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1989
Book Article
Titel
FTCRP - File format for the device-independent transfer of colored raster pictures
Abstract
Research institutes, industrial companies, computer animation studios and printing facilities are often equipped with a lot of different machines for the rendering and display of raster pictures. The output devices (monitors, recording devices, printers) differ in their geometric and color resolution, in the picture format, and in the chromaticity of the color primaries. There is a need to transfer pictures via local networks(LAN) from one device to another at studios and laboratories without having to compromise for the quality of the pictures. And there is a need to transfer pictures via tape, floppy or networks (WAN) from one institute to another, or from an institute to the publisher, and so forth. For these purposes, a special format for the transfer of raster pictures has been developed which is independent of differences in pixel resolution, color resolution, color primaries, number of colors per device, and scan direction. For its use in the networks and on tapes, the file form at has to initially have a character encoding to prevent any collision of pixel or image data with control sequences of terminal servers, network controllers, and other hardware devices. Binary encodings are still to be developed; the format is open for different data compressions and other data encodings according to different application profiles. The format is called FTCRP - File for the Transfer of Colored Raster Pictures. Historically, a Version 0 of FTCRP was first developed. Several insights were gained in the implementation of FTCRP driver programs and in the acceptance of the new format. Here, we present the conception of Version 1 of FTCRP, which is an extension and an enchancement of the former version. Unfortunately, the syntax of FTCRP Version 1 was not definitivly determined before the submission of this text. Therefore we concentrate on conceptual considerations.