Abstract: A system for compressing an image. The system determines a set of commonly occurring color values in the image and associates a designator with each commonly occurring color value. For each pixel in the image, the system identifies a color value for the pixel. If the pixel has a commonly occurring color value, the system substitutes the associated designator for the commonly occurring color value. Otherwise, if the pixel does not have a commonly occurring color value, the system adds the color value to a rare color list, and substitutes a special designator for the color value to indicate that the color value for the pixel is contained in the rare color list.

Abstract: A mechanism is provided that identifies certain classes of images that are likely to be re-used, and utilizes this information to manage a cache better. This may include flushing certain classes of images that are less likely to be re-used before flushing the classes that are more likely to be reused. In addition, or alternatively, other factors regarding the image may be utilized to determine whether or not caching of the image should occur.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for compressing an image. During operation, the system determines a set of commonly occurring color values in the image and associates a designator with each commonly occurring color value. Next, for each pixel in the image, the system identifies a color value for the pixel. If the pixel has a commonly occurring color value, the system substitutes the associated designator for the commonly occurring color value. Otherwise, if the pixel does not have a commonly occurring color value, the system adds the color value to a rare color list, and substitutes a special designator for the color value to indicate that the color value for the pixel is contained in the rare color list.