Patent ID: 7330854

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for generating a bit stream comprising: providing an indexing tree including a plurality of hierarchy levels, wherein each hierarchy level is assigned one or more index nodes, and wherein the index nodes contain index data that is sorted in the indexing tree according to one or more predetermined criteria; designating an index node as a parent node; designating other index nodes as child nodes, wherein at least one child node branches from the parent node and wherein the at least one child node is located in a lower hierarchy level; inserting and sorting index data of the index nodes into the bit stream, wherein following insertion of the index data of the parent node, the index data of the at least one childe node is offset by one node following the parent node in the indexing tree on account of the sorting and is inserted without information indicating at which position the index data of said at least one child node is located in the bit stream; and inserting information into the bit stream in each case for the a child node that is not offset by the one node following the parent node, said information indicating at which position in the bit stream the index data of said child node is located.