Patent attributes
Method and system for image data analysis, by making use of a Terrain Map Summary Element (TMSE) data structure, in which a Terrain Map data structure provides processed primitive data about each 2×2 kernel of pixels from an original image. The new TMSE is a hierarchical multiple-level or tiered structure of such Terrain Map elements, in which each successive Terrain Map level summarizes, for example, 16 lower level elements or member. By providing such a hierarchical nature of the map elements, richness is enhanced by each higher element because every element of each successively higher level map summarizes the data from elements of the lower level map. For example, in a five-level Terrain Map Summary Element structure according to the disclosure, each element or member of the fifth level contains information summarizing data about 256K pixels.