Fast method for combining palettes of color quantized images

The majority of modern workstations and personal computers use an 8-bit color mapped graphics architecture for displaying images. A major issue in implementing useful image software on such systems is `palette management': servicing run-time demands placed upon the hardware color look-up table such as displaying multiple images (with different palettes) simultaneously. This paper considers the use of a vector quantization algorithm - the pairwise nearest neighbor algorithm - as a means of quickly combining the palettes of multiple images into a single shared palette that can be used for simultaneous display. This approach yields an efficient and practical method of managing palettes that adds little distortion to the images being displayed. This paper describes the implementation and results of this work.