I'm a student developing a new storage format for photos and am looking for input

[Tight Knot]

Done.

 

[W.Y.Photo]

Doesn't look like the survey includes images originally shot on film, which of course requires physical storage so I don't know if or how that fits into your research and thesis.

What do you mean by 'patent-free'? (that question came to mind). To me that sounds like an original process being created and not being registered or protected but maybe that isn't what it means for this purpose.

Thanks for your feedback. I'm not currently thinking about analog so much because physical storage is an entirely different space that I know very little about. Obviously scanned negatives/positives would also benefit from my solution.
As for your question regarding patents: my work is based on algorithms that are either in the public domain or whose patents have since expired. It also includes an original compression algorithm that I intend to file a patent for but then release into the public domain (I haven't figured out the legal implications yet, but I want to make sure nobody else files an exclusive patent on my algorithm.) Hope that clarifies things!

Done. Thanks for doing this!!

Does this mean you cannot patent the entire file type? I'm sure you have done research into this and understand it far more than I do but the reason I am asking is because if you could file a patent for this and get a lot of major organizations and image software companies to support it I think that this sort of file type could become a huge boon to the photo world as a whole. What I am worried about though is if you don't patent it then release it that these major companies will take advantage of the format by creating their own versions in order to earn a profit (think .NEF vs .CR2), whereas if this was on the level of DNG's it could significantly increase its reach and do what it is I believe you want it to do.