mask 166 fig2 a if the first bit in the data block is a 34 1 34 and the third bit is 34 0 34 a determination is made whether the first six bits equal 34 100001 34 step 208 in fig2 a if the first six bits of the first word of a data block equal 34 100001 34 the cell is a skip cell the compressed data word is decompressed step 212 by generating decompressed color data for the number of 34 skipped cells 34 that is encoded in the compressed color data see data word 128 of fig1 the decompressed color data is set to be equal to that of the cell in the previous frame that corresponds with the skip cell compressed color data lastly if none of the other tests i e steps 202 206 and 208 have been met the cell must be compressed as a solid color cell hence the cell is decompressed as a solid color cell step 214 in decompressing the cell as a solid color cell each cell is assigned the average color encoded in encoding 142 fig1 a the compressed color data fig2 b shows a flowchart of the steps performed when decompressing digital video data that has been compressed in a sixteen bit format in step 218 a determination is made whether the first six bits of the first word of the data block equal 34 100001 34 if the first six bits equal this value the cell is decompressed as a skip cell step 220 decompression of.