Patent ID: 7006697

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: means for decomposing input data into a plurality of code-blocks; means for assigning the plurality of code-blocks, on a code-block basis, to a plurality of MQ coders for coding the plurality of code-blocks in parallel so that the number of coefficients coded by each of the plurality of MQ coders is approximately the same, to the extent possible when assigning code-blocks on a code block basis, wherein the plurality of MQ coders comprises first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth MQ coders, wherein the first MQ coder is assigned code-blocks corresponding to LL 3 , HL 3 , LH 3 , HH 3 , and HH 2 luminance subbands; the second MQ coder is assigned code-blocks corresponding to LL 3 , HL 3 , LH 3 , HH 3 , and HH 2 subbands of a first set of chrominance subbands; the third MQ coder is assigned code-blocks corresponding to LL 3 , HL 3 , LH 3 , HH 3 and HH 2 subbands of a second set of chrominance subbands; the fourth MQ coder is assigned code-blocks corresponding to a HL 2 luminance subband, a HL 2 subband of the first set of chrominance subbands, and a HL 2 subband of the second set of chrominance subbands; the fifth MQ coder is assigned code-blocks corresponding to a LH 2 luminance subband, a LH 2 subband of the first set of chrominance subbands, and a LH 2 subband of the second set of chrominance subbands; the sixth MQ coder is assigned code-blocks corresponding to a LH 1 luminance subband; the seventh MQ-coder is assigned code-blocks corresponding to a HL 1 luminance subband; the eighth MQ coder is assigned code-blocks corresponding to a HH 1 luminance subband.