I just received a press release from a company called ‘Human Monitoring Ltd” for a new still image compression technology similar to Google’s new WebP format, however this is not based on their WebM standard but rather based on the existing H.264 standard. This means it can re-use existing H264 encoding hardware already in place in millions of cameras and chipsets worldwide.

Unlike Microsoft’s JPEG-XR and the recently announced Google WebP format, hipix™ is designed to answer the market needs from cameras to web applications and mobile phones. hipix™ is unlimited in resolution, supports higher quality 422 color format than WebP, and allows importing and exporting of EXIF data and even audio! HM preferred implementing hipix™ using H.264 due to its superior tools, although the patent pending technology covers any inter-intra coding scheme including VP8 and VC1.

They already have tools available for Windows, Linux, Mac, and the Android mobile platforms that will allow you to view hipix images and convert existing imagse to the Hipix format.  The benefits are somewhere in the 15% to 50% of JPEG, meaning you could (potentially) convert a 1Meg JPEG to a 150k hipix image.  In fact, it also maintains EXIF data and can store audio ( more advantages from re-using h264 standards).

Human Monitoring’s hipix™ patent pending technology utilises the existing h.264 video Codec to achieve two to seven times more effective still image compression compared to JPEG images.  The utilization of the deployed hardware support of H.264 is what differentiate hipix™ from any new compression scheme like JPEG-XR and WebP. By using existing and popular codecs there is no need for new hardware. hipix™  images can be converted back to JPEG and be used as a highly efficient “Photo Zip” format.

All the tools are, for a “limited time only” (I always cringe when I see that), freely available for download from their site.  Read the full release after the break.

hipix™ for mobile and PC environments signals new era in image transfer –October 4th, 2010 – Human Monitoring Ltd today announced the global availability of its new  hipix™ still image compression technology.  hipix™ enables users to send (and store) high resolution images at between 15% and 50% of the size of normal compressed (jpeg) files!  hipix™ works on Windows, Linux, Mac and the Android mobile platforms.

Unlike Microsoft’s JPEG-XR and the recently announced Google WebP format, hipix™ is designed to answer the market needs from cameras to web applications and mobile phones. hipix™ is unlimited in resolution, supports higher quality 422 color format than WebP, and allows importing and exporting of EXIF data and even audio! HM preferred implementing hipix™ using H.264 due to its superior tools, although the patent pending technology covers any inter-intra coding scheme including VP8 and VC1.

For mobile users this means, for example, that a typical handset’s 8MP 3MB jpeg file will be transcoded to a high quality hipix image resulting in a sub 1MB file.

To view hipix images, on a computer or mobile, users must initially download a viewer, and to create or convert images to the hipix format users need the hipix “Wiz” application. Both are currently free to download for a limited time.

Currently, hipix supports Android (1.6+) mobile phones including those from HTC and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and works on Windows, Linux and MAC operating systems. Human Monitoring, the company behind hipix, plans to make hipix available for the iPhone/iPad , RIM and Meego shortly.

Human Monitoring’s hipix™ patent pending technology utilises the existing h.264 video Codec to achieve two to seven times more effective still image compression compared to JPEG images.  The utilization of the deployed hardware support of H.264 is what differentiate hipix™ from any new compression scheme like JPEG-XR and WebP. By using existing and popular codecs there is no need for new hardware. hipix™  images can be converted back to JPEG and be used as a highly efficient “Photo Zip” format.

Benefits

–          Consumers: using minimal bandwidth, users can email or send large images via mms with no degradation to the image quality. So, an 8 mega pixel picture taken on a mobile phone can be sent and received as an 8 mega pixel picture (but still only as <300KB file for MMS)

–          Mobile operators:  facing increasing demand on their networks can promote and push

–          Publishers: can store and reproduce high quality images at a fraction of the previous requirement, saving money.

–          Photographers: save up to 85% of the image size and keep the original quality and resolution!

Commenting on hipix, Prof. Joseph Agassi , world renowned philosopher of technology said: “The enhancement of compression by 15% is laudable. Human Monitoring’s compression that reduces file-size by more than 85% is just admirable. It is no mere growth; it is an explosion.”

Prof. Charles Murray Sawyer of Harvard University, and an internationally exhibited photographer (author of the “authorized” biography of B.B.King) said: “hipix™ is a breakthrough in data compression technology”.

Dr. Nitzan Rabinowitz CTO of Human Monitoring said: “We are replacing the almost 20 year’s old JPEG by utilizing Inter-Intra H.264 video technologies within a still image. hipix redefines the basic concept of image compression, while maintaining the widely deployed video infrastructure for a whole different purpose, unifying the video and still image Codec base.

Business Case

Human Monitoring intends to offer its hipix™ viewer for free and charge for its applications. Human Monitoring is currently working with operators, handset manufacturers and leading photography professionals to make hipix a widely used compression format by which images are transmitted.

Availability

hipix is available now and for a limited period is free.

See hipix in action

A video demo of hipix™ for pc is available here

A video demo of hipix™ for Android is available here

hipix channels

www.twitter.com/hipixpro

or become a fan of Hipixpro on Facebook

About Human Monitoring Ltd. (HM)

HM is a leading provider of video and Image processing solutions for embedded platforms and PC. The company excels in efficient video algorithms consuming lower processing-power and memory resources while keeping performance levels high.

HM’s products include hipix™ Stills Image compression, H.264 Encoders, Video Stabilizers, Panoramic-Stitching, and Motion-Compensated De-Interlacer, all of which are based on the company’s intellectual property and patent pending technologies.

The Corporate Headquarters is located in Israel, Tel Aviv area, and sales are preformed globally with a network of partners, semiconductor vendors and distributors.

www.human-monitoring.com

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