TIFF format, viewers

[annie]

what? annie needs something for images?

i am downloading patents from the united states patent office. patents filed after 1976 are searchable by lots of things, but anything before that is only searchable by patent number and is only available in this very strange TIFF format used only by the patent office.

the patents do go back to 1790, yes seventeen ninety.

really is pretty cool to see some of them.

i was set up for this on the old computer but of course not on my new computer. i just downloaded and installed the TIFF viewer they recommend, but i was wondering if anyone has a better one that does more than just this weird TIFF. free of course.

this is their list
http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/plugins/tiff.htm

[sho-dan]

Hello Annie

These are free and its a start.
I have heard about irfanview, I have to locate/provide info at a later time.They ask for donations, No worry and still free to use.

http://www.irfanview.com/ <----Click me
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A product of Medical Informatics Engineering: You will be required to register it before it can be used to view images. You will be told how to register as this site
http://www.alternatiff.com/ <----Click me
Cheers :)

[annie]

Hello Annie

These are free and its a start.
I have heard about irfanview, I have to locate/provide info at a later time.They ask for donations, No worry and still free to use.

http://www.irfanview.com/ <----Click me
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A product of Medical Informatics Engineering: You will be required to register it before it can be used to view images. You will be told how to register as this site
http://www.alternatiff.com/ <----Click me
Cheers :)


thanks, that was fast.

does the irfanview support G4 TIFF? it doesn't say, or at least i can't find it. if it does this would be an excellent program. he does have some interesting links.

the medical informatics program is featured at the patent office but it required active X and i wasn't sure what that would do to my just put together set of virus/firewall tools. this is what i used to use. it saved as bmp, so i was able to change formats and e mail them to people.

the innomage that i downloaded only saves as that G4 TIFF and i have to do a screen capture to change formats.

this peculiar format makes me crazy.

my cousin builds antique farm machinery and wants the patent specifications so that he can build them.

if you want to mess around with this a fun patent to experiment with is number
18028

ignore what they say about six digits.

[sho-dan]

Ah annie, you be in luck :)

I found this at this link here (http://abraley.home.att.net/gendocs/braley/viewg4tiff.html) (the links on that pg are older Irfan View verisons.)

Viewing G4 TIFF Images
Many images on these pages have been scanned and saved in G4 TIFF graphic format. This format is used because it offers far better compression than other formats and allows us to have a high quality black and white image in a much smaller file than a gif or jpg format. However, many common graphics programs can not read this format.

A FREE, fast and simple graphics viewer that can read this format is a program called Irfan View. It is Freeware.

To use it as a "Plug-in" for Netscape or MSIE, install Irfan View and start it up. From the Menu bar select "Options" then select "Properties", now select "Extensions" and check the box labeled "TIF/TIFF". You can also make Irfan View the preferred viewer for other types of files by checking their boxes too. When finished, press "OK". Now when you are in Netscape or MSIE, if you click on a link to a TIF/TIFF file, it will start Irfan View and display the image. I do not reccommend selecting the options to "Fit image to window", that really slows things down.

Cheers:)

[annie]

of course i am in luck, i have you helping me.

and i need help.

tonight i uninstalled InnoVUE, did a cold boot, downloaded IrfanView 3.99, installed it. went to patent office. searched for patent number that i use for test. 18028. from 1858, but very small so fast to load. i could see this yesterday in InnoVUE, but i can't see it tonight in IrfanView.

associated it with TIF/TIFF when i installed it, it is associated in IrfanView Options > Properties > Extensions.

can open local bmps in IrfanView with no problems, don't have any local TIFFs saved.

netscape installed it, associated it with TIFF. netscape can't see the patent.

IrfanView does not load when it is supposed to on the patent office page. search for patent number, click on image button above, the next thing that happens is that the viewer loads and loads the patent. all i am getting is a blank of the correct size with a red X in the top corner. IrfanView is not loading.

what am i doing wrong?

[sho-dan]

annie
Could you post one of your test patent lnks, I'll try to work out the bugs with IrfanView. thanks


Cheers:)

[annie]

annie
Could you post one of your test patent lnks, I'll try to work out the bugs with IrfanView. thanks Cheers:)

what a good guy you are!

main page for patents
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

all US patents granted starting in 1790 are on line. yes, seventeen ninety.

patents filed after 1976 can be searched several ways. patents filed before 1976 can only be searched for by the patent number. to get the patent number you must go to a patent repository library and read the ledgers. each year has one or more ledgers, indexed by name of the inventor. they are also indexed by classification. the classifications change every year.

once you have the patent number, you can search for the patent at
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm

The Patent Office uses an unusual format for its images. If you do not have a program that can view a G4 TIFF image, the patent office gives you several choices. You must download and install a G4 TIFF viewer before you can see the patent image.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/plugins/tiff.htm

this is a free viewer for Internet Explorer
http://www.internetiff.com/

a valid patent number for test purposes is 18028, filed in 1858. nice little contraption.

here is a whole bunch of them for messing around with. all the same classification.
18028
29254
89368
95549
113750
172304
200439

[annie]

bumping up.

mott? anybody?

[Mott]

bumping up.

mott? anybody?

Hi annie,

Sorry I didn't see this sooner, I was offline for the last 6 months and just got back to BT a few weeks ago.

I installed the ActiveX control viewer for IE6 they offered at http://www.alternatiff.com/ and registered it. I tried the first patent you listed, 18028, and it worked like a charm. The image displayed with no problem and the viewer had full functionality.

I'm not clear on what you're wanting from the viewer, something to save to a different format? I saved the image as a .tif file with the IE plugin I installed, opened it with Irfranview 3.70, saved the .tif file as a .jpg, then opened that file with Irfranview and it displayed with no problem.

Am I missing something? I'm exhusted and not too clearheaded.

Mott

[Mott]

annie, since I have the .tif image I got from the patent would it be ok with you if I sent it to you as an email attachment to see if you can open it with your copy of Irfranview? I have the .jpg image I saved it as too if you want to check it out. Personally, I can't see any difference in the quality of the images.

You can email me your answer through my profile, if you like. Then I would be able to send it directly to your box from my Yahoo account as an attachment. I don''t have the option of adding an attachment if I email you through BT.

Mott

[annie]

wow that was fast, thanks.

i am trying to print the drawings and the jpgs print aweful. greytones. have gone into them in paint and tried to black them up pixel by pixel but it is just so much trouble it is not worth it.

just tried the whole thing again from scratch. have messed with this so much i have forgotten what i have associated with what. this time i got the image in oh good grief now it is not telling me what it is in, when it first opened the patent it did and i didn't write it down. think it opened in alternatif

in any event, i can save the patent if i highlight it first. then if i double click on it it opens in irfanview. i also have something called innoVUE, which will also open the tif but as a very dirty copy.

these all will resave as g4 tiffs. with all sorts of options. clearly i need to learn a great deal more about g4 tiffs before i can do the simple silly little thing that i want to do, which is to print a clean black and white copy.

there are days when computers make me crazy. this is one of them.

got your message, thank you. let me calm down and i will answer you. i need chocolate.

[Mott]

Hi annie,

Just relax and take it easy, I'll help you out. Trying to edit an image 1 pixel at a time would shred anybodys nerves. I'm going to get a good nights sleep tonight and between us we'll get something more reasonable worked out. Just email me and I'll send you samples of what I have now in the morning.

I just saved the images I tried as simple .tif files. The patent office may be presenting them in that G4 format but that doesn't mean you have to save them as that. I have a lot of experience working with images, I ran the photo site for the BT FlashChat chat room for quite a while before I went offline, so this is easy for me.

Darkening an image is easy to do with Irfranview. I have The Gimp, a freeware graphics program, installed too so I'll see how that works with these. You won't have to do it like you have been, 1 pixel at a time, anymore. ;)

Mott

[rokkandy]

:confused:I am new to this Forum, found it accidently looking for something else when
I did a search, and in going from link to link, I ended up here. I am looking for a program that will give me the same capabilities as a registered version of any version of Internetiff. Multiple photo printing etc. I hope I am not out of line being a stranger, but can anyone that sees this direct me to a program equal to Internetiff (full) or a free program that can equal Internetiff's features? I have even looked to see if I could find a key for it online but can't find anything for Innovue's stuff but just about everything else... I just can't afford another license from Innovue.
I will go and look at the website I saw mentioned but if someone can help me with Internetiff serial greatly appreciate it.
I didn't see anything in the rules/regs that forbade me from asking this. If I did overlook something, please accept my apology and I will disappear and continue my quest elsewhere.
thank you...

[annie]

I am looking for a program that will give me the same capabilities as a registered version of any version of Internetiff. Multiple photo printing etc. I hope I am not out of line being a stranger, but can anyone that sees this direct me to a program equal to Internetiff (full) or a free program that can equal Internetiff's features?

Hi and welcome to the forum.

You haven't told us what you need to use it for and what your limitations are, someone will probably be able to come up with a program that fits your needs.

I did a quick search for shareware internetiff and got a gazillion hits, looks like there is a lot out there.

[Mike Weins]

Irfanview will do almost anything internettiff will do. Since I do not have (or know anyone that does have) internettiff i can't say it does everything ;p


http://www.irfanview.com/