An Adaptive Block-Based Interval Generation Method for Efficient Distance Coding of Binary Images Docket: UAH-P-13023 Technology Binary images, also known as bi-level images, consist of 1s and 0s. In conventional distance coding methods, one traverses an image in the raster-scan order and calculates the intervals of binary symbols. However, these methods fail to capture symbol statistics effectively and thus result in low compression of the original image. Researchers at UAH have developed an adaptive block-based interval generation method for efficient distance coding of binary images. This helps to improve the efficiency of binary image compression. The method partitions the image into blocks where the intervals of consecutive 0s or 1s can be calculated by following scan orders chosen adaptively, as opposed to the conventional method where intervals are calculated following a fixed raster-scan order. The invention consists in a novel adaptive method to improve the distance coding of binary images such that significantly higher compression can be achieved on binary images without any loss. This new method can be applied to any binary image or data and used as an add-on preprocessor for any data compression utility, such as bzip2, to further boost its data compression capability. Applications Photocopiers, printers, scanners, and fax machines Reduction of mobile data usage Word processors and PDF readers Telemedicine Remote sensing data (radar, satellite, lidar) storage and transmission Mobile apps for OCR on smart phones and tablets Advantages User friendly Add-on preprocessor for data compression utility Modest computational complexity Cost effective Status State of Development: Proof of concept Licensing Status: Available for licensing Patent Status: Proprietary