Computer Graphics: On Data Compaction of Scanning Curves
Angus J. Quin, Y. Yanagisawa · The Computer Journal · 1989
Data compaction, or making better use of existing data storage and transmission, is one of the most important matters in computer and TV graphics. It has been suggested that different scanning techniques would improve data compaction for 2-D television images. We prove that there is no difference in the number of run lengths found for any scanning curves for completely random pictures. Simulation is used to compare the data compaction between a discrete Peano curve and a bidirectional scanning curve for 1000 randomly placed ellipses to determine whether spatial coherence favours one scanning curve. The results are analysed statistically. Both the theory and the results of the simulation show that there is no difference between the scanning curves chosen. It is important to note that the bidirectional scanning curve is a special case of a mixed radix method.