Method and Apparatus for Encoding and Decoding Subband Decompositions of Signals

Abstract

An aspect of the present invention includes a method of encoding coefficients of a subband decomposition, to prepare the coefficients for compression. Another aspect of the present invention includes an inverse method of decoding coefficients of a subband decomposition, after they have been decompressed. Particular features and other aspects of the present invention are indicated in the specification, including the drawings and claims.

1 . A method of efficiently decoding a signal, including:
 receiving a zero tree encoded signal;   decoding the zero tree encoded signal, including   reconstructing at least one of an A-tree or a B-tree of leading zero values for a pyramid of coefficients having parent and child relationships,   wherein parent nodes in the A-tree indicate a minimum number of leading zeros for coefficients at children nodes and descendants of the children nodes and   wherein grandparent nodes in the B-tree indicate a minimum number of leading zeros for coefficients at grandchildren nodes and descendants of the grandchildren nodes; and   reconstructing an original signal from the A-tree and/or B-tree of zero values and coefficients; and   outputting or storing to memory the reconstructed original signal.   
   
   
       2 . A method of efficiently encoding and sending a signal, including: 
     receiving and encoding an original signal to a zero tree encoded signal, including
 constructing at least one of an A-tree or a B-tree of leading zero values for a pyramid of coefficients having parent and child relationships, 
 wherein parent nodes in the A-tree indicate a minimum number of leading zeros for coefficients at children nodes and descendants of the children nodes and 
 wherein grandparent nodes in the B-tree indicate a minimum number of leading zeros for coefficients at grandchildren nodes and descendants of the grandchildren nodes; and 
 walking the A-tree and/or B-tree to construct a stream including zero values and coefficients; and 
 outputting or storing to memory the encoded signal.