Patent ID: 7657108

Claim:
A method of encoding a set of data representing physical quantities using a first encoding mode and a second encoding mode, the method comprising the steps of: dividing the set of data into a plurality of subsets, computing a plurality of encoding costs of the set of data, each one of the plurality of encoding costs being computed using the second encoding mode and a respective one of a plurality of values of a parameter of the second encoding mode, and without using the first encoding mode; selecting a value of the parameter from the plurality of values of the parameter, wherein the selected value of the parameter corresponds to a minimum encoding cost from the computed plurality of encoding costs; calculating, for each one of the plurality of subsets, a first encoding cost, based at least in part on a predetermined rate-distortion compromise, using the first encoding mode, and without using the second encoding mode; calculating, for each one of the plurality of subsets, a second encoding cost, based at least in part on the predetermined rate-distortion compromise and the selected value of the parameter, using the second encoding mode, and without using the first encoding mode; determining, for each one of the plurality of subsets, a minimum encoding cost from the first encoding cost and the second encoding cost; and selecting, for each one of the plurality of subsets, an encoding mode from the first encoding mode and the second encoding mode, the selected encoding mode corresponding to the determined minimum encoding cost, wherein one or more of said steps are performed using at least one processor.