System and method for caching and rendering images

Abstract

A system and method for caching and rendering an image database enables predictive loading of unrequested portions of the image. A raw image is preprocessed and subdivided into tiles. As a portion of a raw image is displayed on a screen and the user zooms and pans the image, a predicting algorithm determines which additional tiles should be loaded into cache so that the user suffers no lag time as additional tiles not in cache are loaded. The present system and method is adaptable to both raster and vector images.

1 . A method of caching and rendering an image comprising: 
 providing a raw image to render;    preprocessing said raw image to produce a plurality of tiles;    determining a starting view, said starting view being a portion of said raw image and comprising a first set of tiles;    loading said first set of said tiles into memory;    displaying said starting view using said first set of tiles;    providing a weighting method that determines a weight for tiles;    applying said weight to each of said tiles based on said weighting method;    providing a first analysis method capable of analyzing said weight of each of said tiles to identify tiles that are not in said memory;    identifying at least one tile that is not in said memory using said analysis method; and    loading said at least one tile into said memory.