Patent ID: 7142603

Claim:
A method of processing a signal comprising: a) reading a first bit section from a bit stream of variable length codes beginning at a reference bit of said bit stream, wherein said reading a first bit section is performed in a given direction; b) reading a second bit section from said bit stream beginning at a first offset from said reference bit of said bit stream, wherein said reading a second bit section is performed in said given direction, wherein steps a) and b) are done in parallel, and wherein said first offset is less than a minimum symbol length; c) indexing a table with said first bit section to obtain a first look-up result, said table comprising a plurality of variable length codes and a corresponding plurality of code lengths, said first look-up result describing the length of a first symbol in said bit stream; d) indexing said table with said second bit section to obtain a second look-up result, wherein steps c) and d) are done in parallel; e) determining if said second look-up result from step d) is valid; and f) accepting said second look-up result if it is valid, wherein said second look-up result describes a second symbol length in said bit stream.