIF file format 24 bit full colour images 8 bit grey scale images Discrete Cosine Transform encoding Huffman encoding Progressive decompression Progressive rendering Pixel density (dots per inch/cm) Support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Notes Future Support Picsel continuously strives to enhance the feature set of its software. In addition to the above features supported in Version 1.0, the following features are planned to be incorporated in future versions of the Picsel software. (The ordering in the list does not imply any measure of priority among the items.) JPEG2000 file format Thumbnail image (uncompressed, indexed colour, JPEG compressed) Picsel Image File Format Support Page 6 GIF GIF, the CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format, is widely used on web pages. It can store interlaced rows of pixels, appearing as progressive rendering, as well as binary transparency and animation. It supports a maximum of 256 indexed colours, but no full-colour images. GIF uses LZW compression to encode repeating patterns of pixels of certain colours and save file sizes, but the animation requires reencoding of the image, which wastes space. Feature GIF87a format GIF89a format 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 or 256 indexed colours Compressed image data Transparent colour mask Row interlacing for progressive rendering Support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Notes Future Support In addition to the above features, the following will be added in future releases of Picsel software. The ordering in this list does not indicate any priority. Multi-frame animation Picsel Image File Format Support Page 7 PNG The Portable Network Graphic (PNG) format, does not use any patented or proprietary methods, and is intended as a replacement for GIF. Its compression is good for cartoons and diagrams; less so for photographs. PNG supports progressive rendering using two dimensional interlacing, alpha-channel transparency, as well as gamma correction and indexed colour. It supports up to 48 bits of full colour or 16 bits of grey-scale, per pixel. The related MNG format supports animation. Feature PNG file format 2-dimensional progressive interlacing Full colour images Indexed colour images Grey scale images Alpha-channel graduated transparency LZ77 compressed image data Huffman encoded image data Support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Notes Future Support In addition to the above features, the following will be added in future releases of Picsel software. The ordering in this list does not indicate any priority. MNG multi-frame animation Gamma colour correction Picsel Image File Format Support Page 8 BMP Windows Bitmap (BMP) is a format used by MS Windows and other programs which value simplicity over economy. BMP files are almost always uncompressed and so very large. BMP can include 1, 4, 8 or 24 bits per pixel, allowing both indexed and full colour. Neither transparency nor animation are supported. Feature Windows Bitmap format version 2 Windows Bitmap format version 3 Windows Bitmap format version 4 1 bit monochrome images 4 bit indexed colour images 8 bit indexed colour images 24 bit full colour images Support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Notes ...