Joint amplitude and position coding for photographic image and video coding

A carrier medium carrying machine readable code including instructions for performing, when executed by a processor, a method for processing an ordered series of digital signals that each have an amplitude from a finite set of amplitudes consisting of the most likely-to-occur amplitude and at least one other amplitude, the processing to reduce the amount of data used to represent the digital signals and to form codewords such that the more likely-to-occur values or sequences of values of digital signals are represented by relatively short codewords and the less likely-to-occur values or sequences of values of digital signals are represented by relatively long codewords, the method comprising:

• for a first contiguous region in the series:
• identifying clusters that each include one or more consecutive signals having any amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude, and any intervening runs of consecutive coefficients having the most likely-to-occur value;
• for each identified cluster of signals having any amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude:
• identifying at least one position event to define the relative positions and runlengths of the of the identified cluster of signals having any amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude, and any intervening runs of consecutive coefficients having the most likely-to-occur value;
• identifying at least one amplitude event, the identified events defining the amplitudes of the signals in the identified cluster of consecutive signals having amplitudes other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude;
• and
• jointly encoding the identified position events and the identified amplitude events to jointly identify relative position and the amplitudes of the consecutive signals having amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude, the jointly encoding being according to a multi-dimensional coding function of the position event and of the amplitude event, the jointly encoding arranged such that relatively short codewords are used to represent the relative positions and amplitudes of clusters that are more likely-to-occur, and relatively long codewords are used to represent the relative positions and amplitudes of clusters that are relatively less likely-to-occur.

An apparatus for processing an ordered series of digital signals that each have an amplitude from a finite set of amplitudes consisting of the most likely-to-occur amplitude and at least one other amplitude, the processing to reduce the amount of data used to represent the digital signals and to form codewords such that the more likely-to-occur values or sequences of values of digital signals are represented by relatively short codewords and the less likely-to-occur values or sequences of values of digital signals are represented by relatively long codewords, the apparatus comprising:

• means for identifying clusters that each include one or more consecutive signals having any amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude, and any intervening runs of consecutive coefficients having the most likely-to-occur value;
• for each identified cluster of signals having any amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude:
• means for identifying position events to encode the relative positions and runlength for each identified cluster of signals having any amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude, and any intervening runs of consecutive coefficients having the most likely-to-occur value;
• means for identifying amplitude events to, the identified events defining the amplitudes of the signals in the identified cluster of consecutive signals having amplitudes other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude;
• and
• means for jointly encoding the identified position events and the identified amplitude events to jointly encode relative position and the amplitudes of the consecutive signals having amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude, the means for jointly encoding using a multi-dimensional coding function of the position event and of the amplitude event, and arranged such that relatively short codewords are used to represent the relative positions and amplitudes of clusters that are more likely-to-occur, and relatively long codewords are used to represent the relative positions and amplitudes of clusters that are relatively less likely-to-occur.

An apparatus including a processing system, the apparatus to accept an ordered series of digital signals that each have an amplitude from a finite set of amplitudes consisting of the most likely-to-occur amplitude and at least one other amplitude, the apparatus to perform a method for processing an ordered series of digital signals to reduce the amount of data used to represent the digital signals and to form codewords such that the more likely-to-occur values or sequences of values of digital signals are represented by relatively short codewords and the less likely-to-occur values or sequences of values of digital signals are represented by relatively long codewords, the method comprising:

• for a first contiguous region in the series:
• identifying clusters that each include one or more consecutive signals having any amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude, and any intervening runs of consecutive coefficients having the most likely-to-occur value;
• for each identified cluster of signals having any amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude:
• identifying at least one position event to define the relative positions and runlengths of the of the identified cluster of signals having any amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude, and any intervening runs of consecutive coefficients having the most likely-to-occur value;
• identifying at least one amplitude event, the identified events defining the amplitudes of the signals in the identified cluster of consecutive signals having amplitudes other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude;
• and
• jointly encoding the identified position events and the identified amplitude events to jointly encode relative position and the amplitudes of the consecutive signals having amplitude other than the most likely-to-occur amplitude, the jointly
• encoding being according to a multi-dimensional coding function of the position event and of the amplitude event, the jointly encoding arranged such that relatively short codewords are used to represent the relative positions and amplitudes of clusters that are more likely-to-occur, and relatively long codewords are used to represent the relative positions and amplitudes of clusters that are relatively less likely-to-occur.