jQuery.preloadCssImages = function(){


        var allImgs = [];//new array for all the image urls  


        var k = 0; //iterator for adding images


        var sheets = document.styleSheets;//array of stylesheets


        


        for(var i = 0; i<sheets .length; i++){//loop through each stylesheet


                var cssPile = '';//create large string of all css rules in sheet


                var csshref = (sheets[i].href) ? sheets[i].href : 'window.location.href';


                var baseURLarr = csshref.split('/');//split href at / to make array


                baseURLarr.pop();//remove file path from baseURL array


                var baseURL = baseURLarr.join('/');//create base url for the images in this sheet (css file's dir)


                if(baseURL!="") baseURL+='/'; //tack on a / if needed


                if(document.styleSheets[i].cssRules){//w3


                        var thisSheetRules = document.styleSheets[i].cssRules; //w3


                        for(var j = 0; j<thisSheetRules.length; j++){


                                cssPile+= thisSheetRules[j].cssText;


                        }


                }


                else {


                        cssPile+= document.styleSheets[i].cssText;


                }


                


                //parse cssPile for image urls and load them into the DOM


                var imgUrls = cssPile.match(/[^\(]+\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png)/g);//reg ex to get a string of between a "(" and a ".filename"


                if(imgUrls != null && imgUrls.length>0 && imgUrls != ''){//loop array


                        var arr = jQuery.makeArray(imgUrls);//create array from regex obj        


                        jQuery(arr).each(function(){


                                allImgs[k] = new Image(); //new img obj


                                allImgs[k].src = (this[0] == '/' || this.match('http://')) ? this : baseURL + this;     //set src either absolute or rel to css dir


                                k++;


                        });


                }


        }//loop


        return allImgs;


}