196 lines
9.9 KiB
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196 lines
9.9 KiB
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<TITLE>JBIG1 patent information</TITLE>
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<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="JBIG1, fax, bilevel image
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compression, ISO 11544, ITU-T T.82, arithmetic codeing, patents">
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<META NAME="description" CONTENT="A summary of the current patent licence
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requirement situation of the JBIG1 (ISO 11544) image compression
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standard.">
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<H1>JBIG1 patent information</H1>
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<P>by Markus Kuhn
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<P>For many years, the doubts about the patent situation have
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prevented the JBIG1 standard from becoming widely used on the
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Internet (e.g., not a single web browser has support for it
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integrated). As the author of a <A
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HREF="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/jbigkit/">freely available JBIG1
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implementation</A>, I'm investigating the current patent license
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requirements for the JBIG1 standard, and this page summarizes what I
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have found out so far.
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<H2>Patent list</H2>
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<P><A HREF="JBIG-patents.pdf">Annex E</A> of the JBIG1 standard (<A
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HREF="http://www.itu.int/rec/recommendation.asp?type=folders&paren
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t=T-REC-T.82">ITU-T Recommendation T.82(1993)</A> and <A
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HREF="http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUM
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BER=19498&ICS1=35&ICS2=40&ICS3=">International Standard
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ISO/IEC 1154 4:1993</A>), lists the following patents and says that a
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license for these might be required to implement the standard:</P>
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<TABLE BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=5>
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<TR><TH>Owner<TH>Title<TH>Number<TH>publication date<TH>notes
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<TR><TD><A HREF="http://www.ibm.com/ibm/licensing/patents/">IBM</A><TD>A method and means for pipeline decoding of the high to low order pairwise combined digits of a decodable set of relatively shifted finite number of strings<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04295125__">US 4295125</A><TD>1981-10-13
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>A method and means for carry-over control in a high order to low order combining of digits of a decodable set of relatively shifted finite number strings<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04463342__">US 4463342</A><TD>1984-07-31
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>High-speed arithmetic compression using concurrent value updating<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04467317__">US 4467317</A><TD>1984-08-21
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>Method and means for arithmetic coding using a reduced number of operations<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04286256__">US 4286256</A><TD>1981-08-25
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>A multiplication-free multi-alphabet arithmetic code<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04652856__">US 4652856<TD>1986-02-04
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>Symmetrical adaptive data compression/decompression system<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04633490__">US 4633490</A><TD>1986-12-30
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>Arithmetic coding data compression/de-compression by selectively employed, diverse arithmetic encoders and decoders<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04891643__">US 4891643</A><TD>1990-01-02
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>System for compression bi-level data<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04901363__">US 4901363</A><TD>1990-02-13
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>Arithmetic coding encoder and decoder system<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04905297__">US 4905297</A><TD>1990-02-27
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>Probability adaptation for arithmetic coders<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04935882__">US 4935882</A><TD>1990-06-19
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>Probability adaptation for arithmetic coders<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05099440__">US 5099440</A><TD>1992-03-24
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<TR><TD>IBM<TD>Method and apparatus for processing pel signals of an image<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04982292__">US 4982292</A><TD>1991-01-01
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<TR><TD>AT&T<TD>Progressive transmission of high resolution two-tone facsimile images<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04870497__">US 4870497</A><TD>1989-09-26
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<TR><TD>AT&T<TD>Edge decomposition for the transmission of high resolution facsimile images<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04873577__">US 4873577</A><TD>1989-10-10
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<TR><TD>AT&T<TD>Adaptive probability estimator for entropy encoder/decoder<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05025258__">US 5025258</A><TD>1991-06-18
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<TR><TD>AT&T<TD>Efficient encoding/decoding in the decomposition and recomposition of a high resolution image utilizing its low resolution replica<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04979049__">US 4979049</A><TD>1990-12-18
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<TR><TD>AT&T<TD>Efficient encoding/decoding in the decomposition and recomposition of a high resolution image utilizing pixel clusters<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05031053__">US 5031053</A><TD>1991-07-09
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<TR><TD>AT&T<TD>Entropy encoder/decoder including a context extractor<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05023611__">US 5023611</A><TD>1991-06-11
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<TR><TD>AT&T<TD>Method and apparatus for carry-over control in arithmetic entropy coding<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04973961__">US 4973961</A><TD>1990-11-27
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<TR><TD>KDD<TD>Methods for reduced-sized images<TD>JP Appl. 63-212 432<TD>1990-03-02<TD>JP 02-062164
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<TR><TD>KDD<TD>Image reduction system<TD>JP Appl. 1-167 033<TD>pending<TD>joint with Canon
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<TR><TD>Mitsubishi<TD>Facsimile encoding communication system<TD><A HREF="http://www.delphion.com/patlist?ttl_selected=CHECKED&isd_selected=CHECKED&icnt=JP&patent_number=1251403">JP 1251403</A><TD>1984-07-06<TD>wrong number?
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<TR><TD>Mitsubishi<TD>Encoding method<TD><TD>pending
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<TR><TD>Canon<TD>Image reduction system<TD>JP Appl. 1-167 033<TD>pending<TD>joint with KDD
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</TABLE>
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<P>The owners of the above patents have filed with the ISO and ITU a
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statement of willingness to grant a license under these rights on
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reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions to applications
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desiring to obtain such a license. These statements are recorded in
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the <A HREF="http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/dbase/patent/">ITU Patents
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Database</A>.
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<P>JBIG-KIT comes without any patent licence. I do not know for sure,
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which patents still affect which use of JBIG in which country (most of
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the ones listed have already expired anyway). The most important
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patents are the ones owned by IBM on the QM coder. Some of the other
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patents can be avoided by disabling progressive coding. In some
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countries, non-commercial and research use of patented ideas does not
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require a license anyway.
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<H2>Contacts</H2>
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<P>Annex E of JBIG1 also provides contact addresses for patent information:
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<BLOCKQUOTE><PRE>
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Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (formerly CCITT)
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International Telecommunication Union
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Place des Nations
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CH-1211 Gen<65>ve 20
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Switzerland
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Tel: +41 (22) 730 5111
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Fax: +41 (22) 730 5853
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ITTF
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International Organization for Standardization
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1, rue de Varemb<6D>
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CH-1211 Gen<65>ve 20
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Switzerland
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Tel: +41 (22) 734 0150
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Fax: +41 (22) 733 3843
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Program Manager
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Licensing Intellectual Property and Licensing Services
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IBM Corporation
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208 Harbor Drive
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P.O. Box 10501
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Stamford, Connecticut 08904-2501
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Tel: +1 (203) 973 7935
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Fax: +1 (203) 973 7981
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or +1 (203) 973 7982
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Mitsubishi Electric Corp.
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Intellectual Property License Department
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1-2-3 Morunouchi, Chiyoda-ku
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Tokyo 100
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Japan
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Tel: +81 (3) 3218 3465
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Fax: +81 (3) 3215 3842
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International Affairs Department
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Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co. Ltd.
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3-2 Nishishinjuku 2-chome Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 163
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Japan
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Tel: +81 (3) 3347 6457
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Tel: +81 (3) 3347 6470
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AT&T Intellectual Property Division Manager
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Room 3A21
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10 Independence Blvd. Warren, NJ 07059
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USA
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Tel: +1 (908) 580 5392
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Fax: +1 (908) 580 6355
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Senior General Manager
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Corporate Intellectual Property and Legal Headquarters
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Canon Inc.
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30-2 Shimomaruko 3-chome
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Ohta-ku, Tokyo 146
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Japan
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Tel: +81 (3) 3758 2111
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Fax: +81 (3) 3756 0947
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</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>Information received from these so far:
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<UL>
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<LI>2000-08-01: All the JBIG1 related AT&T patents are now owned
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by Lucent Technologies and can be licensed for a lump sum of 15000
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USD. For more information and a patent license agreement, contact
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Larry Greenberg (greenberg at lucent.com), Jim Finnegan, or Peter
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Crefeld (pcrefeld at lucent.com) at Lucent. They told me that they
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have made a general commitment to Standards Bodies that they will be
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non-discriminatory in this licensing, therefore they can't offer a
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free license for non-commercial implementations or applications.
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</UL>
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<H2>JBIG2 license waiver</H2>
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<P>I recently read with great interest in Annex I of the final draft
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for <A HREF="http://www.jpeg.org/jbigpt2.html">JBIG2</A> (ISO/IEC FCD
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14492, <A
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HREF="http://www.itu.int/rec/recommendation.asp?type=folders&lang=e&parent=T-REC-T.88">ITU-T
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T.88</A>) that IBM has agreed to license the arithmetic encoding
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patents free of charge to JBIG2 implementors. Apparently, the IBM IPR
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statement provided for JPEG2000 (ISO/IEC 15444 and ITU-T T.800) and
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JBIG2 allowed no-royalty use of the patents on a certain list for "any
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WG1 standard", which refers to the ISO/IEC working group that
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comprises both JBIG and JPEG. It's possible that this means that IBM
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will allow royalty-free use of the patents on that list for JBIG1 as
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well, but I don't know yet whether that has been the intention or
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effect.
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<P>I hope that this waiver therefore can also be applied to JBIG1
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implementations, as I would love to be able to add to the
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documentation of my package a statement saying that its use will not
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require a patent license (or at least not for the non-progressive
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modes). I am still struggling to find a competent source to confirm
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that this is indeed the case.
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<P>Thanks to Sebestyen Istvan and William Rucklidge from the JPEG/JBIG
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committee (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 1 and ITU-T SG8) for helpful
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information.
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<P><A HREF="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/">Markus Kuhn</A>
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<BR><SMALL>created 2002-07-29 -- last modified 2002-07-29 --
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http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/jbigkit/patents.html</SMALL>
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