Patent ID: 8442124

Claim:
A method for signaling chroma information for a picture in a compressed video stream, said method implemented by an electronics device, said method comprising the steps of: providing by said electronics device a compressed video stream that includes a picture having chroma samples and luma samples; providing by said electronics device in said compressed video stream a one-bit flag having a first defined flag value for signaling information corresponding to the location of the chroma samples in relation to the luma samples in the picture, wherein the first defined flag value indicates default locations of the chroma samples in relation to the luma samples in the picture, wherein the number of chroma samples in the picture implied by the first defined flag value is equal to the number of chroma samples in the picture implied by the second defined flag value, and wherein a second defined flag value indicates a presence in the compressed video stream of auxiliary chroma information corresponding to relative locations of the chroma samples to the luma samples in the picture, wherein the auxiliary chroma information further corresponds to first and second locations of the chroma samples in relation to the luma samples in the picture, said first relative locations of the chroma samples corresponding to a top field of the picture, and said second relative locations of the chroma samples corresponding to a bottom field of the picture; and providing by said electronics device a second compressed video stream different than the compressed video stream, said second compressed video stream including a second picture having chroma samples and luma samples; providing by said electronics device in the second compressed video stream a second flag for signaling information corresponding to the location of the chroma samples in relation to the luma samples in the second picture, said provided second flag having the second defined flag value; and providing by said electronics device in the second compressed video stream a second auxillary chroma information, said provided second auxillary chroma information having a value that corresponds to relative locations of the chroma samples that are different than the default locations of the chroma samples in relation to the luma samples in the second picture.