Video data compression system and method

Claim 1

A video data compression system for data compression of signals representative of the video image of a document, said system comprising: (a) means for continuously transporting said document along a first directional path; (b) means for video scanning said document during said continuous transporting and in a direction transverse to said first directional path, said video scanning means producing coded signals respectively representative of black and white sections of the image of said document; (c) said video scanning means further comprising means for producing a plurality of consecutive scans in said transverse direction; (d) means for comparing the coded signals of one scan with the coded signals of a prior scan to compare the nature of adjacent ones of said sections in an axis parallel to said first directional path; (e) means for generating unique redundancy codes indicative of unique relationships resulting from said comparison of adjacent sections; and (f) means for deleting from memory those coded signals indicative of the sections having the said unique relationships and replacing said deleted signals with said unique redundancy codes.