Abstract: Compression of a plurality of signal samples y(t.sub.0),y(t.sub.1),y(t.sub.2) . . . y(t.sub.z) may be accomplished by performing a first linear regression to obtain a curve fitted thereto which is represented by a polynomial having a first set of coefficients (a.sub.0,a.sub.1,a.sub.2,a.sub.3 . . . a.sub.n) which is stored in memory (18) or transmitted by a transmitter (20). The error between each of the actual signal samples (y(t.sub.0),y(t.sub.1),y(t.sub.2) . . . y(t.sub.z) and the value approximated by the curve fitted to the values is computed and then thresholded. A second regression analysis is then performed to fit a curve, having a second set of coefficients (b.sub.0,b.sub.1,b.sub.2,b.sub.3 . . . b.sub.q) to the thresholded error values. The second set of coefficients is also stored or transmitted and used, in conjunction with the first set of coefficients, to closely approximate the original set of signal samples.

Abstract: A motion detecting apparatus in which when pixels within a search range formed of a predetermined number of pixels and pixels within a reference data block the number of which is smaller than the predetermined number of pixels in the search range, are compared on the basis of the arrangement state thereof, a processing circuit processes sums of difference absolute values of respective pixels within the reference data block and corresponding pixels within the search range formed at every search range, to thereby detect a motion state on the basis of the sums. Respective pixels within the search range are input to the processing circuit at a set time and pixels within the search range are input to the processing circuit at the set time, thereby being sequentially processed with corresponding pixels within the data block.

Abstract: In certain image analysis applications, it is desirable to compress the image while emphasizing a selected region of the image. The invention is a means for to allocating more bits, and thus better quality in the decoded image, to the selected region at the expense of other regions of the image. This allows efficient compression of the image for storage or transmission with those regions deemed to be important preserved at high quality and other regions stored with minimal quality to preserve the context of the image.

Abstract: An image processing system with self monitoring includes an image acquisition module for acquiring data corresponding to an image, and one or more image processing modules. The acquisition module interleaves the variable (and therefore unpredictable) image data with diagnostic data to provide known diagnostic data. The image processing modules process the diagnostic data together with the image data to monitor system performance.