APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR IMAGE PROCESSION

A system for and methods of image processing are disclosed. The system comprises image acquisition apparatus for acquiring pixels of a digital image, permutation apparatus for receiving the pixels, for reordering pixels of the digital image into a plurality of abstracted images at a large reduction factor and for combining the abstracted images into many sets of abstracted images combinable into abstracted images at different small reduction factors and storage apparatus for receiving and for storing the abstracted sets of digital images. One method comprises an efficient way of rotating images stored as abstracted images. Other methods enable transformation between different storage formats.