Adaptive coding level control for video compression systems

A method for adaptively adjusting a signal coding level used in the compression of a video signal that is representative of an image area, said signal coding level dictating an amount that said video signal will be compressed for transmission over a communication channel having a predetermined bandwidth, comprising the steps of:

• (a) in a first compressing step, compressing data from said video signal representative of a plurality of different image regions that reside in said image area, said first compressing step using the same signal coding level for all of said different image regions to generate an amount of compressed data for each of said image regions;
• (b) monitoring the amount of said compressed data generated for each of said image regions during said first compressing step;
• (c) adjusting said signal coding level to establish different video quality levels for said different image regions in response to the amount of compressed data generated for each of said image regions as determined by said monitoring step;
• and
• (d) in a second compressing step which follows said first compressing step, compressing said data from said plurality of different image regions using said adjusted signal coding levels to provide data which is adapted for transmission over said communication channel;
• said second compressing step selectively providing more compression to image regions that generated the most compressed data and less compression to image regions that generated the least compressed data during said first compressing step, while maintaining said data which is adapted for transmission over said communication channel within said predetermined bandwidth.