Patent ID: 8055069

Claim:
A method for sampling image data from an image frame, the image frame including a first component frame, a second component frame and a third component frame, and the method comprising steps of: selecting a first component portion, a second component portion and a third component portion from the first component frame, the second component frame and the third component frame, respectively; and operating said first component portion, said second component portion and said third component portion to obtain a minimum coded unit for compression, said minimum coded unit consisting of four blocks arranged as a 2×2 block array, said four blocks being substantially two first component blocks derived from said first component portion, one second component block derived from said second component portion and one third component block derived from said third component portion, said two first component blocks being positioned diagonally in one way of the 2×2 block array, and said second component block and said third component block being positioned diagonally in the other way of the 2×2 block array; wherein the first component frame, the second component frame and the third component frame are a luminance frame Y, a red-chrominance frame Cr and a blue-chrominance frame Cb, respectively.