Patent ID: 8724698

Claim:
A method of coding a picture within a video stream with a limited number of coding passes, comprising: on each pass, coding at least one slice associated with the picture, image data of the slice being subject to coefficient transform and to quantization by a quantization parameter, wherein on a first pass, quantizing all slices with a first value of the quantization parameter that is common to all slices of the picture, on a second pass, which is reached when a size of coded picture data obtained from the first pass exceeds a predetermined limit, encoding a first set of selected slices with a second value of the quantization parameter, on a third pass, which is reached when a size of coded picture data obtained from the second pass exceeds the predetermined limit, encoding a second set of selected slices with a third value of the quantization parameter, for coded data of the slice that exceeds a predetermined slice limit after the third pass, canceling coefficients of display components when a size of the display component reaches a predetermined or calculated size, and outputting the coded picture data to a channel.